Last Thursday, October 24, Xarxa Punt TIC and Xarxa Òmnia organized a joint day at the Poblenou Campus of Pompeu Fabra University. Under the title 'Social Internet Day: 25 years of digital inclusion in the Omni Network' , the event brought together more than a hundred and a half people in person and several dozen online and sought to give learn about initiatives and projects, promote the generation of synergies and links and promote the exchange of knowledge and experiences. The central axis was the 25 years of the Xarxa Ómnia. "The social changes have been very great throughout these twenty-five years and, obviously, the Omni Network has also had to change as the changes have been taking place. At the beginning, when it started, he thought that the machinery was desktop computers and now, over time, new technologies have been incorporated", explains Jaume Romero, general director of Acció Cívica i Comunitaria.
The program of the General Directorate of Civic and Community Action of the Department of Social Rights and Inclusion of the Generalitat de Catalunya has been working since 1999 for the social and digital inclusion of citizens and, in particular, of the most vulnerable Currently, the Xarxa Òmnia network has 113 points distributed throughout the Catalan territory and, since its launch, has offered citizens a network of spaces and technological equipment where different groups are supported and trained in the use of technologies based on community action. Along these lines, during the past year, nearly 30,000 people participated in one of the more than 5,500 organized activities. "My favorite part of being a facilitator at Punt Òmnia is getting to know the people and knowing that the point is a safe space for them", says Adriana Álvarez, facilitator of Punt Òmnia Club Infantil i Juvenil Sanfeliu - Sant Ildefons. This year, the Xarxa Òmnia has launched three points in Balaguer, in Mataró and in the La Prosperitat neighborhood of the city of Barcelona. It has also launched the Òmnia Itinerant Tarragonès Point, which serves four municipalities in the Tarragona region: Salomó, Vespella de Gaià, La Secuita and Renau. "The Omni Network is a program in which we not only fight against digital gaps, but we create spaces for coexistence where people of different ages with different interests and different ideologies come and this means that, little by little, we are making a more supportive and more inclusive society", adds Cristina Sobrino, promoter of the Francesc Palau CPS Omnia Point.