History of HaKIT

The name HaKIT was created by a local resident and stands for Hangleton & Knoll Information Technology, which was set up in 1999 and is part of the Hangleton & Knoll Project.

The Hangleton & Knoll Project was successful in securing some governments regeneration money and was used to open up a local job centre which was called "Opportunities". "Opportunities" was an informal advice and guidance service based in a shop which local people could use, to find out about job vacancies, training and receive help in applying for jobs. This included all aspects of a job application from writing cv's to interview techniques.

Following feedback from local residents who were concerned about their skills gap, particularly around computer skills. A mobile "Computer Bus" from the Brinsbury College was invited along to the Grenadier to provide some IT training. From all accounts there were major upsets getting it into and parked in the car park behind Alldays, none of this put off the residents and the sessions were well attended. From this session keen residents went onto the Hangleton Library for further training and reached RSA Level 3 in Computing. Some local residents were enthusiastic to continue to use computers and an independent community group the Hangleton and Knoll Computer Club was formed.

Due to the continued demand for local computer training, the Hangleton & Knoll Project were successfully chosen to set up a Learning Access Centre, under the 1999 Policy Action Team initiative. The Hangleton & Knoll Project was one of only five pilot projects in the whole country. With the support of The Department of Trade and Industry and The Department of Employment & Education four computers were purchased and installed at "Opportunities" (which was previously located where the Sun Trap salon is now at the Grenadier) The training skills were purchased from trainers and local organisations such as SCIP (Sussex Computer Internet Project) to deliver further training to the local community.

By 2002, there had been approximately 65 local residents trained each year and the first Computer Literacy and Information Technology (CLAIT) certificates were presented at "Opportunities". Ongoing community consultations identified that there was a need for more training facilities and it was no longer possible to stay in the shop front premises at the Grenadier.

By 2003, HaKIT expanded into the two local community centres and were part of a national network of UK On line Centres, which were aimed at increasing access to computers and information for information about e-government services. In total, 12 computers were purchased and made available for local residents and groups to access and receive training. This was funded by The New Opportunities Fund part of The Department for Education and Skills. By the end of 2003, 600 visits in total had been made to both of the centres.

In 2006, due to regular use and feedback from learners about the lack of space at the Hangleton Community Centre room, the HaKIT project was granted permission from the Council to extend the small training rooms into a larger, more comfortable training environment with 8 state of the arc computers and flat screens. This was supported and funded by the University for Industry and Brighton & Hove Capital Grants. The HaKIT project now regularly supports and trains approximately 132 local residents a year and has over 1440 visits a year by local people.

The Hangleton & Knoll Computer Club are now among the regular tutors delivering computer training in the computer rooms.