Summary
This project helps disadvantaged young people progress towards positive destinations by sourcing and funding volunteering opportunities, and working with the individuals directly to match them into appropriate placements and support them through it.
Making A Difference
For a sense of the genuine difference being made by the Support Volunteering Placements project, read the stories of Morgan and Alex below. The project also has links to Community Plan Performance Indicators such as Proportion of U25s with No Qualifications, and Proportion of 16-19s in Education, Employment or Training.
Before entering employment schemes such as Kickstart or Glasgow Guarantee, some young people greatly benefit from a programme of supportive and practical work placement – especially those who face barriers to volunteering. To help facilitate progress towards positive destinations for those not in employment, education or training, Glasgow Life have partnered up with GCVS to source and arrange volunteering opportunities.
GCVS work directly with third sector employers, assisting in the provision of supported entry level opportunities for young people, and disbursing relevant grant funding for the positions. They have also established a vetting process for the host organisations which has proven successful in ensuring that the placements offered are valuable and worthwhile.
Glasgow Life engage directly with the young people in the service to understand their individual priorities, aspirations, needs, and expectations. They compare these individual profiles against existing placements to determine which if any are suitable, and if none are an adequate match they work with GCVS to develop a bespoke placement. Once an appropriate placement has been found, Glasgow Life also provides an agreed upon support package to the young person to aid them in completion of their placement.
For more information on the programme, eligibility, or support available visit the GCVS website here.
Case Studies
The names in the following case studies have been changed to protect the individuals’ identities.
Case Study 1
Morgan
19 years old
Morgan has additional support needs (Brain Injury, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Dyslexia), and was referred to the Young Person’s Guarantee programme earlier this year by the HSCP.
Morgan left school five years ago without any qualifications, but despite this had begun attending college until the Covid-19 lockdown meant that he could no longer continue, as he was unable to use the technology required for remote learning. Morgan struggles with his confidence in new situations and hadn’t been able to look for a job or find success in the learning sector due to his support needs.
He was given support by a Glasgow Life member of staff to assess his needs and decide what kind of placement would suit him. He identified an appropriate placement supporting an organisation that provides assistance to elderly people through delivering food, clothing and prescriptions. An introductory meeting was held, and Morgan was able to ask questions about what his role would be and how he would be supported on placement. After this and following a support discussion with his Glasgow Life key worker, Morgan applied for the volunteer position and will start volunteering soon.
Morgan was also connected with other Glasgow Life programmes including the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, where he is now taking part in his Gold award programme. He plans to use his YPG placement to complete the volunteering section of the award and is receiving support from Glasgow Life DofE Leaders to complete the other sections.
Morgan commented ‘The programme had helped me feel less isolated and more able to engage with volunteering’.
Morgan’s mum stated ‘Morgan is excited about the challenges ahead and this will give him experience to gain more skills and become more independent’.
Case Study 2
Alex
23 years old
Alex left school with little to no qualifications or positive destination. He has been long term unemployed for over 3 years, lives within a jobless household and has caring responsibilities.
Alex was referred to the YPG Volunteering programme by Young Movers Youth Project (YoMo).
Alex’s ambition on leaving school was to go into employment but due to his home situation and his low confidence, limited core skills and lack of work experience this was not possible. He is very aware of his need for positive wellbeing and keeps active by playing 5-a-side football weekly, also enjoys gaming, and prior to lockdown also attended Connect youth programmes.
Alex commenced his volunteer placement with Young Movers in April 2021 and was placed within their Youth Team where he learned core skills in planning, admin, experience in youth programme delivery and also participated in various training courses and relevant youth work / childcare qualifications. After only a few weeks volunteering, Alex moved onto a Kick Start funded post with Connect Community Trust.
Alex commented ‘without the support of this project and YoMo, I wouldn’t have been able to find a job and keep it. I still want to pursue working with young people as a youth worker and YoMo have agreed to monitor my progress with Connect Community Trust’.
