Student Volunteering Week 2011 (21-27 February)

Inspiring futures;Connecting Communities

Now in its tenth year, Volunteer England's Student Volunteering Week, sponsored by Santander brings organisation from all sectors together to celebrate volunteering by students in Further and Higher Education. 

Local organisations can tap into local students looking to volunteer in Sunderland by engaging with the Careers and Employability Service at the University of Sunderland.  They can provide your organisation with access to a talent pool of students and graduates.  They advertise Volunteering projects to enable local charities and community groups to recruit volunteers, benefiting the organisation and providing valuable experience for the student or graduate. Their students and graduates have a real interest in getting involved with the local community, and often work on projects that relate to their study course.  If you would like to advertise any volunteering opportunities please contact Laura Hope, Opportunities Adviser,  Tel: 0191 5152931 or email: laura.hope@sunderland.ac.uk                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Volunteer Centre Training

Our next training session will be held on:

Wednesday 18th May, 1.30pm - 4.30pm

The topic will be:

Dealing with Difficult volunteers and situations.

All training is charged at £20 per person for statutory or out of area organisations.

For all other groups training is FREE.

To book a place and to view booking terms and conditions please download a booking form from the training page.

Free Volunteer advertising with Guardian Jobs

As part of our commitment to Voluntary sector recruitment Guardian jobs is pleased to announce a new service which will change the way organisations attract volunteers.

From November 2010 you can advertise your organisation's volunteer roles on guardianjobs.co.uk completely free of charge.

To find out further information  visit their volunteering audience page or contact one of their representatives on 02033533400.

The 2011 awards are now open for entries.

Do you know a North East charity, organisation or person that deserves an award for the amazing work they do?

2011 sees the return of the successful Voluntary and Community Sector Awards for the North East. The awards are designed to recognise the work of individuals and organisations from the voluntary and community sector across the region, in helping to develop and create thriving communities.

We all know of organisations and people who do fantastic work, whether they provide a local gardening scheme or a region-wide training service, daycare for the elderly, or advocacy and support. It doesn’t matter whether they work in a specific neighbourhood or across the whole region, there is an award designed to recognise and celebrate what they contribute to the community.

To make a nomination you will need to tell them the story of why you think they deserve it - they don’t need lots of words they just want to know what they have done and what has the impact been.

The following categories of awards can be made to any voluntary and community sector groups or individuals working in the North East region:

• Outstanding organisation
• Most exciting project
• Most inspiring campaign 
• NEEP 'Empowering Communities' award
• Volunteer of the year 
• Outstanding leadership
• Young Leader
• Trustee of the year

The deadline for nominations is 4pm on Friday 8th April 2011.  For more information go to: http://www.vonne.org.uk/awards/index.php

Source: Vonne website

Volunteering England is working in partnership with other umbrella bodies to collect information on funding cuts. The information is being collected in a single, open source website (http://voluntarysectorcuts.org.uk/) which launched late last month. Volunteering England are encouraging organisations’ to provide information on funding cuts they have experienced so that we can make a properly evidenced case to the government, to funders and to the public.

Funding cuts: Your experiences

Volunteering England wants to know what effect the planned Central and Local Government cuts will have for its members and volunteer-involving organisations.

They would like to hear about any funding cuts you have had or are expecting. They're defining a cut as a statutory body (in central, local or regional government, including government agencies, local authorities, PCTs and others) informing you that you will receive less money than they had previously agreed to provide, as part of a grant, a contract or another formal funding arrangement.

This may include you being asked to make efficiency savings as part of an existing contract or canceling a grant which they had previously agreed to provide. They're not including funding applications that have been turned down, but we are interested in funded programmes that have been cancelled, or continuation funding that is withdrawn due to budget cuts.

They would also like to know if you now have to tender to deliver services and if you have any examples of good practice to share.

Obviously the more information you can provide them with, the better picture they can build of volunteering infrastructure around the UK.

Information can be submitted at http://www.volunteering.org.uk/WhatWeDo/Policy/Funding+cuts/experiences.htm

Source: Volunteering England website

Review and remodeling of the Vetting & Barring Scheme

In June 2010 Ministers announced that the planned implementation of the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) was to be halted, pending a thorough review to scale it back to common sense levels.

In parallel with the review of the VBS, a separate but aligned review of the broader criminal records regime was also undertaken. The first phase of that review focused on issues concerned with the extent and demands of pre-employment vetting systems and the role of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), in particular, what information it should be disclosing and to whom.

On 11 February 2011 the Coalition Government released the reports of reviews. 

Link to to VBS remodeling review recommendations

More information can be found at:

• Home Office website (www.homeoffice.gov.uk)
• CRB website (www.crb.homeoffice.gov.uk)
• ISA website (www.isa-gov.org.uk)

Source: Volunteering England website

Brickwork students - volunteering opportunities required

The Volunteer Centre have been approached by City of Sunderland College who are looking for possible volunteering opportunities for their brickwork students to engage in.

The students will be supervised by staff and would be able to do tasks such as small garden walls, pointing, laying pathways or patio areas, block work and any maintenance tasks.

The College will be able to provide some tools for the jobs but interested organisations will need to supply and pay for travel expenses for the students and any materials required for the job.

If you are a Volunteer Centre member organisation and think you may be interested please get in touch with Anna Gillingham on sunderlandvcg@aol.com or on the number below, by Friday 11th March.

Your responses will be collated and passed on to the lecturers and students for them to then choose which opportunity they would like to take part in.  The chosen organisation will be informed as soon as this decision has been made.

Any question you have regarding this please don't hesitate to contact Anna on the number below.