Streetlinks were responsible for recruitment of volunteers to participate in the course. Its main aim was to give people who are active in their community an opportunity to reflect on what they do and why they do it.

The volunteers got the opportunity to examine different practice approaches to working in the community and the opportunity to reflect on their practice in the light of basic community work values and principles.

It builds on their hands-on volunteering experiences; the teaching and learning is informal and participative as well as challenging for the participants to think more deeply about the work they are doing and how they can contribute to the development of their community.

Seventeen volunteers started the course and eleven of them completed  it. They each receive a Streetlinks Certification and The University of Glasgow will invite them to attend a celebration within the University.

Each of the participants who completed the course is offered an interview for the Degree Community Learning and Development course.

BACKGROUND

Streetlinks Youth Work Service has made a considerable impact locally and over the last eight years has built an excellent youth work track record. In its inception year Streetlinks began delivering streetwork in one local authority area and in its eighth year (ending in March 2012) works in six local authority areas all suffering high levels of deprivation and are in the bottom 15% of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD).

Throughout the eight year period Streetlinks Volunteers have helped support the delivery of youth work services utilising various youth work models to engage with young people.

Streetlinks has received a very diverse level of input and support from volunteers of all ages which last year reached an all time high.

In response to the success Streetlinks capitalised and further developed the VPP by providing the service with a Volunteer Co-ordinator and a structure that offered a substantial and credible experience with immediate access to training, support, supervision and frontline work experience, thereby providing a modem to gain skills in a safe and supported environment, support their local community and for some discover routes to training and employment opportunities

Some of the examples of Streetlinks’ work with volunteers:

Streetlinks have made substantial investments in future youth and community workers by supporting and training 34 volunteers and 9 students to gain a whole practical experience of working within the youth work field.

Streetlinks has supported eight young people to gain experience and secure a career path through the Future Jobs Fund Work Placement Employment Initiative, by providing them with a six month work experience that included a comprehensive training package which enabled them to progress into full time education and employment. Of these eight young people four progressed into further and higher education and two progressed into full time employment.

Streetlinks supported two young people through the Project Scotland Volunteering Placements for six months. One of them progressed into the Future Jobs Fund placement and the other is still a regular volunteer with Streetlinks.

Regular volunteers have gained certificates through a variety of training courses:

Accredited Training

• University of Glasgow – Activate Course Certificates

• First Aid Certificate

• Early Touches Sports Leadership Certificates

• Youth Achievement Awards

Streetlinks In House Training Courses

• Introduction to Youth Work Certificate

• Child Protection Certificate

• Experiential Learning – Front Line Achievement Award

Streetlinks have worked collaboratively with Clydebank College,  Anniesland College, Strathclyde University and  University of Glasgow to support their students to gain work placement experience and enable them to achieve learning outcome success

Streetlinks provided a number of their most committed volunteers with Pass Plus driving lesson and test packages

CLS & STREETLINKS TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT SERVICE
VOLUNTEERS IN PROGRESS PROGRAMME (VIPP) 2012/13

The plan for Streetlinks ninth year of production is to use what we know works and refine the service to offer the best methods possible to ensure every volunteer gains the most and contribute constructively to the overall ethos of all of Community Links Scotland services.

This year’s volunteer activity programme will support volunteers to become trained to support the provision of youth work and community regeneration activities across all its projects and locations. The key aim is to help each volunteer to gain crucial work experience in order for them to progress into further education or employment.

 WHAT VOLUNTEERS GET

The VIPP will provide volunteers with the opportunity to access a range of training packages that include:

Accreddited Training: The University of Glasgow Activate Course, First Aid Training, Level 1 Sports Training.

CLS and Streetlinks In-House Training Programmes of Child Protection, Principles and Practice of Youth Work, Streetgames Training Session as well as individual and group supervision which helps encourage team work and build confidence levels.

