Power to Connect – an update

Power To Connect was set up in April 2020 as a direct response to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Together, Battersea Power Station and Wandsworth Council launched the Power To Connect initiative. Schools and Community Organisations in Wandsworth requested support with access to data and IT devices to help families stay connected and engage in homeschooling during the lockdown. With a two-pronged approach, the project tackles ‘digital poverty’ by distributing data vouchers and laptops or tablets.

Initially, Battersea Power Station Foundation made a donation of £10,000 towards £10 data top-up vouchers for families on Pay As You Go mobile phones and data dongles. The donation was made to the Council’s school meal voucher app, as we identified most of the families struggling with access to data were also recipients of free school meals.

Power To Connect then encouraged donations of old, working laptops and tablets from local residents and businesses. To date Power To Connect has collected over 340 devices from local members of the community, refurbished them as Google Chromebooks and donated them to 36 local schools and community organisations. Once delivered schools identify who the vulnerable families are who would benefit most from a laptop. Devices are for families to keep.

Local volunteers are recruited via social media and through local community partners. Volunteers provide IT specialism in repurposing the donated computers, cleaning and checking devices; delivering and collecting devices from the donors from across London; and delivering updated devices across Wandsworth.

As the lockdown restrictions begin to ease, Power To Connect is committed to continuing our work and are in the process of becoming a Community Interest Company. We are busy forming partnerships with local and corporate businesses to encourage them to sign up to our Business Pledge to donate devices safely and sustainably, so Power To Connect can redistribute them to communities that need them most.

In Numbers

  • 340 devices donated to Power To Connect in total
  • 101 of these devices were donated by corporate partners
  • 303 updated Chromebook devices delivered to Schools and Community Organisations since April 2020 in Wandsworth
  • 268 Laptops / 35 Tablets  / 2 iMAC Desktops / 8 iPhones all donated locally through PtC
  • 205 devices delivered to 38 schools
  • 48 volunteers signed up as IT, Logistics and Transport volunteers
  • 6 community organisations in Wandsworth have benefited including FAST London, Carney’s Community, Katherine Low Settlement, Waste Not Want Not, Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees and Live Karma Yoga.
Contact

If you would like to donate an old laptop or device and/or would like to get involved with Power to Connect then:

Thank you all your support. We will continue to keep you up to date.

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