Ards Intercultural Forum took a further step into making support services for ethnic minorities more accessible with the launch of a local info app, designed by South Eastern Regional College (SERC) student Connor Shand.
The Intercultural forum was set up a number of years ago using Peace III funding as a platform to work with Ards Borough Council and other statutory bodies to act as a support those from ethnic minorities moving to the borough.
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Councillor Kellie Armstrong – Ards Borough Council, Beverley Skillen – Good Relations Officer, Ards Borough Council, Joan Scott – Care in the Community, Deputy Mayor of North Down – Alderman Anne Wilson, Chair of the Ards Intercultural Forum – Lada Sharma, SERC tutor Eamonn Brankin and Aaron Jamison – Equality Officer, Ards Borough Council.[/caption]
One project undertaken was to produce a Support Services booklet providing useful information on matters such as education, housing, crime prevention and getting a National Insurance number.
Taking this a step further then, with the assistance of Peace III funding it was decided to make this information more accessible through an app and extending to the North Down area as the Ards and North Down Borough Council’s merged.
SERC HND IT student, Conor Shand, using skills from his studies at the college ported the support services booklet onto a mobile application, now live for android devices and to be rolled out to other services in the near future.
SERC’s Head of School for Computing and Engineering Kieran McKenna welcomed the opportunity.
“We are absolutely delighted with the outcome of our partnership with Ards Borough Council. Industry projects at SERC are a great vehicle for us to support businesses and organisations with the challenges they face as well as developing our students employability skills. These give students, who are studying the equivalent to A’ Level, the opportunity to showcase what they are capable of. We are very grateful to the Council for providing this opportunity and we are delighted that we can deliver real results for them.”
Conor Shand, who worked on the project along with his tutor Eamonn Brankin, was thrilled to be given the chance to work on a live project.
“It was great to get the opportunity to work with a local council and get hands on experience. I got the opportunity to work on a live industry project from concept through to completion. The whole project was a fantastic experience and will look great on my CV.”
Diversity Champion for Ards Borough Council, Councillor Kellie Armstrong, congratulated Conor on his achievement. She said: “The information which Conor has been able to port for the Intercultural Forum is invaluable to a community which may have difficulty in accessing these pieces of basic yet important information. I look forward to seeing the app rolled out to a wider audience in the near future.”
The app can be found for android devices by searching for ‘local info SERC’ and as development continues it is hoped to roll out access of the app on to iPhone and windows also.
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