They will be supported to identify relevant certification such as the Youth Achievement Awards, Millennium Volunteer Awards and John Muir Awards as well as college and other relevant courses where their experience from volunteering within Community Links will give them added credit to their application.

 WHAT VOLUNTEERS GIVE

In return volunteers are asked to commit to an agreed amount of volunteering hours to support local youth and community regeneration services.

The aim of the project was to provide young people & adults with the skills & tools needed to enable them to confidently use the cycle paths surrounding West Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute. Young people were encouraged through the project to increase their physical activity levels and participate in more outdoor activities.

The sessions were aimed at developing both the practical skills needed for bike maintenance and to provide skills and build confidence & self esteem in young people which would enable them to fully partake in this activity. The outcome of the project has been the ability of young people to be fully involved in delivering it but also in the long term being able to maintain this activity using the skills which they had developed within the project.

This year, young people can take part in re-CYCLE in four different locations – at Centre 82 in Whitecrook, Clydebank, KSRA Kirkmichael in Helensburgh, Rosneath and Kilcreggan (exact venues to be specified later).

The sessions normally involve a few hours of bike safety and basic bike maintentance and then the young people get a chance to decorate their bike – they can either bring their own or we give them one that has been donated specifically for this project. At the end young people are taken for a ride on their bikes to explore local cycle paths.

If you’re interested in taking part in the project, want to find out more or donate bikes, please get in touch.

Activate Course

At the moment we are running a volunteer training course with Glasgow University called Activate. This course covers some key elements of community development work and successful completion guarantees participants and interview at Glasgow University for their degree in Community Development course should this be a direction volunteers wish to move in. However, the course is a standalone qualification and helps participants gain a basic knowledge on the concept of community development work.

Volunteers with Drive

Our young volunteers (17-25 years) can access our ‘Volunteers with Drive’ programme which offers young volunteers a trade off: for every hour they volunteer they can access a driving package including a pass promise, adding extra support behind their efforts to secure a driving licence. Volunteers must have banked at least 20 hours with Streetlinks before being eligible for this package and pass their theory test within 15 hours or driving lessons. This is a fantastic opportunity for young people to become active in their community and to gain a lifelong achievement that will not only improve their personal developments but also increases their employability by obtaining a driving licence as we are fully aware that the sheer cost of learning to drive put it out of reach of many young people.

For further information on this package and the criteria please contact Streetlinks Project Manager Sharon Mather by email sharon@comlinks.org.uk or call 0141 952 4382.  To register as a volunteer please contact Janette either by email or on 0141 952 4382.

Contact Martin Freed (martin@comlinks.org.uk) or telephone 0141 952 4382 to discuss our sponsorship options.

This will be run over the months of November to January. 18 volunteers have made the commitment to attend the course and  we have another 2 places available. If you’re interested in participating,  have a look at the events page for times dates and place of course and then contact janette@comlinks.org.uk

More information on the course from the University of Glasgow website:

This is a foundation course in community development which is run in partnership with local community organisations.

Key features:

• - Building on the experience of volunteers and activists in your community, the Activate course is a way of developing community capacity by giving participants the opportunity to reflect on their practice in the light of basic community work values and principles
• - Flexible local delivery of this 50 hour course ensures that it is accessible for the people your organisation is working with
• - The specific learning on the programme can be tailored to the needs of the particular group
• - The teaching and learning is informal and participative and yet challenges participants to think more deeply about the work they are doing and how they can contribute to the development of their community.

Key concepts:

• - What is community work?
• - Values and principles of community work/CLD
• - Power and participation (including influencing decision-makers)
• - Local – global issues.

Practice approaches:

• - Learning for change
• - Identifying needs
• - Group work
• - Dealing with conflict
• - Evaluation.

Get in touch with janette@comlinks.org.uk to discuss the training.

For more information please contact our Senior Detached Youth Worker Amanda Savage at Mandy@comlinks.org.uk or telephone  0141 952 4382.

See the event’s page for more information