about us
The vinvolved team in Oxfordshire are here to help young people aged 16-25 to access volunteering opportunities across the county. We help young people find local volunteering opportunities which tap into their passions, concerns and interests.
Youth Volunteer Advisers
Our Youth Volunteer Advisors (YVAs) talk to groups of young people in schools, colleges, universities, supported housing projects, youth centres, careers fairs, etc, and tell them not only how they can benefit through volunteering but also how they can benefit the community. They then have follow-up meetings with interested individuals (as well as regular drop-ins at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College (OCVC), Brookes University, and most recently, at Banbury Job Centre) to support young people into the best role for them. They also help set up, and sometimes fund, Youth Action Teams - groups of young people with ideas and energy to set up their own community projects.
As well as providing volunteers with useful handbooks, YVAs often stay in touch, helping them apply for national v awards or other local accreditation. YVAs regularly put on local or regional celebration events so that groups of volunteers can come together and celebrate their success.
Lorna (N&W Oxon) Gert (S Oxon and Vale) Luan (Oxford City)
Support Team
Jenn is our Assistant Youth Volunteer Advisor. She is able to link the YVAs up with young people who have registered, but have not yet been placed in a volunteering opportunity. Her friendly calls, emails and support help to turn good intentions into reality.
Michelle recently joined us as an Information Support Assistant. Michelle's main role is to update our v-base database. This is a vital role as v-base helps us to link up young people who would like to volunteer, with organisations who are looking for volunteers.
Jenn - Assistant YVA Michelle - Information Support Assistant
Youth Volunteer Development Managers (YVDMs)
Our YVDMs work with charities, public sector and not-for-profit voluntary organisations to develop and promote exciting volunteering opportunities in Oxfordshire. These can be full-time internships, one-off events / taster sessions or ongoing part time opportunities.
The YVDMs liaise with all these organisations to find out more about what they do and how they work, and about the types of volunteering opportunities they have available. Information is collected on two simple forms: Organisation Registration and Opportunity Registration. Details about the volunteering opportunities are then put on to our local V-base database and uploaded onto the national volunteering websites vinspired.com and do-it.org.uk. Our Youth Volunteer Advisors use V-base to identify suitable volunteering opportunities for young people in Oxfordshire.
Organisations can also access training through vinvolved. YVDMs can design and deliver training sessions with themes such as working with young volunteers or volunteering best practice.
YVDMs - Amanda, Claire and Sharon
We're funded by v, an independent national charity aiming to inspire a new generation of young volunteers, which was was launched in May 2006 as a result of the Russell Commission Report, A National Framework for Youth Action and Engagement. (Reg. Charity No. 1113255) See vinspired.com for more info.
The vinvolved team in Oxfordshire is based with OCVYS, Oxfordshire Children and Voluntary Youth Services (Reg. Charity No. 1116263). See ocvys.org for more info.
In August 09 we proudly became one of the first vinvolved teams in the country to achieve Youth Action Network's Reach status, the national quality framework mark for high standard practice relating to youth-led volunteering.
The assessment framework measured our involvement of young people in leading their volunteering, as well as having the fundamentals in place for working with young volunteers. Specifically, it covered areas such as
- openness & accessibility
- safety
- diversity
- support
- participation
- reflection & learning
- recognition
- community benefit
- partnership
- all of which we passed with flying colours...
For more information, see Youth Action Network's Reach pages