Projects/

Financial & Digital Inclusion

Funded By

Santander Foundation

Project Status

Active

Overview

The Financial and Digital Inclusion project is a three-year project funded by the Santander Foundation. The key aim is to help people from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds with their financial and digital skills to enable them to use these skills in their daily lives. We want to help improve our beneficiaries’ circumstances and prospects by supporting people to get access to data and devices, helping them get online and give them the confidence to use these resources.

We also want to provide support with budgeting, welfare benefits, income maximisation and general finance advice. Beneficiaries of the project so far have been supported with food bank vouchers, sim cards, iPads, one-to-one advice, drop-in sessions, CV workshops and grant applications. We will also soon be able to help with fuel vouchers for those who are on prepayment metres and cannot afford to top up.

Project Activities

Making beneficiaries aware of what support and grants are available and helping them to complete applications for relevant support schemes.
Workshops and one-to-one sessions on how to create a budget and track spending.
Providing beneficiaries with access to free sim cards that are pre-loaded with data or a device to access the internet (subject to availability)
Support with creating a CV and using the internet to search for job vacancies.
One-to-one support with welfare benefits applications and advice on eligibility for benefits such as Universal Credit, PIP, Job Seekers Allowance, Pension Credit etc.
Drop-in sessions held across Wales for beneficiaries to get further information and advice.
Access to food bank vouchers for those who are struggling to afford food costs.

Testimonials

“They helped me and my family when we’ve lost our jobs and found ourselves homeless, within a day we’ve got a temporary accommodation and food parcels were sent to us twice a week. Thank you, we are forever grateful.”

Rafiqa Begum

“If it wasn’t for Race Equality First my children would’ve missed out on their school work as we struggled to access online schooling due to lack of devices. Race Equality First got involved the school contacted us few days after and offered us a laptop! Thank you for your help.”

Saeeda Khamaj

“Race Equality First helped me to get a one-off financial help within days and that helped straight away. Ever since I’ve been receiving food parcels every week.”

Faiza Parvez

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