The National Youth Agency - e-Youthaction no. 36 Apr 2008

e-Youthaction no. 36 Apr 2008

7 Apr 2008

VOLUNTEERING

Also of interest...

Responding to recommendations made by the Commission on the Future of Volunteering, the government has announced plans to invest £4 million in new training programmes for volunteers and volunteer managers, and a further £2 million to create a new access to volunteering fund for disabled people. The response also includes plans to produce guidance to help avoid unnecessary criminal records checks and support for existing initiatives to promote volunteering, including continuation funding for ‘Volunteering for All’ and ‘Goldstar’ programmes. Recommendations for a Cabinet minister level post for volunteering will not be taken forward.

Baroness Julia Neuberger, the government’s independent volunteering champion, published her report, Volunteering in the Public Services: Health and Social Care, in March. The report highlights the potential to expand volunteering in health and social care to create more people-centred services, particularly through the involvement of service users. Her findings confirmed the perception that volunteers in the sector tend to be older women, and the report includes some discussion of how to involve young people and men, including offering a broader range of opportunities.

Findings from the 2007/08 Citizenship survey, covering the first three quarters (April to December 2007), show that informal volunteering by 16 to 24 year olds went up from 39% in the first two quarters to 41% (compared to 35% for all age groups), and formal volunteering increased from 23% to 25%. Young people aged 16 to 24 reported the highest level of involvement of all age groups (51% compared to 47% for all ages).

‘Participation in regular volunteering’ has been included in the set of 198 national indicators covering priority outcomes which Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) will be responsible for delivering. LSPs should chose up to 35 of these priorities and identify targets for improvement, and the Office of the Third Sector has issued a briefing note on the volunteering indicator. This highlights its role in helping LSPs support ‘hard to reach’ groups, involving the local population in delivery of public services, and contributing to a range of other priorities including community cohesion and re-engaging individuals in education, employment or training.

vinvolved, England’s biggest ever youth action scheme, is now up and running. A total of 107 vinvolved teams, located in every region, will signpost young people to opportunities to contribute to their communities. Each team will recruit its own youth volunteering ambassadors to encourage their peers to get involved. v has also provided funding to organisations across the country to develop 158 projects to give enthusiastic young people the opportunity to get active on issues they care about.

INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEERING

Raleigh International’s Youth Agency Partnership programme is currently inviting applications for overseas expeditions taking place in the autumn. It offers five and ten week expeditions to locations including Costa Rica and Nicaragua, India and Malaysia, providing opportunities to take part in sustainable community and environmental projects. To find out more, email duncan.purvis@raleigh.org.uk

DIVERSITY

Goldstar has produced a good practice handbook, providing a range of practical examples and case studies intended to highlight the benefits of organisations having a diverse volunteering team and help them effectively target and communicate with new volunteers.

ACTION EARTH

CSV’s Action Earth campaign started in March and will run until the end of July this year. The campaign aims to encourage people to take part in practical conservation projects and improve the quality of life for themselves, their communities and future generations. Grants of up to £50 are available to support projects. Last year’s campaign supported over 1,000 projects, covering activities such as tree planting, building bird boxes and cleaning up beaches.

VOLUNTARY WORKERS’ EXPENSES

A government amendment to the Employment Bill has clarified the expenses that voluntary workers can claim without triggering eligibility for the national minimum wage. It allows voluntary workers to claim reimbursement for expenses such as the cost of travel to and from work and childcare or carer expenses, in addition to those incurred while performing their duties.

CITIZENSHIP

A government backed review of citizenship has called for more incentives to encourage volunteering. Concluding his review, former attorney general Lord Goldsmith said young people who volunteer should receive a reduction in tuition fees if they volunteer before going to university, or help to repay student loans if they volunteer afterwards. Although he discusses compulsory civic service for young people, he identifies varies problems and therefore does not propose that the government adopts such a scheme.

Interview with Jonathan Tonge, recently appointed chair of the Youth Citizenship Commission. The commission will explore what young people understand by the term ‘citizenship’, consider how to get them involved in politics and debate whether the voting age should be lowered to 16. It will also focus on volunteering among young people, and whether an element of this should be included in citizenship education.

GOVERNMENT ACTION PLANS

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has issued the Youth Taskforce Action Plan: give respect, get respect – youth matters, which aims to combine tough enforcement, support and prevention to improve young people’s lives and successfully deal with the problems that concern communities. The plan includes a commitment to run a national award scheme to celebrate the contributions young people make to their communities.

The DCSF has now published the implementation plan for Aiming high for young people: a ten year strategy for positive activities. It highlights progress to date in implementing Aiming high and describes key actions to be taken over the next 12 months. Specific measures include developing a programme to build capacity in inter-generational activities, details of which will be announced in autumn 2008, following consultation with volunteering organisations.

FUNDING

A reminder that the next application deadline for vcashpoint grants is 25 April, for projects starting between 4 July and 3 October 2008. vcashpoint offers grants of up to £2,500 to young people aged 16 to 25 in England who want to set up their own volunteering project in their community, creating at least three new opportunities for young people to volunteer.

The Big Lottery Fund’s Changing Spaces initiative has launched Community Spaces, a £50 million open grants programme, managed by Groundwork UK. The programme empowers community groups to improve public spaces in their neighbourhood. Small grants of £10,000 to £25,000 and medium grants of £25,001 to £49,999 are available on a rolling basis for approximately three years. The programme will also award a limited number of large grants of £50,000 to £100,000 and flagship grants of £100,001 to £450,000 from summer 2008.

The government has launched 'myplace' – a £190 million funding programme over 2008-10 to support the development of youth facilities which are driven by the active participation of young people. The programme, which will be channeled through the Big Lottery Fund, will open for applications on 6 May, offering grants between £1-5 million, with the first decisions expected to be made by the end of October 2008. A series of regional seminars to inform potential applicants about the programme will take place during early May.

AWARDS

Nominations are now invited for the 2008 Beacon Prize, which recognises individuals who have made a significant charitable contribution in giving time, money or skills to a specific cause. There are five categories, including one of ‘young philanthropist’, for people under 25 whose effort and contribution has established them as a role model and catalyst for a new generation of givers. The closing date for nominations is 1 May 2008.

Children & Young People Now has launched its 2008 Children & Young People’s Services Awards. They include an ‘active citizens’ category, for projects or initiatives through which young people have made a difference in their communities or to other young people, through volunteering, campaigning, lobbying or participation in decision making. The judges will particularly look for entries where children and young people have taken the lead in planning and organising the work as well as delivering it. The closing date for entries is 11 July 2008.

CRB CHECKS

The new screening system for people who work with children and vulnerable adults will begin in October 2009 and cost £64 per person, the Independent Safeguarding Authority has announced. Applicants will only have to pay once and will not need new clearance when changing jobs or places of work. For volunteers and the organisations taking them on, the process will be free.

TRAINING

Birkbeck University is offering a new postgraduate qualification in youth participation. Starting in October 2008, the programme will cover related but separate discourses about youth volunteering, participation and citizenship education and young people’s engagement in both civil and civic society. For more information email Carly Guest.

CAMPAIGNING

BBC learning zone is looking for case studies of young people who have used online forums to facilitate campaigns for change as a part of a series of five minute films about digital media literacy. For more information email Morgan Wynn-Jones.