Breaking: Millennium Point joins laptop campaign to fight ‘digital poverty’
The Millennium Point Charitable Trust has joined the Connect_In campaign to help the hundreds of families who have fallen victim to ‘digital poverty’, by not only donating refurbished laptops but acting as a drop-off and collection point for donations.
What is the Campaign?
Launched by The Child Poverty Action Forum and supported by Wowdot CIC, the Connect_In campaign aims to ensure the most disadvantaged families are receiving the help that they need with homeschooling during the pandemic, in the form of laptops and a stable internet connection.
Abbie Vlahakis, CEO of Millennium Point, commented: “Education and STEM are in the trust’s DNA, so it was clear to us that we had to get involved with the Connect_In campaign.
“It’s essential that every child has access to education and digital provision during the pandemic, to give everyone the same life chances and to prevent the “huge gap” between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and their peers. We’ll not only be serving as a hub for drop-off and collection of laptops, but we’re committed to donating thousands of laptops to disadvantaged local school children too.”
Ongoing support for STEM in the region
Despite a year rocked by covid-19, the Millennium Point Charitable Trust amassed multi-millions in contributions and donations in 2020 as part of its mission to provide continued support for the region’s STEM sector; this has included funding more than 40 projects in the form of small grants to fund STEM-related projects in the region; working with Birmingham City University’s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and The Built Environment to offer a free undergraduate degree through the Millennium Point Scholarship, with applications for the seventh year is open now; an annual donation to ThinkTank Science Museum and rent reductions for STEM tenants.
Abbie comments: “This is another example of our continued investment in STEM-related organisations, projects and initiatives that benefit Birmingham and the wider region, which has totalled more than £25m over the past six years.”
Donated laptops can be dropped off at Millennium Point reception on Level 0; to find out more about the campaign, go to https://wow-group.co.uk/wowdot/
IMage caption (left to right): Cas Majid (CEO of WOW Group), Abbie Vlahakis (Millennium Point CEO) and Bevil Williams (Managing Director at Repc Ltd) delivering laptops and equipment to Highfields School in Saltley
Press enquiries please contact Jon Perks or Allyson Loots at CAB Campaign – [email protected] / [email protected]
Millennium Point is a landmark public building and multi-award-winning events venue in the Eastside of Birmingham City centre. Profits from our commercial activity are invested by the Millennium Point Charitable Trust into projects, events and initiatives which support the growth of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and education in the West Midlands. Find more interesting content from Millennium Point over at our news section, or follow us for daily updates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn with @MillenniumPoint.
