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Volunteer Opportunities
Editors note: Looking for a way to soak up your spare time -- and make a difference? Volunteer opportunities are provided by the Friendship Volunteer Center. For more information call Friendship Volunteer Center at (239) 275-4427, unless otherwise indicated.
Voices for Kids needs volunteers. This non-profit organization works in partnership with the Guardian Ad Litem Program 20th Judicial Court. They ensure that every abused and neglected child in Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Glades and Hendry counties has a court appointed Guardian Ad Litem volunteer and that financial assistance and other resources are available for their accompanying health, educational and social needs. Opportunities include Advisory Board/Committee Members, special project volunteers and fundraisers.
UK online centre projects to demonstrate social impact of ICT
Thousands of socially excluded people will get the chance to change their lives and reconnect with their communities by connecting with ICT, thanks to 20 new projects to be run by UK online centres across England.
The projects will support the areas identified in last year's Social Exclusion Action Plan - families in poverty, teenage parents, adults with mental illnesses and those supporting children in care. Some projects will also support older people, who form a significant proportion of those at both a social and digital disadvantage.
UK online centres were encouraged to bid for their share in the £2million of Social Impact Demonstrators grant funding, provided by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). The top 20 projects were picked by a panel of judges, including private and voluntary sector stakeholders.
Heading up the panel was Helen Milner, Managing Director of UK online centres. She said: "We were looking for projects which demonstrated creative use of ICT and innovation in engaging with key audiences. The winning bids are all designed to make a deep impact on specific groups, getting some of the hardest to reach people online for the first time, learning new skills, connecting with their communities and interacting with public services.
"The projects will explore the links between social and digital exclusion, and how ICT and the skills to use it can benefit individuals, families, communities and society itself. I'm excited about the potential of these projects to make a real difference to people's lives, and a difference to how we look at and address digital and social exclusion in the future."
More than 150 UK online centres will be involved in delivering the 20 projects. Each project will receive up to £100,000, and run for between six and 15 months. Some will help disadvantaged people with free or loaned home computers and internet access - others are using blogs, video diaries and digital media to collect stories and record how ICT can change lives. From outreach activities to community websites, the successful projects will all bring together local voluntary and community organisations to engage and support the people they're targeting.
One of the successful bids came from the Harold Tomlins Centre in Chester, run by Chester Aid to the Homeless (CATH). Chief Executive Robert Bisset explained: "The Social Impact Demonstrators funding will help us embed ICT into the work we already do to support homeless people. The project will see the introduction of a new 'Living and Learning' programme which will target older homeless people and those clients with mental health problems, and which will have technology at its heart.
"The fact is computers are key to everyday life now - in terms of employment and even communication. An email account is a real lifeline if you don't have a fixed address, and we've found ICT can be a real 'hook' for people. Once they're in front of a monitor, we'll introduce different elements of the programme, including living strategies and job skills, courses and qualifications. We'll also integrate housing services and work or volunteer experience by building on existing partnerships with the council and with local businesses.
"At CATH, we work with some very vulnerable and troubled people, for whom homelessness is often just one of many problems. Our job is to help them progress their lives - finding confidence, stability, accommodation and work. I'm excited about the potential of this project to help even more people make that journey."
Helen concluded: "Like Robert, I believe ICT really does have the potential to offer people new opportunities and new choices. I also believe UK online centres have a role to play in ensuring socially excluded people are able to take advantage of them. The results of these projects will help us demonstrate the clear link between social and digital exclusion, and help shape future activity to ensure we're reaching those who need us most."
Ends
For more information on UK online centres and the Social Impact Demonstrators projects, please contact Abi Stevens on 0790 987 5890.
Notes to editors
UK online centres engage with adults who have low or no skills in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), or who do not have access to ICT at home or at work.
FTC launches crackdown on work-at-home scams
US consumer rights organisation the Federal Trade Commission has joined up with law enforcement agencies to launch a crackdown on bogus job opportunity scams.
Project FAL$E HOPE$ encompasses 100 law enforcement actions against various bogus work-at-home scams. The bogus business opportunities targeted include vending machines, ATM and Internet terminals, display racks for coffee and ink cartridges, Internet-based businesses, envelope stuffing, medical billing, and others.
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Is An Online Degree Right for You?
(ARA) - With the ever-changing job market and increasing competition for stable, well-paying jobs, more and more adults are seeking additional education to help them in their current professions or to prepare them for a career change. For people who are working full time, online learning, sometimes referred to as distance learning, can be a great choice. Taking courses online enables you to pursue an advanced degree without sacrificing the time you spend with your family or the momentum you have in a career track. Online programs allow learners to take courses when it's convenient for them. Without set classroom time, learners can work on assignments from home, the office, or on the road -- as long as they have access to e-mail and the Internet.The practicality and convenience of online learning has helped it become a popular choice among busy adults.
Slush life
CONSIDER THE FICTION writer. She pours months into a story collection or novel, working on it in solitude with no pay or promises in place, hiring baby sitters while home, skipping dinner parties. But after a lot of toil she's pretty sure she's the Great American Talent. She and her agent send it off to a publisher. Then, much later, comes the note of rejection, so brief and impersonal it has the stench of a template in Microsoft Word.
But the lone thwarted writer now has an alternative, albeit a virtual one. A new online project called The Frontlist (thefrontlist.com) aims to create a new kind of writers' community (to alleviate the solitude) and a better pipeline to publishers (to improve the odds of success).
Of course, writers' workshops, which offer an opportunity for feedback and a community of like-minded souls, have been around for decades.
SCHUMACHER TO WORK FROM HOME
Michael Schumacher may not be in the driving seat for Ferrari anymore but he will still have a big role to play in the future of the team.
Indeed, Mario Almondo, Ferrari's new technical director says Schumacher will be involved in the team's Grand Prix challenges even when he is not at the circuit.
"We'll have a remote connection when he won't be at the Grand Prix, so he'll be making a difference even from home," Almondo revealed.
"Schumacher will be part of the group."
Schumacher spearheaded Ferrari's attack for a decade after moving from Benetton in 1996, winning five consecutive titles between 2000 and 2004.
In October, Ferrari revealed that Schumacher would still have a role to play in the team, as assistant to Scuderia Ferrari CEO Jean Todt.
EXE Home: DropTeam
January 5, 2007 - Battlefront.com and TBG Software are pleased to announce the availability and release of an updated DropTeam Demo. This new demo now offers both Single and Multiplayer gameplay and includes all of the dozens of improvements and new units added since the game was originally released, earlier this year. Of course, that includes the new infantry units that were part of a recent update! The demo allows you to play with all the same units as the full game, but is limited to just a single map, the radioactive wasteland of a moon known as Hopewell.DropTeam combines accurate physics and ballistic systems, intelligent and realistic unit and weaponry capabilities with fast paced action set in a stark future of humanity. This DropTeamDemo includes installers for all three supported operating systems.
Faqs! Facts! Fax! Building an entertainment system
Rick Maybury deals with your techno traumas
Q Can you tell me how to add or remove a search engine on the list in Firefox's Search Bar in the top right hand corner of the page?
Brian Mills, via email A To remove entries in older versions of Firefox open Windows Explorer and make you way to: C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins. (Additional entries may also be found at: C:\Documents and Settings\<yourname>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ default.XXx\searchplugins. There's normally two entries for each search engine with *.src, *.gif and *.png extension and you have to delete them both. If you want to change the order install an 'Extension' called Search Engine Ordering from: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2164/. Click the Install Now button and after Firefox has been rebooted you will find the option 'Rearrange Search Engines' on the Tools menu.
