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VOLUNTEERING
Tellus3, a surveyof nearly 150,000 young people aged 10 to 15 across England, has found that nearly two-thirds (61%) of those in years 8 and 10 had given time ‘to help a charity, a local voluntary group, a neighbour or someone else in the local area’ in the past year.
A surveyof over 3,500 young people aged 16 to 19 carried out on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families has found that young people would like more opportunities to take part in youth groups and volunteering, as well as a range of sporting and cultural activities.
An 18-year-old volunteer police cadet has wonthe ‘volunteer of the year’ award in the 2008 Justice Shield, which recognises outstanding contributions to criminal justice in England and Wales. The judges, who included the Home Secretary, the Justice Secretary and the Attorney General, chose Matthew Entwisle, from Lancaster, for his leadership of a project on improving police interaction with young people, which resulted in Lancashire Police taking on his ideas.
THIRD SECTOR
The government has announced plans to create a new Third Sector skills body which will identify and address skills gaps and shortages for charities, voluntary groups, social enterprises and other third sector organisations. It will pull together the work of the sector skills councils to create learning opportunities for third sector paid and voluntary staff, and aim to ensure that the sector’s needs are properly considered in the design and development of National Occupational Standards.
The Third Sector Research Centre, led by the University of Birmingham in a joint venture with the University of Southampton, has been launched. The Centre is dedicated to analysing the impact of the sector's activities, to strengthen the evidence base for the third sector, including charities, social enterprises and small community organisations. Its funding of £10.25 million over the next five years will come from the Economic and Social Research Council, Office of the Third Sector and The Barrow Cadbury Trust, which is funding research on the role of the third sector in promoting engagement and participation among disadvantaged groups.
COMMUNITY COHESION
The Institute of Community Cohesion (iCoCo) has developeda website giving help and guidance on creating strong, cohesive communities. It brings together a range of practical advice, including good practice case studies from across the country and toolkits on a range of topics.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has publishedresearch into young people and territoriality in British cities, which looks at the origins of territoriality, its impact on young people’s lives, and the policy implications of recognising territoriality as an important factor in disadvantaged areas. It includes a section on ‘anti-territorial projects’ which use a range of approaches including peer education and peer mediation.
INTERGENERATIONAL WORK
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published a report based on an evaluation of the 'Thinking Village project', which was designed to develop intergenerational understanding in a neighbourhood using the principles of 'Community Philosophy'. The project explored the use of community philosophy as a tool to address issues of reducing nuisance and increasing tolerance, particularly through promoting conversations between young and older people that can be enjoyed for their own sake, provide a medium for learning, or act as a stimulus for action.
CSV has produced a guide to organising intergenerational activities as part of its resources to support Make a Difference Week 2008. Email difference@csv.org.uk to receive a copy.
Age Concern also has a range of resources to support intergenerational activity available on its website. They include a series of booklets on intergenerational work, an evaluation of its 2004-07 Active Age project, and fact sheets providing basic guidance on key elements of intergenerational projects.
POSITIVE ACTIVITIES
The DCSF has produced an updated ‘Aiming high’ implementation plan which highlights progress to date and sets out key actions for the next 12 months against the six key objectives of positive perceptions of young people; empowerment; places to go; access and inclusion; capacity and quality; and workforce. It also includes a summary of the government’s £679 million investment to support ‘Aiming high’ over 2008-11.
Opening Doors: broadening youth access to positive activities isThe NYA’s new free monthly eBulletin aimed at practitioners, managers and policy makers in organisations and partnerships which provide positive activities for young people. Each edition will include a news and policy round up and provide information on practice, research and resources, consultations, training opportunities, and funding. To subscribe contact Rita Kotecha.
AWARDS AND GRANTS
CHANGEit, an award scheme run by Common Purpose and sponsored by Deutsche Bank, is now open for nominations. CHANGEit recognises, supports and rewards campaigners aged 11 to 18 who have already made a difference in their communities or have ideas to create positive change. Nominations – for individuals or groups – can be submitted online. The closing date is 12 January 2009.
O2’s It's Your Community awards provide small grants of between £100 and £1,000 to local groups and individuals for any projects that can be shown to benefit their community. There are four categories for awards: rebuild and restore; cultural; active; and green and clean. Applications can be submitted at any time and decisions will be made within a month.
VOTING AGE
The Youth Citizenship Commission, established to consider ways of re-engaging young people in the political process, has published a consultation paper seeking views on whether the voting age should be lowered to 16. The deadline for responses is 20 January 2009.
LEADERSHIP
A pilot programme aimed at developing the leadership potential of students in higher education has been launched by Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. The Student Leadership Project has been designed by the charity Youth at Risk UK. It aims to identify and support students with leadership capacity who may be at risk of losing interest in or dropping out of their course and increase attendance, achievement and participation in both curricular and extra-curricular activities.
PROJECTS
Make Your Mark and One Water have teamed up to launch the One Water Project competition, challenging teams of young people to come up with enterprising ways of selling bottles of One Water to support its work with communities in Africa. Teams must take into account the 3Ps – People, Planet and Profit – in developing their projects. The NYA has 240 bottles of water reserved for 10 youth groups. The project will launch on 20 November – Social Enterprise Day – and the teams will then have until 19 December to raise money for the One Water Project. Interested groups should email contact details to helenafr@nya.org.uk.
EVENTS
The Young Researcher Network conference, taking place in Warwick on 15 November, is open to all those interested in involving young people in research. The conference will showcase the findings from 14 youth led research projects carried out this year.
Youth Action Network is running a series of five free events in Birmingham during November and December for projects to share their experiences of training young people as trainers. The events will focus on disabled young people; young people from rural communities; young offenders; young parents and young asylum seekers and refugees. The events are intended for any organisation working with, or seeking to work with, young volunteers. The deadline for bookings is 14 November 2008.
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