Ian Pope is the manager of the GETTING AHEAD programme at Tower Hamlets Education Business Partnership (THEBP):

At THEBP we are often asked by our volunteers what impact our programmes and projects have on the young people who take part in them. Often, despite the collection of feedback from students, volunteers and teachers (always good!), it can be like trying to measure the proverbial ‘piece of string’. Even more so when the student has taken part in a one off event or the concepts covered aren’t applicable until the student has left school.

So it was great to hear recently from a volunteer who herself had taken part in our GETTING AHEAD programme back in 1996. GETTING AHEAD is a programme of employability skills conferences for 14-15 year olds. Volunteers work with small groups of students through several workshops across a one day conference.

What was most surprising was how much she remembered about a one off event several years ago. She remembered the volunteer who worked with her and how it made her think about the world of work. She used the materials from the day to apply to sixth form college, her first Saturday job, and for university.

I often tell our volunteers this story as I feel it illustrates an important point: that volunteering for just one day can make a difference. The young people they work with may not be able to straight away put into action their help and advice but they will remember. For some students it will make a massive impact on their lives.

THEBP is a registered charity established in 1991. Our role is to encourage the public and private sectors to work with schools in Tower Hamlets on a range of projects designed to raise achievement and provide pupils with opportunities to improve their work related skills.

4,500 volunteers from over 250 businesses and organisations help and support 15,000 young people.

For more information on GETTING AHEAD and the other THEBP programmes please contact City Action at city.action@cityoflondon.gov.uk

City Action organise regular, half-day tours of the City fringe Boroughs, offering a unique insight into the challenges faced by charitable organisations within those Boroughs. As the newest member of the City Action team, I was delighted to be able to spend a sunny morning attending the most recent tour of Lambeth on the 4th June.

Lambeth enjoys great affluence in certain pockets of the Borough such as the Southbank; indeed it even plays host to the London Eye. Despite these ever-popular landmarks, Lambeth is the 5th most deprived borough in London. Perversely however, it also receives the least volunteer support from City businesses. The City Action Community Tour of Lambeth aimed to raise the profile of its community activity, with the modest hope of reversing these stats.

The Tour commenced its journey at Guildhall, leaving swiftly at 8.30am for the first destination, Lillian Bayliss Sports Action Zone. We heard from Karim, who gave us an enthusiastic presentation describing the wide variety of active projects that they provide to the people of Lambeth. He stressed the important role that sport and physical activity can play in aiding social inclusion and community cohesion.

Our next destination on the Tour was the Karibu Education Centre in Brixton, a lively community hub, providing young people with the educational & social skills needed to move them safely into adulthood. En route to the Karibu Centre, we received a talk from Iago Griffiths from Lambeth Council, who provided a general overview of Lambeth, in particular what challenges the third sector faces and how Lambeth Council supports their local community. Once at the Karibu Centre, we were greeted by big smiling faces and delicious cakes – always a winning combination! We had a brief talk from Leah Levane, Head of Communities and Neighbourhoods at Lambeth Council, followed by an inspiring presentation from Elaine Holness, the Project Co-ordinator at Karibu, explaining just how essential their support and facilities are to the local community.

After saying our goodbyes to the Karibu Centre, we had another en-route talk, this time from Nick Mason, Chair of the Lambeth Summer Projects, an innovative youth engagement charity in partnership with Lambeth schools and the Metropolitan Police. He talked in particular about their Growing against Gangs programme, providing life skills to pupils to help them avoid involvement in delinquent or anti-social behaviour, violence or gang membership and ‘signpost’ them towards positive activities.

Our final stop of the morning was at the Waterloo Action Centre. For 35 years the centre has been committed to supporting their local community in a variety of ways, offering assistance to people of all ages, irrespective of their problem or query. What particularly struck me was the variety of information and help they offer for such a small community organisation. They even have a weekly surgery where anyone can come in from the street and obtain free legal advice from a dedicated team of qualified lawyers (all volunteers of course).

By 12.45pm our Tour ended where it had begun, at Guildhall. I personally found the morning not only enjoyable but also thought provoking. Many of the City firms present have already expressed a keen interest in supporting the three fantastic organisations we visited. Indeed, one major financial consultancy that attended described the tour as “incredibly insightful and inspiring…This tour allowed me to open my eyes to what’s available”. This is real testament, in my view, to the tremendous value of these City Action Tours.

Whilst the headlines these days are grabbed by multi billion pound bailouts of the banking system there’s a growing view in politics that a more ground up approach might actually be the best route out of the credit crunch.

Speaking at the Voice 09 conference, the Conservative party leader said Britain needed to open up its training system to third sector alternatives and social enterprises so that standards can be raised:

“This is where I see a really important role for social enterprises. Enterprises like City Gateway in Tower Hamlets, which takes young adults from local estates and trains them in the skills our economy will need in the future like web design,” he said.

“These social enterprises have the local knowledge, the human touch, and sensitive understanding of the complex and interconnected problems of educational failure and worklessness and I want to see more City Gateways come in, take this recession by the scruff of the neck and help get people into work.”

And the Conservative party aren’t alone in looking beyond the banking system – City Gateway, a charity set up to link businesses into their training projects in the local community, recently celebrated its 10th Anniversary at the Canary Wharf East Wintergarden. Stephen Timms (Financial Secretary to the Treasury) recognised the dedication of the third sector: “We need more of that passion and commitment in our communities at times like this one when we’ve got economic problems around the world.”

Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Media, Culture & Sport, who also spoke at the event added: “In this period it is difficult, it is a challenge, but in this area there is a once in a lifetime opportunity with the Olympic games. I think there are exciting times ahead, there are hopes and dreams people can look for. In my point of view this is a great time for this part of London to really open up opportunities and really ensure that we change as many young lives as possible.”

City Gateway is launching it’s own 1 year blog project in mid April to capture a wide range of opinions on CSR, volunteering and regeneration – find out more on our website.

…I hope that you all had a happy Valentines weekend and enjoyed spending time with your loved ones.  Last week, City Action was busy gearing up for the weekend by collaborating with CNN on a Valentine’s themed feature, broadcast on Saturday 14th, about our volunteering brokerage service.

CNN reporter Adrian Finighan visits Spitalfields Crypt Trust where Bank of Montreal employee volunteers support a lunchtime drop-in once a week.  Despite the slightly tongue-in-cheek approach to this news story, the value of City Action’s service is highlighted as it is described as “a unique initiative that allows volunteers and non-profit groups to work together”. 

Adrian also goes on to say: “Though it might not be ‘true love’ in the traditional sense, this relationship has had benefits for many…there are many types of (volunteer) matches but one clear goal – a relationship – built on a foundation of generosity of spirit”.

As programmes like The Secret Millionaire become ever popular due to the deeply personal and transformational nature of the volunteering stories featured and Barack Obama’s celebrated inauguration speech which focuses on “a new era of responsibility” – perhaps engaging in volunteering is going to become a vital part of rebuilding our economies and communities.  To quote Obama:

“We have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world…duties that we do not grudgingly accept but seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task…this is the price and promise of citizenship”  

Please do watch the full news story here and let us know your views on the future of volunteering…