Environmental charity Hubbub and Virgin Media O2 have announced the five charities which have received a share of £400,000 to run a “pioneering” device lending scheme to provide tablets and data to people who need them.
Hubbub and Virgin Media O2 say the fund was set up to tackle digital isolation and e-waste.
Grants between £55,000 and £83,000 have been made to five organisations across the UK that provide “crucial support” to groups such as women seeking refuge from domestic violence, refugees, asylum seekers, and people at risk of homelessness.
The five charities are Thames Reach, Kurdish and Middle Eastern Women’s Organisation, Willowacre Trust, Refuge, and Leeds Refugee Forum.
Hubbub and Virgin Media O2 say that between them they will provide more than 1,000 tablets to people living in temporary accommodation and who are digitally excluded.
It (the scheme) allows people at their most vulnerable to access essential services and stay in touch with loved ones.
The tablets will be powered by free O2 mobile data provided by the National Databank, set up by Virgin Media O2 and digital inclusion charity, Good Things Foundation.
The two companies say the tablets and data will help people to improve their digital skills and to access essential services such as healthcare appointments, mental health support, training courses, and to apply for jobs and to take part in virtual interviews.
The grant fund is also supported by Amazon which is providing an additional £100,000 to support the running costs of the lending hubs.
Virgin Media O2 and Hubbub says the Tech Lending Scheme also supports the circular economy by rehoming tablets with people who need them, giving them a second life so they can be lent again and again, and preventing them from ending up in landfill as e-waste.
The initiative forms part of Virgin Media O2’s Better Connections Plan – the company’s new sustainability strategy to create a “better, more connected and greener world for everyone”. The Tech Lending Community Fund is one of the ways Virgin Media O2 says it will reach its goal to connect one million digitally excluded people through free and affordable connectivity and services by 2025.
CEO of Hubbub, Alex Robinson, said: “This unique community lending scheme has two key benefits: it allows people at their most vulnerable to access essential services and stay in touch with loved ones, and it also tackles e-waste by giving another life to unwanted tablets and diverting them from ending up in landfill or incineration.
“We look forward to supporting these wonderful charities with resources and guidance as they roll out their programmes, as well as witnessing the impact the tablets will have on the beneficiaries.”
The two companies say the Tech Lending Community Fund builds on Hubbub and Virgin Media O2’s Community Calling programme which launched in 2020 and has redistributed more than 10,000 donated smartphones and data to people who need them.
