The Digital Circle works with communities across British Columbia to build the skills, confidence, and support systems that make technology a tool anyone can reach for.
Across British Columbia, communities face a widening gap between the digital world and the people it was supposed to serve.
Powerful smartphones in vulnerable hands. Scams, privacy risks, and no understanding of what they're holding. Devices that could connect are instead causing harm. The people most targeted by online fraud are the least equipped to recognize it.
Energy and potential with no pathway to the digital economy. Technology could provide purpose and direction, but nobody's showing them how to use it as a tool for building something real.
Youth programs running the same activities year after year. Digital tools that could engage and excite young people sit unused. The programming hasn't kept up.
Languages, stories, and traditions exist in living memory. Without the tools to record, archive, and share them, every elder who passes takes irreplaceable knowledge with them.
The problem isn't the content. It's the model. Workshops treat digital literacy like a one-time event. But digital confidence requires ongoing practice, support, and someone to call when you get stuck.
Youth inside the community are trained as digital navigators for their neighbours, families, and elders. When the engagement ends, the capability remains. The knowledge lives in people, not in a binder on a shelf.
Every session produces a real outcome. Not "how to create a password" but actually securing accounts. Not "introduction to video calling" but calling the grandchild together and making sure it works.
Youth teach technology. Elders share culture, language, and lived experience. Both give and receive something meaningful. That dynamic builds relationships, and relationships are what make a program stick.
Six messages. Some are real, some are scams. Can you tell the difference? This is what your elders face every day.
Every engagement starts with the community's problem, not a pre-built curriculum. These are the challenges that come up most.
Scam recognition, privacy settings, safe banking, understanding what to share and what not to. The Digital Circle helps elders use their devices with confidence and safety, not fear.
Program directors know their communities. What they need are digital tools to modernize programming and keep youth engaged. The Digital Circle trains organizations to embed technology into what they already do, making the upgrade permanent.
Young people consume technology daily but few use it to create, build, or solve problems. The Digital Circle helps youth see technology as a tool for agency - not just entertainment. Digital portfolios, project-building, professional communication, workplace tools.
Communities carry languages, stories, and traditions that exist in living memory. Digital tools can capture and preserve them, but only if the community has the skills. Youth learn the tools, elders share the knowledge, and culture endures.
Establish a permanent Digital Circle within your community. The goal is self-sufficiency: when the engagement ends, your community has the people, skills, and systems to sustain digital support on its own.
For specific needs or communities exploring what digital literacy support could look like. Hands-on sessions focused on real outcomes, delivered on your schedule.
The Digital Circle is led by Sibongile Booi, an engineer turned consultant with a career spanning Accenture, SAP implementations, and fourteen years running Second Office, a business services company in South Africa that still operates independently today. Now based on BC's Sunshine Coast, the work focuses on AI, operations, and community empowerment.
Closing the digital divide is central to everything that follows. Whether helping elders navigate technology safely, training youth in digital tools, or helping a community organization build systems that scale, the principle is simple: technology should serve people, not the other way around.
Full portfolio and backgroundEight questions. Two minutes. Find out where your community's digital gaps are, and which ones to address first.
Every community is different. Whether you represent a band council, a community centre, a youth program, or a library, the first step is a conversation about what your community needs.
A NextGen Futr Inc. initiative