Welcome to the first edition of vinvolved Bristol News!

We’ll be emailing Bristol News every

quarter. We’ll try to keep you abreast of breaking news and information specific to
organisations who involve young people as volunteers – or who would like to find out more
about the benefits and possibilities young volunteers can bring to your organisation.

In this edition:

What is vinvolved Bristol?

Youth volunteering and the recession.
Recognising the achievements and contributions of young volunteers.
The Youth Action Team and You.
Spotlight: Bristol Dial-a-Ride
Upcoming events

What is vinvolved Bristol?

We are a small team working with local organisations to develop their capacity to work with
young volunteers. We promote volunteering to 16-25 year olds in Bristol, and support then
to access suitable opportunities. We provide organisations with advice and support on
recognising young volunteers' contribution, developing volunteering policies, support and
advice around child protection, advertising your opportunities to the young people we work
with - and anything else you might want help with. If we cannot help, hopefully we will know
someone who can. We also work closely with Bristol volunteer centre.

Youth volunteering and the recession

"Over 2 million people - around 3 in 10 might consider the idea of volunteering on a full time
basis, with more than half agreeing that young people will be more likely to volunteer if
rates of unemployment continue to go up" according to research conducted by IPSOS
MORI and Commissioned by v the youth volunteering charity. Read more here

Would full time volunteers benefit your organisation? Would you like help and support
identifying potential opportunities - and help finding young people to fill them? Follow the
links to find out about how the British Red Cross and CSV involve full time volunteers.
Recognising the achievements and contributions of young
volunteers
There are lots of ways to recognise young people's volunteering; one of the easiest is the
range of certificates produced by v. Young people can receive a vthankyou which
recognises any volunteering, however small; a v50 for 50 hours in a 12 month period; or a
vimpact which encourages volunteers to make a big impact on a key issue in their
community through a further 100 hours of volunteering. Volunteers set objectives to
achieve, looking at both personal development and community impact, and are asked to
evaluate their success at the end of the project. vinvolved Bristol have also developed
certificates of recognition for 100 and 200 hours of volunteering. To find out more about any
of these awards and how you can start offering them to young people who volunteer with
you, drop us an email or give us a call.

Youth Action Team and You

The Youth Action Team (YAT) is a group of young volunteers who want to get more young
people into volunteering - could they give your opportunities a make-over? Perhaps they
could help word role descriptions in a way that will attract young volunteers, or identify
potential new roles. Let us know is this is something you will be interested in.

Spotlight: Bristol Dial-a-Ride

Adele Haley, Chief Executive of Bristol Dial-a-Ride (which operates a free transport service
across Bristol for the elderly and for people with disabilities) asked us for help with setting
up a volunteer scheme, with particular focus on making the Dial-a-Ride service more
attractive and accessible to younger people. Following an initial meeting in which we
discussed the service, Adele’s plans for the volunteer scheme and Dial-a-Ride’s current
volunteer opportunities, the vinvolved Bristol YAT looked at her proposals and suggested a
number of names for the scheme and ideas for what might make the service attractive to
young people. Dial-a-Ride went on to adopt “Independent Together” as a name for their
young people’s service, one of the names suggested by our YAT. Adele’s response to the
YAT’s feedback was: “This is fantastic - what a great outcome from our meeting - I really
appreciate this so please pass on my thanks to the team.”

Upcoming events
You may already have attended our introductory session called 'involving young people as
volunteers'. We will be running this and further FREE training and networking events
focusing on aspects of young people and volunteering. If you are interested or have
particular training needs that we could meet - get in touch!

For more information on anything related to youth volunteering contact

Ros Parkes: e: rp@youngbristol.com; t: 0117 907 4430

Liz Clarke: e: lc@younbristol.com; t: 0117 907 1010