It looks as if the efforts of Colin Wilson and colleagues at Lasa have paid off, according to a project update in Computanews about UK Government support for circuit riders . Lasa is leading a consortium of organisations developing the US model of mobile tech support workers for nonprofit organisations. (but see my update-2 and 3 below)
Computanews reports: "Government funding to start making this happen became available as we went to press. The money comes from the fund for Voluntary and Community Infrastructure, administered by the Active Community Unit in the Home Office. A total of £10 million will be invested in voluntary sector IT across England in the next few years."
Update: Lee Bryant at Headshift has followed up with a telling explanation - based on his experience in nonprofit and for-profit fields - of why community and voluntary organisations need help. It's not just a question of getting up to speed to meet internal needs, but also being able to fulfill an expanding role of delivering public services.
I think one of the many challenges for circuit riders will be how to add to their technical expertise, an understanding of the organisational development issues that are raised by full integration of technology. Circuit rider teams needed. Trouble is the organisational development folk are not necessarily too tech-capable themselves as I've written before. How can we bridge a wider digital divide (however we interpret that) if the organisations in the front line face such a big internal divide themselves?
Update-2: More careful reading of the Computanews article, and checks with others in the field, suggests that the LASA initiative has so far just got six months funding, although they are generally reckoned to be front-runners for more substantial support.
The Computanews quote above continues: " Projects starting now are funded by “Early Spend” money which will support them for six months. In our case, we need to consider which organisations should be involved in the consortium – what can other groups contribute? We’re aware, for example, that the strategy must deliver for black and minority ethnic organisations, so we’ll want to consider how we do that. We also need to make robust arrangements about how we’re going to work together – how do we make decisions when we disagree? – and draw up a business plan for the two years’ work. Finally, we need to know whether the two year project makes a real difference. We’re going to carry out a baseline study so we know where we’re starting from.
“Early Spend” projects are also being funded at a regional level by the Government Offices for the Regions – decisions will have been made by the time you read this. We hope to contact local projects to start making links.
" Next steps: Two years’ further funding will become available later this year. The national consortium will be bidding to continue its work. The Government Offices for the Regions will also be funding two-year projects at a regional and local level. If the consortium is funded at this stage, part of its role would be to coordinate the work of local projects, to avoid reinventing the wheel and to allow regional workers to support each other."
So... I would expect to see some other support models merge, and/or interesting discussions about just who will be in the eventual consortium.
Apologies for initial confusion. I've asked Colin and other for more news.
Update 3
I've blogged How far should blogalysts check their facts?, and also received the following from Colin - thanks.
The development of the UK Circuit Rider movement is certainly progressing well.
= Ten organisations are now members of the Circuit Rider Steering Group. Including both national organisations and local groups from around England, the Steering Group has organised a series of successful meetings around the country - the next is in July in Darlington.
= At the most recent meeting - yesterday in London - around thirty people heard an introduction from Teresa Crawford, a leading figure in the US and international Circuit Rider movements. We had a lively discussion about how those experiences can be brought to the UK. We also looked at some US online resources to help organisations find tech support, and also inventory their equipment and plan their technology use, which we hope to bring to the UK.
= Over 250 people are now members of our UKRiders mailing list. Members use the list to discuss issues around technology in small voluntary sector organisations, and about how to build the Circuit Rider movement.
= Lasa is organising a Circuit Rider conference for mid-September in London. This event is co-hosted by N-TEN, who organised last month's Nonprofit Technology Conference in Philadelphia and organise regional conferences around the USA.
= Many local organisations are now interested in setting up Circuit Rider projects. In the words of Paul Ticher, writing in the DSG's "Funding for
Change" magazine, there is a "wave of enthusiasm for Circuit Riding."
Colin continues:
I'm not personally involved in the Voluntary Sector ICT Consortium - Lasa's ICT Manager Terry Stokes represents us on the project board. But I would make the following points in response to your blog, after discussion at the Circuit Rider Steering Group yesterday:
= The Consortium involves NCVO, NACVS, Lasa and IT4Communities, with WCIT acting in an advisory capacity. All four organisations are equals in this process - the consortium isn't led by Lasa.
= As you say in your update, the Consortium has six months' funding at this stage.
= The Consortium's workplan doesn't centre on Circuit Riding. The Consortium is currently developing a business plan to assess how the current members could work together most effectively to deliver the sort of services the ACU mentioned in their Infrastructure discussion document (and which will presumably be amended somewhat after consultation.) Part of those discussions is assessing whether other organisations should be invited to join the consortium. There are also plans to assess the current state of voluntary sector ICT, so the consortium can measure the success of any future work. Should the consortium gain further funding this autumn, it will also provide some co-ordination between local work funded from the Infrastrcture money.
I know that the Consortium is currently setting up a website, where the latest news will be available from the horse's mouth.
I hope this clears things up.
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