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Volunteer Programmes and Support Organisations

Step into Sport

Step into Sport focuses on young people aged 14 – 19 years and aims to encourage them to get involved in sports leadership and volunteering. Step into Sport also aims to provide a pathway of qualifications for young leaders to build on their Community Sports Leaders Awards in sports specific National Governing Body Awards.

In Northamptonshire, Step into Sport works primarily through Primary and Secondary schools, training young people in various different leadership awards. As part of the Step into Sport programme young leaders have the opportunity to gain leadership and volunteering experience through sports specific festivals and competitions, volunteering in after school clubs, one day events such as Northamptonshire Youth Games and volunteering in local sports clubs.

An integral part of the Step into Sport programme is the Young Leaders Conference. Young leaders who are completing their Level 1 in Community Sports Leadership are selected by their school to attend this conference to gain extra leadership training. By attending this conference, all young leaders are required to complete 10 hours of volunteering in their local community. This year Northamptonshire Sport trained 240 leaders as part of the Step into Sport Conference.

For more information on Step into Sport please click on the following links www.youthsporttrust.org and www.bst.org.uk.

Inspire to Lead

The main aim of this project is to increase the number of people with a disability or impairment developing leadership skills, accessing leadership awards and accreditation and then developing these skills in a volunteering context. The Inspire to Lead Project is currently being piloted in Northamptonshire at a number of sites.

For further information on this project in Northamptonshire please contact Jay Popat on: jpopat@northamptonshire.gov.uk or

Tristan Hale on: thale@northamptonshire.gov.uk or visit www.efds.net/

Duke of Edinburgh Award

The award is a programme of activities for young people to complete in their spare time and it is normally run at school or college or a uniformed youth organisation like Scouts or Girl Guides. There are three Awards to try for: Bronze (14 and over), Silver (15 and over) and Gold (16 and over). It takes at least 6 months to do a Bronze Award, at least 12 months for a Silver and at least 18 months for a Gold Award.

The Award is widely recognised by employers and people involved in education. Benefits to young people include developing self-confidence and self-reliance; gaining a sense of achievement and a sense of responsibility; discovering new skills, interests and talents and developing leadership skills and abilities.

Visit www.theaward.org for more information.

Higher Education

The University of Northampton Community Volunteers

The University of Northampton Community Volunteers project was set up in 2002 with the following aims:

To encourage staff and students to become more actively involved in their community through volunteering,

To provide advice and support to staff and students and to help them get the best out of their volunteering.

To offer good quality volunteering opportunities that enable staff and students to develop skills which will help them make career decisions and enhance their CV’s.

To recognise the volunteering achievements of all our volunteers

To build sustainable partnerships with the community.

Students are recruited at the annual Fresher’s Fair and Volunteers Fair as part of

National Student Volunteering Week in February. The University also provides ongoing support for students wishing to volunteer their time.

For more information please contact Project Coordinator, Linda Davis on Linda.davis@northampton.ac.uk or visit http://volunteers.northampton.ac.uk or volunteers@northampton.ac.uk

Northampton Voluntary Youth Action (Formally MV)

 The Millennium Volunteers scheme was set up in 1999 by the government to give people aged between 16 – 24 the support they needed to go out in to the world and build on what ever they are into.

Since then Northamptonshire Millennium Volunteers has become Northamptonshire Voluntary Youth Action (NVYA) and they continue to work in the same way with young people aged 13 - 24. In addition to giving support NVYA accredits time spent volunteering

For further information on NVYA and how to sign up if you are already volunteering please contact Project Coordinator Christine Morgan on: Christine.morgan@northampton.ac.uk or visit www.millenniumvolunteers.gov.uk

National Governing Body Schemes

To find out more about how National Governing Bodies support volunteers please visit the Sports Information pages.