| Volunteering Project (SRB3) |
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No Connexions funding was available at that time, but an underspend of SRB(3) was predicted and new bids were being considered. L.C.C. Connexions Unit worked up a bid, with Chapeltown Young People’s 10 – 2 Club being the Project Deliverer, through YES-Cyber; as another lead partner, Thomas Danby’s role was as “Responsible Organisation”, managing the financial claims and quarterly data returns. A grant of £108,000 of was secured for a 15 month period January 2003 – March 2004 to pilot the concept of volunteering as a potential progression route for traditionally ‘hard to reach’ young people, particularly from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups into youth and community work. Delivering a project in such a short timescale has been extremely challenging and its success in meeting the majority of its target outcomes and all of the monitoring requirements of the Regeneration Partnership can be attributed to the dedication and commitment of all staff involved in the project and the fact the project is an extension to the way YES-Cyber already operates and not a totally new project. An external evaluation of the project has been completed and circulated to the main partners and other interested parties (National Youth Agency has requested 2 copies, for example). A sharing good practice dissemination event was held Thursday 11 March at Thomas Danby College, in which a great deal of interest in the Project was expressed. Please see the evaluation report for details of the project and its impact, but a summary of the SRB outputs achieved is included here: |
As previously mentioned, the whole concept of YES-Cyber originated very much from the Voluntary Sector and the Project has always depended to a degree on people, including those on the payroll, giving voluntary time to the Project. YES-Cyber has proved to be a popular venue for young people wanting to volunteer in their own time, or as part of a school or other training venue placement. The potential of this as an informal route to developing the next generation of youth and community workers was always apparent and the YES-Cyber Manager had always promoted the value of volunteering to the Partnership and potential funders. He had approached Leeds City Council Connexions Unit, with whom he has a good working relationship, about the possibility of some funding for this kind of work.