Mid-Ulster HCN Members Get Online with Area Forums

Cookstown HCN group with Supporting Communities staff members , Lucia and Carla

This past August, Housing Community Network members from Dungannon, Cookstown, and Magherafelt took advantage of training support from Supporting Communities to start using the new Online Members Forum.

The Members Forum is the new home for the Housing Community Network, including meeting agendas, minutes and other documents.

“It’s good because if you miss a meeting, you can go on the platform to read the minutes and keep up with what’s going on,” said Phyllis Clarke from Fivemiletown Estates Group. The session with Carla was excellent. She helped me get my emails sorted out on my tablet, so I am ready to go paperless!” she added.

Ursula Marshall from the Disability Forum also sang Carla’s praises. Despite difficulties with the Wi-Fi at the training venue, Ursula was eager to compliment Carla’s relaxed approach to digital skills. “She was so, so good! So patient and able to help everyone with all different kinds of devices.”

“I think the online forum will be useful for me to have materials in one place. I can let the disability forum know what is available there. I can also see how the chat function would be useful for groups to reach out to others. You could contact someone you don’t have a phone number or email for,” Ursula said.

Dungannon group with Digital inclusion Officer, Carla

Carla Mulholland, formerly of the ONSIDE Project, is the HCN Digital Inclusion Officer at Supporting Communities. She is working her way around to groups all over Northern Ireland, making sure that members have the skills they need to access their forums online. She aims to have all the Area HCNs signed up and using the Online Members Forums soon!

Carla has been working with our Community Development Officers, the Central Housing Forum’s Digital Inclusion Working Group, and the Community Involvement team at the Housing Executive to ensure that the online forums are accessible to everyone. Carla says the Mid-Antrim area meetings went well and should be used as a model for other areas.

“One of the best things about these training sessions was that Lucia (our CDO for the Mid-Ulster Area) got the Housing Executive staff members to train alongside the group members. I think this helped everyone envisage how we can use the Online Forums to communicate and share things in a secure way,” she said.

“I teach people to initially think of the Forums as a big online filing cabinet, but there is potential to use it for more as we all get used to using it,” said Carla. These meetings with multiple groups and staff all together got that conversation going.

Magherafelt HCN group with Carla Mulholland

As with any new way of doing things, it may take users a little time to get used to it. Deidre Bradley from Granaghan & District Women’s Group attended the Magherafelt training session. She says, “Carla showed us how to log on to the Forum and guided us around it and provided detailed notes on how to do so. The session was very relaxed and informal. I feel the best way to maximise the use of the Forum is, unsurprisingly, practice”.

That sounds like good advice! Practice makes perfect, and we encourage each Area Forum to make it their own by sharing information and keeping in touch online!

Supporting Communities has added a quick link to the main menu of our website to help members access the online forums. We encourage all area-level HCN members to give it a try, and if you need training support, Carla is here for you!