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Project summary
Kensington lies close to the centre
of Liverpool, immediately east of
the city centre. It is a mainly residential
area dominated by pre-1919 terraced
housing, much of which is in a poor
state of repair. Structural unemployment,
resulting from the decline of the
manufacturing base in the 1980s, is
a key problem. The area suffers from
generally low-income levels, and there
is a high level of dependency on benefits.
Kensington Regeneration is the charitable
company that has been set up to run
the New Deal for Communities (NDC)
programme that has funding of £61.5m
available over 10 years. In September
2000, Kensington Regeneration applied
to DfES for capital funding to provide
up to 2,000 residents with an internet
capable recycled pc, printer and software.
As the first WuC project in the UK,
Kensington was a pioneering 'test
bed' area. Many of the problems associated
with implementing the project were
emergent in nature and Kensington
Regeneration and DfES and its consultants
had to tackle them without prior experience.
However, this subsequently influenced
the approach adopted by WuC projects
in the second phase of the programme.
The Kensington WuC project was officially
launched in February 2001 and a range
of project partners included Liverpool
City Council, ICL and John Moores
University with Kensington Regeneration
identified as the 'accountable body'.
A local steering group was established
in order to provide overall strategic
direction for the project and to ensure
the project was integrated into the
wider aims of the NDC programme.
A dedicated project manager funded
by Kensington Regeneration was appointed
in March 2001, with other project
staff employed in the early stages
of the project on a temporary basis
to July 2001 through two new start
up companies.
For the roll out of 2,000 recycled
pcs, the project's community network
team focused on the community development
aspects of the project, working with
local residents and community groups
to develop interest in the project.
The team comprised mainly local people
from Kensington who had previously
been unemployed.
The project's technical team co-ordinated
the technical support aspects from
delivering and installing pcs to configuring
them for internet access and e-mail.
In the summer of 2001, the technical
support function was out out to competitive
tender on a longer term basis reflecting
the increased support that recycled
pcs required.
In December 2001, Kensington Regeneration
initiated project review and community
consultation event with the ICT champions
around the future development of KWuC.
A Business Plan was developed and
agreed shortly thereafter by the KNDC
Board.
An ESF bid was developed and approved
which supports the development of
a variety of training interventions
including 'first steps' IT skills,
CLAIT and ECDL along with bespoke
events and courses identified through
community consultation.
The funding will support 'drop in'
and informal development at the WuC
Cyber learning centre, which has 12
new pcs. Further DfES funding supported
the development of a community portal
local web-site through the recruitment
of a dedicated animateur to develop
the site and to support the generation
of meaningful local content via the
ICT Champions. This site is not at
this time online.
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