Author archive
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V’s involvement is good news for youth volunteering in the UK
An independent evaluation of v’s efforts to improve the state of youth volunteering in the UK has yielded good news – v’s involvement has led to an increase in the provision of youth volunteering opportunities in the country, and the take-up as well. There isn’t really much I can say that can add value, so I’ll just point you in the direction of the results of the report: here.
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Obama on youth volunteering
This article from Newsday is a good follow-up to my previous posts on the state of volunteering in the US, and to a smaller extent, even my post on the Generational Theory. President Obama signed the Serve America Act a couple of weeks ago and requested the youth of America to take part in volunteering huge numbers. He states the completely different circumstances of today’s younger generation, that grew up in ‘the aftermath of 9/11 and Katrina, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an economic recession without precedent’. The article questions whether Obama’s initiatives to increase volunteering among young people in America would be any more successful than those implemented by Presidents Bush or even Clinton, but then mentions how Obama himself has done a lot of volunteering in his lifetime and doesn’t utter empty words not backed by experience. The article also cites Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone, a book that documented the decrease in civic engagement from the 1960′s onwards, something that I personally think about a lot. (Putnam speaks of the concept of social capital and how that contributes to re-vitalising or improving the condition of a society).
Indirectly touching on the Generational Theory, the article also mentions how people born during the difficulties that came about as a result of the Depression and the Second World War were more service-oriented than the baby boomers that followed, and therefore the young people of today who are struggling with the effects of terrorism, war, natural disasters and economic meltdown are, in a repetition of the characteristics of people born two generations before them, more open to volunteering.
I thought this was one of the more interesting paragraphs of the article:
The generation entering adulthood is also the first one intimately acquainted with the most advanced communication technologies the world has ever known – such as cell phones, text messaging and the Internet. And we know that having a social connection to someone who is civically engaged is an important predictor of whether someone volunteers.
There aren’t enough youth volunteering organisations that reach out to young people on their terms. v is doing a lot to change this with vInspired.
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Volunteer Trends – March 2009
This presentation was originally created for the 2009 Public Health Preparedness conference in Missouri, USA, by Mickey Gomez of the Howard County Volunteer Centre, but most of the information is relevant to anyone working in the volunteering field across the world. It’s very up-to-date as well.
Volunteer Trends March 2009View more presentations from M. Gomez. -
Gordon Brown’s plans for compulsory community service for under-19s
Fresh off the press is the news that Gordon Brown has mandated 50 hours of compulsory community service for all youth under 19 if Labour is brought back to power in the next elections. According to this article, it is part of an integrated plan to encourage kids to stay in education or training till 18. Youngsters will have till age 19 to complete the 50 hours, so it’s not a ‘per week’ or ‘or per month’ allocation at least.
The poster above that accompanied the News of the World article is essentially the same one that calls for citizens to fight for the country during the First World War. If the comments to the article are anything to go by, Gordon Brown is going to have a tough time getting people to agree that compulsory community service is a good idea. His intentions may be good but it will be interesting to watch how he executes on it.
Gordon Brown’s words, for reference, are below (taken from the News of the World article):
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Young can boost community spirit
By Gordon Brown
EVEN in the face of these difficult economic times, the generosity and community spirit of the British people is humbling.
Whether raising record amounts for Comic Relief or rallying round after disaster struck in the North Sea, we have seen communities across the country draw closer than ever to help and care for each other in times of need.
What is inspirational is the number of young people who are serving their communities in endeavours from charity fundraising to green activism. We want to harness and encourage this community spirit.
Already three million young people give their time to community service each year, usually without recognition or reward, whether by helping in an old age home or tutoring younger pupils, campaigning on local issues or fundraising for global causes, organising community activities or helping deliver environmental projects.
But we can achieve a step change in the participation of young people in community service.
It is my ambition to create a Britain in which there is a clear expectation that all young people will undertake some service to their community, and where community service will become a normal part of growing up.
Compulsory
That would mean young people being expected to contribute at least 50 hours of community service by the the age of 19. This will build on the platform provided by citizenship classes in schools.
As we set out our manifesto for the next Parliament, we will consider the best way of achieving our 50-hour goal. By building from compulsory citizenship studies in the 14-16 curriculum, we can create an expectation of national youth community service.
And we can take immediate steps in the next school year to boost national youth community service. This will give thousands more pupils the opportunity to participate in community service and many more school-leavers the opportunity to undertake full-time and part-time placements.
Martin Luther King once said that everyone could be great because everyone can serve. And with our younger generations more involved in their communities, we can build a stronger, more united Britain.
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What do you think?
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GwirVol : A partnership to promote youth volunteering in Wales
The Evening Leader reports that in Wales, a partnership to promote youth volunteering has just been launched, called ‘GwirVol‘ – a combination of the words ‘volunteering’ in Welsh and English. The partners are many in number, and includes voluntary and community organisations, as well as representation from the public and private sectors. It is also strongly informed by the views of young people in Wales. It aims to take forward the recommendations of the Russell Commission as ratified by the Welsh Assembly. In that sense, it mirrors the work that V is doing in England.
GwirVol was formally launched on 6th April 2009. There’s plenty of information on their recently-launched website, so if you’re curious to know more, just head there.
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EFIL Volunteer Summer Summit on Innovation and Creativity in Youth Exchange
The European Federation for Intercultural Learning (earlier called the American Field Service or AFS) is organising a Volunteer Summit on Innovation and Creativity in Youth Exchange in Istanbul, Turkey, from the 30th July to the 4th of August 2009, in keeping with the declaration of 2009 as the European Year of Innovation and Creativity by the European Union. From the Summit’s website:
The general objectives of the Summit concept have been defined as:
- to provide an opportunity for all volunteers to participate in an international event, at low cost, and to encourage them to reach out across their national borders;
- to increase motivation and feeling of belonging to an international community of a large number of volunteers;
- to focus on one leading theme to facilitate the sharing between volunteers from different countries;
- to explore methods and themes new to the AFS network;
- to create a new tradition of an annual volunteer meeting in an informal setting.
Sounds like something that would definitely benefit people working in youth volunteering across the world. If you attend, don’t forget to let us know how it was. In the meantime, we’ll keep an eye on the website to notify you of any useful resources that pop up.
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Art Locates Me
A Northwest England-based non-profit digital arts organisation called Folly has started a programme called Art Locates Me, a project to produce and distribute work made by young people in Cumbria, UK, as part of their ArtCast series. It aims to increase the opportunities for young people to participate in digital arts and contribute to their personal and social development along the way, as well as to aid the development of Cumbria as a whole. The project will pair collaborating artists with young people to impart skills ranging from filmmaking and photography to music production and graphic design.
I think this is an important kind of project, because it teaches young people exactly the kind of skills they want to learn in this digital age. In fact, these are some of the skills that could well change the image of volunteering from being boring to cool and ‘with it’.
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Global Youth Service Day 2009
Miley Cyrus, known to tweens as Hannah Montana from her eponymous show, has become an ambassador for Youth Service America to promote Global Youth Service Day, which was from April 24th-26th, 2009. Cyrus was announced as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2008 by Time Magazine (believe it or not!), and is a candidate again in 2009. On the newly-created website, young people can upload videos showing them engaging with their community as part of the 100 Ways To Change The World project, plan their projects and possibly win the chance to be visited by Miley Cyrus.
Global Youth Service Day will take place in over 100 countries around the world and is a great way to get kids enthused about participating in their communities. We may not be big fans of Miley Cyrus ourselves, but given that a lot of young people are, it is nice to see her motivating young people to contribute to the society they live in.
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