Northampton youth work charity’s urgent appeal for laptop donations to help with home schooling

These are the words of Jodie Low who works as a director at Free 2 Talk, which is a youth charity that provides mental health and wellbeing support for children across the county.

Following the coronavirus outbreak, it has been highlighted to the charity the issue of digital exclusion for young people in Northamptonshire and how many struggle to do their homework set by teachers online as they are without a laptop.

Free 2 Talk reached out to families to find out whether they had sufficient equipment and WiFi to access home learning solutions and stay connected with friends and youth workers.

The response uncovered a desperate need for computers and laptops - with six requests a week - to assist youngsters with their learning and social interaction.

One parent described her children sharing a phone with a broken screen to try and complete their school work.

Jodie said “We’ve been moved by the community effort in Northampton to look after young people who don’t have the basics.

"Digital devices and internet access are essential to education and this has been the case for some time. I’m staggered by the number young people who go through primary and secondary school without the basic equipment they need - it’s like going to school without a pen.

"These young people are often labelled with behavioural problems but can you imagine how you would behave if you had no way of completing your work and you were then punished for not completing it?”

After initial donations from CityFibre, a digital infrastructure network currently working with the council to improve digital connection in Northampton, Free 2 Talk has secured 36 laptops, which have made a huge difference to young people already.

One of the grateful recipients told the charity how they can now atleast try and complete the work given to them.

Free 2 Talk would like to thank Northampton Borough Council, Adaptive I.T. and Maysons Designer Clothing for their donations however many more are needed.

If you or your organisation can help with this appeal, please get in touch by emailing [email protected]

If you don’t have equipment to give away but would still like to help, you can make cash donations through Local Giving localgiving.org/charity/free2talk/