CCHPR has been commissioned to evaluate the New Horizons programme. New Horizons combines elements of financial inclusion, digital inclusion and employability delivered by employees hosted delivered from hubs in Peterborough, Wisbech, Kings Lynn and Cambridge with rural outreach. This project is funded by the European Social Fund and the National Lottery, through the Big Lottery Fund.
Digital exclusion and poverty in the UK: How structural inequality shapes experiences of getting online
Digital Geography and Society have published a paper by Drs Hannah Holmes and Gemma Burgess.
The paper focuses on the complex relationship between digital exclusion and poverty, and examines how a range of spatial, material, and temporal factors related to experiences of poverty shape opportunities to use the internet. Drawing upon qualitative data from interviews with coaches and participants in the New Horizons programme, the paper traces several key ways in which different aspects of poverty – including housing inequality – coalesce to shape experiences of digital exclusion. In doing so, the paper argues that examining the ways in which these seemingly offline aspects of poverty affect opportunities to use the internet provides an opportunity to enhance understandings of exactly how digital exclusion is manifested for those experiencing poverty.
Holmes, H. and Burgess, G. (2022) Digital exclusion and poverty in the UK: How structural inequality shapes experiences of getting online. Digital Geography and Society, Volume 3, 2022, 100041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diggeo.2022.100041.
Digital exclusion and the importance of getting online
CCHPR’s third report for New Horizons focuses on digital inclusion, which encompasses access to suitable devices and internet connections, as well as digital literacy and a range of other factors. It draws on interviews with coaches and participants from the New Horizons project, to show how experiences of digital exclusion are shaped by the broader contexts of people’s lives.
The report, by Hannah Holmes and Gemma Burgess, highlights the various factors which influence individuals’ levels of digital exclusion, and shows that many of these factors are rooted in poverty and entrenched inequalities. It also indicates how New Horizons can help participants to move towards a greater level of digital inclusion, and shows that this is important for meeting aims set out by the New Horizons project, including managing finances, and finding work.
Homelessness Prevention through One-to-One Coaching
Homelessness Prevention through One-To-One Coaching: The Relationship between Coaching, Class Stigma, and Self-Esteem by Hannah Holmes and Gemma Burgess has been published by Housing, Theory and Society.
New Horizons: Long term impact of coaching & the wider context of structural poverty
Hannah Holmes and Gemma Burgess 's report for New Horizons looks at the longer term impact of the project.
The latest findings of the evaluation of the New Horizons programme provides valuable insights into the multiple long term benefits for people who received coaching. It also explores the broader constraints, beyond the cope of the programme, that are faced by former participants.
The Digital Divide: what does the research tell us?
Gemma Burgess presented some of CCHPR's research findings as part of the Cambridge Digital Partnership's online conference on 19 October 2020.
Beyond the pandemic: tackle the digital divide
The crisis is forcing us all to change direction, to rethink what we do and how we do it. In this series, the University of Cambridge asks the question: beyond the pandemic, where should we go from here?
Coronavirus has highlighted the UK's digital divide
A short paper by Hannah Holmes and Dr Gemma Burgess looked at the early impact of the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown on digitally excluded families.
Working together to respond to poverty in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
The New Horizons Conference was held on 21 November, 2019 at the Storey Centre, Eddington, Cambridge.
ITV News Anglia report on New Horizons
ITV News Anglia reporter Elodie Harper reported on the impact of the New Horizons project at the end of May 2019.
Tackling social and digital exclusion
Early Career Researcher Valentine Quinio presented to the People, Place and Policy Conference at Sheffield Hallam University on 3 July 2019.
Tackling digital, financial and employment exclusion
This report for the Evaluation of the New Horizons programme provides evidence about the impact of personalised coaching for people facing financial, digital and workplace exclusion.
Living on the edge
The University of Cambridge has profiled CCHPR's evaluation of the New Horizons programme in its spotlight on research in the East of England.
Looking into Cambridge's future
Cambridge Science Festival: CCHPR's Dr Gemma Burgess took part in the Research Horizons Public Talk, 'Looking into Cambridge's future', in Cambridge on Wednesday 20 March 2019.
New Horizons Evaluation: Findings from the first two years
Kathryn Muir's presentation to New Horizons gave a comprehensive insight into the findings of the first two years of the project.
