Housing project wins BT award

A project run by Nottingham Community Housing Association, has won computer software for its homeless youngsters, as well as a contribution towards one year's BT Total Broadband access.

The London Road Young Persons Project in Grantham was awarded the prize as part of the BT Community Connections Scheme.

Beating the thousands who entered, London Road Young Persons Project impressed the judges with their ideas on how a PC would benefit the young people who live at the project and the community in general.

The award is the first step in setting up an on-site training suite within the project to help the young people get back into education and training. It is hoped that as more facilities become available in the future other training can be offered.

Sam Williams, the project manager said:

"We are absolutely delighted with the award. We house 11 previously homeless young people within the age range of 16 - 25 years. Many of the young people who come to us have had problems at school resulting in them leaving school with few, if any, qualifications. The training suite will help them to re-start their education and give them the confidence to get back into education or training, which is one of the aims of the London Road project."

The BT Scheme is now in its fourth year and has awarded more than 5,000 IT packages to thousands of community projects across the UK, helping more than five million people, which has opened up a world of marketing, training, recruitment, fundraising, communication and networking possibilities.

Beth Courtier, head of BT's charity programme added:

"This award scheme aims to give as many people as possible access to the internet and allows groups to develop their projects using easier and more effective methods.”