IMPROVING VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES FOR “NOT THE USUAL SUSPECTS”

Chris Wright, Chief Operating Officer

Sam Sparrow, Head of the Volunteer Unit

WHO ARE CATCH22?

Catch22 is a local charity with national reach. We work with young people and others in seemingly impossible situations.

Catch22 runs a range of projects and services across England and Wales for young people and communities.

These include community activities, leaving care services, education and training, youth justice, housing, substance misuse and offender management.

WHAT DOES VOLUNTEERING MEAN TO CATCH22?

Volunteers and volunteering are fundamental to Catch22’s work with young people and others.

We engage around 1200 volunteers in our work, many of which are young people or former service users.

As well as adding value to our range of work, volunteering provides a key progression route for our service users through to employment or training.

THE TARGET GROUP

Identifying who your target group is and what barriers they have to accessing volunteering opportunities is vital.

There is a view that getting young people engaged in voluntary activity is problematic.

There is a stronger view that disengaged young people don’t want to get involved.

Both of these groups can be engaged and switched on to volunteering with the right opportunities and some support.

BARRIERS TO ACCESS

Important to reinvent the definition of “volunteering” for those who are traditionally harder to engage

The word volunteering often reinforces negative stereotypes of who a volunteer is amongst the people we work with.

We surveyed our young people about volunteering in terms of “helping out” and received a very positive response

185 responses with 66% already “helping out” in their local community

BARRIERS TO ACCESS

When working with these groups, make sure your opportunities are rooted in the community – easier to access.

Where this is not possible, make sure you can signpost to other opportunities and be part of the network.

When combating awareness issues, word of mouth is key with these groups.

55% of young people from our Helping Out Survey got involved because they heard from a friend or were asked.

BARRIERS TO ACCESS

Former service users being encouraged to volunteer within the service have provided us with role models with which we can encourage new young people to volunteer.

Making sure the opportunity presented is flexible, realistic and meets the individual needs of the volunteer (such as meeting costs etc) helps to attract and retain those in hard to reach groups.

Create relevant opportunities which identify ways in which the volunteer can develop personally and professionally – not just about giving back.

SOME EXAMPLES FROM PRACTICE

Our services by their nature and purpose offer opportunities for young people to meet long term social and economic outcomes, and the volunteering opportunities we create flow from this.

A CASE STUDY: I HAVE A CHOICE

I Have a Choice gives young people the opportunity to get involved with a range of specific volunteering activities which directly lead to training, accreditation, work experience and employment

Since 2009, over 350 young people have had voluntary experience of event management, basketball coaching and community radio

• planned and managed by young people, for young people

• young people gain valuable experience for future employment

• opportunity to gain new ASDAN qualification

A CASE STUDY: COMMUNITY YOUTH VOLUNTEERS

The Community Youth Volunteering Programme helps young people to gain experience in youth work through voluntary placements with Catch22 and other organisations.

Since 2008 we have worked with over 200 volunteers who have devoted tens of thousands of hours to youth clubs and services all over London.

• gives young people a range of different work experiences

• helps to build their futures through training and accreditation

• many have secured employment as Youth Workers

A CASE STUDY: COMMUNITY SPACE CHALLENGE

Community Space Challenge is about young people (aged 8 to 17) taking on run down and forgotten spaces and changing them into fresh green places for everyone to use and enjoy.

Young people often volunteer alongside older people from the area which helps to build strong communities and engage different generations.

• helps young people understand their local environment

• helps to reduce anti social behaviour and crime

• offers new educational, volunteering and employment opportunities

CELEBRATE SUCCESS

“Volunteering gave me an idea of what I wanted to do, a career path in life and then the service

helped me turn the idea into reality after realising my potential”