Hopefully this month’s vInfo will bring a little bit of sunshine to a very drizzly day. September is whizzing by October is just around the corner and we will all find out how the spending review will impact the sector. For now let’s concentrate on some positive news, funding streams that are available and most excitingly information about the FREE vinvolved Central London Forum this October!
The last month has been a very busy time for the team. We’ve had unprecedented demand to attend freshers events at schools and colleges, so much so we’re struggling to keep up! It’s great to know that so many schools and colleges are focusing on volunteering this year.
We have great news Emma Taylor, a former member of our Youth Action Team, has now joined our staff team. As a Youth Volunteer Support Officer her role is to work with organisations to help create full time internship programmes for 16-25 year olds. We hope you will join us in making her feel welcome.
It’s time for our FREE biannual YOUTH VOLUNTEER MANAGERS FORUM which will take place this October. The forum is focused on ‘Engaging and Motivating Young Volunteers’ and will be packed full of exciting workshops and presentations. There is more information below. Beware book soon as spaces are limited!
The Jack Petchey Foundation – Listen Up!
The Jack Petchey Foundation has published Listen Up! In response to the November 2009 YouGOv poll which showed some disturbing statistics about how adults viewed young people. The Jack Petchey Foundation talked to over 6,000 16-to-25-year-olds about their views on life and politics; their ambitions, role models, and concerns. The report reveals that, contrary to popular stereotyping, young people are engaged in politics, have a strong sense of social responsibility and are not all interested in fame and fortune: their views on life and politics; their ambitions, role models, and concerns. The report reveals that, contrary to popular stereotyping, young people are engaged in politics, have a strong sense of social responsibility and are not all interested in fame and fortune:
75 % say they regularly volunteer or help other people.
45 % believe that politicians do not genuinely care about them.
16 % wanted the government to create more apprenticeships and jobs.
Big Lottery Fund
The Big Lottery Fund has launched Youth in Focus, a new £30 million England-wide funding programme to provide support for young carers as well as other vulnerable groups - young people leaving youth offending institutions and young people leaving care. You can apply to this programme if you are:
- a voluntary or community organisation, an organisation recognised by HM Revenue and Customs as exempt for tax purposes
- a charitable not-for-profit company
- an organisation set up as a social enterprise – businesses that are chiefly run for social objectives, whose profits are reinvested in the business rather than going to shareholders and owners.
The deadline for applications is 2pm on Tuesday 30 November 2010.
The Trust for London
The City Parochial Foundation has merged with the Trust for London and is now known collectively as the Trust for London. It has small grants available for small community groups that want to tackle poverty and inequality.
The programme has five priority areas.
1 Improve employment opportunities for disadvantaged people
2 Promote the inclusion of recent arrivals to the UK
3 Promote social justice
4 Strengthen the skills of the voluntary and community sector
5 Support small community groups
The deadline for applications is Tuesday 5 October 2010 for February 2011 grants committee.
Participation Works -‘Honesty, Commitment and Trust – Delivering Training in Partnership with Young People’
‘Honesty, Commitment and Trust – Delivering Training in Partnership with Young People’ link is a new resource developed by Participation Works that looks primarily at how organisations support and develop young people to work as partners to design and deliver training. The resource focuses on involving young people aged between 16 and 25 years old as co-trainers.
Engaging and Motivating Young Volunteers - FREE FORUM
Would you like to find out more about social networking? How you can utilise Facebook and twitter to engage young people. This is the perfect opportunity to find out more – whether you are a complete novice or know a thing or two about social media this presentation could benefit you. We have an exciting surprise speaker, who we might let slip nearer the time.
If that wasn’t enough you can choose from one of three workshops after the coffee break:
1) How to set up Youth Led and Youth Participation projects
This workshop introduces you to the world of youth led and youth participation events, what the benefits are and what pitfalls to look out for. It also looks at how are team can assist you.
2) Creating Youth Focused Opportunities
This workshop will look at how you can structure your opportunities to be more appealing to young people, looking at ways to be flexible with where and how long young people volunteer.
3) Creating Full Time Internships
This workshop is aimed at anyone who currently provides internships or would like to start. It looks at how to structure an internship and what support and advice is out there both from our team and externally.
When you register you will be asked to list the workshops you want to attend in order of preference. It is first come first served and I’m afraid no guarantee can be placed on what workshop you will attend.
Disability Equality Training and Conference
Shape are running two events, in October and November, which are essential to any organisation that supports or employs young learning disabled people. Hear firsthand from young learning disabled people about what they feel the barriers to employment are:-
• Learn from the experts, practical ways to support learning disabled employee
• Network with colleagues and share experiences
• Learn how to support young learning disabled people move towards further
training, education and employment.
FREE Disability Equality Training – Tuesday 19 October 2010 and Wednesday 20 October 2010
FREE Articulate Conference – Wednesday 24 November 2010 and Thursday 25 November 2010
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