History

Following a series of public meetings which began in September 1995, representatives from various voluntary & community, public and private organisations came together to propose a new type of organisation. This new organisation was called Sussex Community Internet Project (SCIP) and was created in March 1996.

PACT Community Projects initially provided space to house SCIP for a period of twelve months. Funding from Legal and General and BT provided the initial boost needed to develop voluntary activities, including training and a large public meeting. SCIP moved into its own office space at Community Base in 1997 and became an incorporated Ltd Company by Guarantee (not-for-profit) in September 1999.

Since then SCIP has developed a range of services and community projects to help meet the needs of the local voluntary and community sector. Services includes training, technical support, web design, database development and consultancy. Projects have included work with older people, young people, various neighbourhood projects and a long running relationship with Big Issue which enabled homeless people to access email and computers.

SCIP has attempted to shape policy by arguing for a more holistic approach to ICT (Information Community Tecnology) initiative partnership building. In this way it has consciously sought to bring bottom-up and top-down development approaches together, with the aim of benefiting the whole community.

Although much has been achieved through goodwill and enthusiastic volunteers, the major challenge facing SCIP is that of financial sustainability. If it is to develop its role and continue its influence resources and core funding are required that will enable it to undertake the tasks ahead. How, and whether, it can achieve sustainability is an issue in need of urgent consideration.

Its services now operate as a social enterprise - a not for profit business that charges for its services. It has a mix of grant funding and earned income from a wide range of clients, from small local community groups to regional and national not for profit bodies, such as NAVCA, Museums Libraries and Archives (MLQ) and net:gain.

Today SCIP remains committed to the development of a bottom-up use of technology in community networks, as part of a wider goal of tackling the digital divide. In this sense SCIP has evolved from its early roots as a catalyst organisation for a community network into a community-oriented enterprise of social entrepreneurs focusing on the utilisation of ICTs for capacity building in the third sector.

Dr Peter Day, Researcher in Community Informatics, Director of SCIP