Providing digital skills to jobseekers and single parents

Team Leader Annette Onuoha is ready for the start of SEE programs at Hudson Road Family Centre in February.

A program aimed at providing jobseekers and single parents with the skills to navigate the digital world will kick off at Hudson Road Family Centre in February 2018.
Skills for Education Employment (SEE) is run by SMYL, a community-based not for profit organisation dedicated to helping people and local communities make positive changes for the future.

The program is for anybody aged 15-64, or over 21 and in receipt of some kind of income support, who is looking for employment.

The program has previously been rolled out in Mandurah, Rockingham and Fremantle, with so much success that those areas now have waiting lists for future programs.

 “The program is not new for Bunbury, but the approach is new, and the target group is new for Bunbury,” Program Manager Tracey Stankovic said.

“The local job active providers and Centrelink have indicated that there’s a group of mature-aged jobseekers and parents really struggling with navigating the digital world, which in itself is an inhibitor to work.”

Tracey said that the program treats literacy as more than just reading and writing.

“This is the new way of reading and writing in the 21st century. This is the skills you need to be competitive,” she said.

“We thought we’d take it out to community centres such as Hudson Road as a more inviting and more familiar environment and quite different to coming to a reading and writing program in an office.”

The program helps participants to develop skills in online banking, cyber safety, using digital media to market yourself, setting up digital profiles, and using a computer.

“We are finding a lot of people have bought devices and don’t know how to use them,” Tracey said.

“We’re happy for people to bring their devices. We can help them learn how to use it.”

The program has a rolling intake. “You can start whenever you want. If you need a month and you feel confident you can leave us, if you need another month, stay another month – it’s self-driven,” Tracey said.

SEE will run on Mondays and Tuesdays from 8.30am-3.15pm at Hudson Road Family Centre, starting on February 12. Classes will be kept to 12-15 people to ensure one on one engagement.

Expressions of interest are welcome now. Email [email protected] to sign up or for more information.

SEE is funded by the Commonwealth Government for eligible participants.
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