THE Digital Poverty Alliance has joined forces with retailer Currys in a programme launched in Workington this week.

Their Tech4Families project will see disadvantaged families across Allerdale and Copeland being given laptops to help reconnect them to the digital world.

During the Workington celebration, Serenna McGuinness, aged 12, was given a laptop, which she said would allow her to do her homework at home.

Workington and West Cumbria were two of five regions for the project because they are two of the areas most affected by digital poverty.

 Other locations include Staffordshire, Ayrshire in Scotland, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend in Wales, and the Norfolk Coast.

The partnership, in a statement this week, said: "Increasingly, not having access to the digital world means not having access to fundamental of life like education, healthcare, training and social security. 

"Recent research even found that one in five children who had been homeschooling in 2021 did not have access to an appropriate device to do so. Tech4Families, the initiative being rolled out by the Digital Poverty Alliance and Currys, seeks to solve this issue by helping families who need a laptop to get one."

For more information about Tech4Families, or information on how you can help, visit here: https://digitalpovertyalliance.org/tech4families/

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