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Project
Description
CSV Volunteering Partners Increasing the number of 16-25 year olds volunteering in Luton and South Bedfordshire

CSV Volunteering Partners creates opportunities for people to play an active part in the life of their community through volunteering, training and education. Each year CSV involves over 195,000 volunteers who contribute more than 4.9 million hours. At the heart of CSV's work is the conviction that everyone has something to contribute to the community. Volunteering Partners is the largest of CSV's operational divisions with over 40 years experience of matching volunteers with some of the most vulnerable members of the community.

The Yu-act project aims to increase the number of 16-25 year olds involved in volunteering in Luton and South Bedfordshire, to promote volunteering as a fun way to get involved in something different, and to introduce young people to volunteering and encourage them to move on to other volunteering opportunities.  It aims to specifically target young people who would ordinarily be unlikely to become involved in volunteering or are unable to make a long-term commitment.

The project is set up to remove as many barriers to volunteering as possible, thereby making it an easy and un-daunting process for the young person to become involved.  Flexible recruitment methods allow greater opportunities for CSV to reach the young people this scheme is aimed at.  CSV works closely with partner agencies which focus on socially excluded young people such as Connexions, Youth Offending Teams, E2E schemes, YMCAs and BME groups.  The project has also advertised in partner organisations leaflets in deprived areas and distributes its own leaflets in locations popular with young people.

Volunteer opportunities are based on what a young person wants or is interested in, rather than finding young people to fit existing volunteer opportunities. Because of the nature of Yu-act, young people are not being recruited for long-term, specific roles, but rather to experience volunteering as a ‘taster session’.  When a volunteer first becomes involved with Yu-act they meet with the project worker to discuss what they want to get out of volunteering.  The role is designed with the young person’s input, to enable them to try and achieve these aims.  The result of this approach is that a diverse range of volunteering activities have been organised and carried out, ranging from befriending to volunteering at Whipsnade Zoo.

Feedback is obtained in a number of ways.  At the end of each activity the volunteer is asked to complete a feedback form enabling them to reflect on what they have achieved.  They also each have a one-to-one discussion with the Project Worker to discuss the feedback, and the possibilities of further volunteering.  In addition, Yu-act runs a 6-monthly Young Peoples Forum to enable young people to share ideas and help develop activities, and to gather their feedback.

Volunteering activities are not just useful to the volunteer, but also benefit the wider community.  Yu-act works with other agencies in the community to identify roles that need to be undertaken for the benefit of the community.  Each activity undertaken has a clear set of objectives/outcomes, and these are measured at the end of the activity with feedback from the beneficiaries.

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