[Tom] IT Reuse is a Community Furniture Store project that provides computer equipment, laptops, tablets to people in need in the city of York. So we take donations from the general public and restore them and put any software on that they need and give them out.

We got started last year – it was a collaboration between the Council, Changing Lives and Community Furniture Store, as well as some other partners, and from then we’ve gone from strength to strength. From two laptops last year, we’ve had over 400 donations and given out nearly 150 laptops into the community.

[Emma] My name is Emma Greenall. I’m a Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Support Worker for the City of York Council so my role is to support the refugees in York who are here through the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme.

So the people I work with being refugees, when they arrive to York they don’t have any equipment – they don’t have laptops, they don’t have phones so they have no means of being able to access provisions available to them. So one of those provisions is the English classes and to access the English classes they need to go online on a laptop so I contact Tom and I do a referral through to him which is very simple, very straightforward, and he arrange for me to come and collect a laptop and sometimes a phone from him through the IT Reuse scheme.

[Tom] IT Reuse is important to the city because it provides access to computer and laptop equipment so that people can access the Internet. At present 15,000 people in York don’t have access to a computer or Internet connection and we make it available to those who wouldn’t be able to afford it normally.

Liz: My name is Liz O’Connell Ward and I’m a Lone Parent Key Worker for Aspire-igen. We’re based at The Opportunity Centre and we help and support lone parents back into training and education It has helped our participants immensely to get back into education and training, to access courses online to help their children – both teenagers and small children access learning and it has helped connect them to opportunities that they might not have had if they didn’t have the use of IT.

[Nicola] It’s just been such an incredible gift actually. It’s been lovely for the parents because prior to IT Reuse being a service that we could access, we were scrabbling around for bits and bobs of money here, there and everywhere, so for us just to be able to pick up the phone, fill in a form and have a laptop or a device as quickly as you get them out is incredible.

[Tyler] From day one here, I was busy assembling laptops, wiping and preparing them to be sent out to clients. Ever since then my responsibilities have been increasing as my confidence grows. Since I left college, I’ve been through a variety of voluntary placements but I’ve had great difficulty finding work due to chronic health issues and sensory issues. Finding this opportunity at IT Reuse has been amazing for my health, my mental health and general wellbeing. It’s an environment that’s friendly to me, I’ve got a very supportive team of people to help me get used to work and to deal with any problems that I face.

[Steve] The United Response Supported Employment service is here to link local disabled jobseekers with the local needs of businesses. We work with local employers to tap into a commonly and vastly unused talent pool of people. With regard to the work that we’ve been doing with IT Reuse, Tyler has been the perfect employee for them, due to his skills, determination and technical knowledge for the work that they do.

IT Reuse is the perfect match for Tyler, giving him the support, training, in-work mentoring whilst providing him with professional qualifications. A real success story.

[Danny] My experience with working with Tyler and United Response was a really positive experience. The major thing I could say about it. I mean the ongoing work that I did with United Response with him was a great partnership, probably one of the best that we’ve managed to do with somebody, because not only did they work with him on an individual basis, they approached me along with Tyler to make sure that the three of us worked together to ensure that we actually went for a job that Tyler wanted to do and that would suit him because that was ultimately the main aim – to get something that he wanted to do and that would help him in his future.

[Tom] The support from United Response has been fantastic from the start of the process with inducting Tyler, right up to now. They’ve been able to help us with any support need that Tyler has, anything that we can do better as an organisation and also through the partnership, they’ve fed in to our digital strategy and provided marketing materials. It’s been really great working with United Response.

[Steve] From the beginning, IT Reuse have understood our work through our shared principles. Tom and IT Reuse have made our job easy, nurturing Tyler through his professional development.

Tom very much operates an open-door culture for Tyler and us. The work we have done together has felt very much like a partnership – a partnership tailor-made for future success, both for our job seekers and also local people struggling to access the digital world.

[Tyler] It’s really been life changing for me – it’s changed the entire way I live. I have a routine now, I do a lot more healthy things. I’d like to tell employees, just do it – contact United Response because they have done everything possible to help me arrive at my first and dream job. They are really good at working with neurodivergent people and people with challenging needs. They have just been stellar and there’s no reason not to use them.

[Tom] This working with United Response allows…

[voice off screen] That’s fine!

[Tom] Hi sorry?

[laughter]

I’ll do a little dance for you in a minute!

[Voice off screen] Yeah that’s fine!

I’ve ruined your shot!

[laughter]

[Danny] You were just doing a little

tester then, weren’t you?

[Voice off screen] We can do a second one, that’s fine

[Danny] Use the tester though!