BOSS (Be Online and Stay Safe)

Leeds Older People’s Forum is a partner on this programme with 100% Digital Leeds. BOSS is funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s (DCMS) Media Literacy Taskforce Fund, until December 2023.

About this project

LOPF and 100% Digital Leeds are working with four delivery partners:

Projects will support older people (aged 60+) from diverse communities to develop their media literacy skills and protect themselves from online disinformation.

Our delivery partners will develop a variety of learning materials to use in informal courses with older people.

Delivery partners have been closely involved in developing BOSS. We expect to learn from the programme and hope that this way of working on the issue will be replicable in other areas of the UK.

We will be working with the National Media Literacy Taskforce and national mentors to deliver and evaluate the project, alongside the three other DCMS funded projects across the country.

BOSS is part of our commitment to the digital inclusion of older people in Leeds.

BOSS objectives

Work on BOSS will focus on the following objectives:

Supporting older people to develop an understanding of how the online environment operates.
Building older people’s resilience to online disinformation and misinformation.
Supporting older people to develop an understanding of the risks and benefits of engaging with others online
Supporting older people to increase their digital skills and confidence in using and navigating the online world.

Funding for BOSS

The Media Literacy Taskforce Fund is one of two DCMS funding schemes created to target ‘hard-to-reach’ and vulnerable groups by investing in community-led projects to ensure everyone has the opportunity to improve their media literacy skills and protect themselves from online disinformation.

LOPF is one of just four organisations in the country to be awarded a grant through the Taskforce Fund.

Contact

For more information about BOSS, please contact
Digital Inclusion Coordinator, Samantha Haggart – samantha@opforum.org.uk

#BOSSMediaLiteracy