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Virgin Media O2 and environmental charity Hubbub have supplied £400,000 in funding for its system lending scheme that goals to offer tablets and smartphones throughout the UK.
The Tech Lending Group scheme, which was established in 2022, goals to deal with digital exclusion and digital waste by offering second-hand units to individuals in want, whereas additionally giving know-how a second life via reuse.
As a part of a brand new spherical of funding, Virgin Media O2 stated homelessness charities, Centrepoint and Thames Attain will obtain over 500 tablets and smartphones that may also use free O2 cellular knowledge from the Nationwide Databank – which was arrange by Virgin Media O2 and charity, Good Issues Basis.
We all know that having knowledge and units is usually a lifeline for individuals in want.
Reacting to the announcement, Dana Haidan, Chief Sustainability Officer at Virgin Media O2, stated: “We all know that having knowledge and units is usually a lifeline for individuals in want, enabling them to entry important web sites, from making use of for jobs to accessing medical appointments, and to remain in contact with family members.
“That’s why initiatives like The Tech Lending Group scheme and Nationwide Databank are very important in addressing digital exclusion and knowledge poverty, and assist to rework individuals’s lives in communities throughout the UK.”
The charities distribute the units by way of their providers throughout the nation. Refuge, a charity which helps ladies and kids who’ve skilled home abuse, acquired 250 tablets from the initiative in 2022 and can proceed to obtain funding and help to run their system lending scheme, Virgin Media 02 stated.
The mission is supported by Reconome which Virgin Media O2 stated sourced, wiped, and refurbished the second-hand units. For the reason that launch of the Tech Lending Group scheme, greater than 750 individuals have been loaned a pill for as much as six months at round 50 group centres, momentary lodging, or refuge websites nationwide, Virgin Media stated.
The initiative varieties a part of Virgin Media O2’s sustainability technique, the Higher Connections Plan. Virgin Media O2 stated it is among the methods it would obtain its goal of connecting a million “digitally excluded individuals” via free and inexpensive connectivity and providers by the top of 2025.
Alex Robinson, CEO of Hubbub, commented: “Hubbub is thrilled to be launching a second part of TLC, working alongside homelessness charities Thames Attain and Centrepoint, and Refuge, a charity supporting ladies and kids experiencing home violence, to offer an extra 520 tablets and smartphones for them to lend to their service customers.
“We’re proud to proceed doing work to bridge the digital divide within the UK, while protecting tech in circulation for longer.”
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