GoldStar - Snapshot Cheetham Hill Advice Centre - Promoting good practice in managing volunteers from socially excluded groups

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GoldStar - Promoting good practice in managing volunteers from socially excluded groups

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Rob Clarke
Project Leader

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Project	Description
Cheetham Hill Advice Centre	Alleviating poverty, distress and sickness; promoting education and health

Cheetham Hill Advice Centre (CHAC) is an independent, generalist advice agency set up in 1977 with the charitable aims of promoting the advancement of education and health, and assisting in the alleviation of poverty, distress and sickness. The agency recruits, trains, supervises and supports local residents as volunteer advice workers, receptionists and administrators, through the Volunteer Development Project.

Ahmed Shazad

Ahmed Shazad
Manchester Young
Citizen of the Year

The project focuses in particular on the recruitment of volunteers in groups at risk of social exclusion. This is achieved through adverts reaching residents in areas of high social deprivation, highlighting a particular interest in applications from asylum seekers, refugees, and bilingual speakers of Urdu/Punjabi or other community languages, displaying recruitment posters in local community centres, agencies and commercial outlets that provide services to BME communities, and recruiting those previously using the advice services of the Centre. The Centre does not prioritise people based on qualifications, but on such criteria as 'future plans' (i.e. how helpful the volunteering will be for the individual's personal development), speaking community languages and living locally (and therefore more at risk of social exclusion than residents of many other areas). The success of the agency in the recruitment of volunteers is evident from the need to establish a volunteer 'waiting list' book.

By attracting volunteers from BME (including refugee) communities and speakers of other community languages, the Volunteer Development Project has had the impact of contributing to the diversity of the workforce in providing advice services to Manchester residents.

Potential volunteers receive a 10-day Advice Work Training Course, which is delivered through a franchise with Manchester Adult Education Service and is accredited through the Open College North West (Level 2). Training to other organisations' volunteers is also provided through Cheetham Hill Advice Centre (CHAC).

Progression to further training and/or employment is actively encouraged through implementation of individual development plans and access to a range of further training and skill development opportunities.

The agency has provided a high quality volunteering experience for up to 15 new volunteers a year for the last 9 years. It is audited by the Adult Education Service to ensure high quality learning opportunities are provided to volunteers.

The organisation has in place a range of clear policies, including those on Risk Assessment, Health and Safety, Insurance Cover / Guidelines, Expenses, Confidentiality / Data Protection and Conflict / Complaints. A policy relating to the volunteer role and participation in the Centre has also been developed.

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