Written by rachel pepper | 20 April 2011

Acton Community Forum (ACF) has recently become a partner in an exciting new project called “Community Capacity Builders” (CCB), working with local organisations to build their IT capacity and help get their communities Online.

The focus of the project is engaging with socially excluded individuals and groups, elders, people who have little or no internet access and those who have never been on the Internet before.  ACF is using its very close links with many of the statutory and community groups in the London Borough of Ealing to get them involved in the CCB project and currently has 16 active partner organisations. These include: Centre for Armenian Information and Advice, Southall Community Alliance, Acton Vale Community Centre, West London Somali Luncheon Club, St Mary’s Church and South Acton Network. (Click here to download the full list of all Partner and contact details) ACF aims to get a total of 50 partners on board by the end of the project in May 2012.

Digital Champion(DC) Recruitment is one of the main ways in which ACF is engaging with hard to reach groups. We currently have 20 trained DC’s who are local residents and/or are linked to community/statutory groups. The role of the DC is to, once trained up in the basics of it mentoring, go back into their communities to help those who have no or little computer knowledge, get online. Our current Champions are busy inspiring, encouraging and supporting friends, family and members of their community to get online, explaining the benefits of being “connected” and teaching them things that may improve their quality of life.2 of our volunteers are currently assisting the IT Tutor at the Weekly beginners IT sessions in the Oaktree Community Centre, another is running IT classes at the Armenian centre, 2 of the Champions will be running 1:1 drop in sessions at the Oaktree ( Monday 2-3pm, Tuesday 10:30-11:30pm), another is linking in to the monthly coffee mornings at Acton Vale Community Centre (19^th July,16^th Aug, 20^th Sep,18^th Oct,10-30-12pm)and 1 more “Champion” is holding 1:1 session at St Mary’s Church Hall every Tuesday 2-4pm as part of the weekly Standing Tall Drama and Arts  outreach Group.

We will soon be running a second Digital Champion Training Session, and are looking for more individuals who have IT knowledge and who want to inspire and support others to “Get Connected”. If you are interested in volunteering for this role, please download the application form and send it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

ACF will also be raising awareness of the project and encouraging new users to get online through a series of IT events throughout the year. The first set took place as part of Spring Online in May where we, along with our partners put on a total of 10 events. ACF put on 3 “taster workshops” on : shopping online, how to use email, skype and Facebook and accessing online public services, as well as having a stall at a health and well being coffee morning. These events were extremely successful and well attended, with approximately 140 people attending and 20 new users signed up for beginners IT classes at the Oaktree.

For more information on this national project which has 50 partners taking place, and to get a fuller flavour please visit http://communitychampion.org .If you’re interested in becoming a digital, or if you are an organisation who is interested in becoming a partner, please contact Lavonne at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .