Communities

With just two months to go until Volunteers’ Week 2022, taking place 1-7 June, the organisers have shared the news that the theme for this year’s week-long celebration is ‘A time to say thanks’.

Volunteers’ Week is an annual event, now entering its 38th year. The week sees charities, voluntary groups, social organisations, and volunteers themselves come together to recognise the incredible impact that volunteering has in communities around the UK. This year’s Volunteer’s Week also coincides with celebrations to mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

The Challenge describes itself as “the UK’s leading charity for building a more integrated society”. They create and deliver programmes bringing people together including NCS (National Citizens Service), HeadStart (keeping NCS graduates aged 16-19 involved with volunteering) and HeadStart Action (for young people 14-18 who are at risk of becoming NEET).

Maternity Mates  recruit, train and match-up volunteer Maternity Mates with pregnant women in need of extra support in East London (Tower Hamlets, Newham and Waltham Forest). The volunteers offer practical and emotional support to disadvantaged pregnant women, any time from the 5th month of pregnancy, through childbirth and up until the early weeks of motherhood.  

Action for Refugees in Lewisham (AFRIL), a small charity in London working with refugees and asylum seekers, runs The Rainbow Club, a Saturday school offering Maths and English lessons to children aged 4 to 11 years old from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds.

Playing Out is a social enterprise that enables residents to make playing out in the street happen where they live. This means children are free and safe to use the street space to play, make friends and build a sense of belonging to their street and neighbourhood, while adult neighbours can meet and build trust.

NCVO has announced today that it will partner with the Centre for Ageing Better to support its efforts to increase age-friendly inclusive volunteering in England. NCVO will do this through the delivery of training and the creation of an action learning group of 'advocates for age-friendly inclusive volunteering'. NCVO will recieve a grant amount of £28,000 and the project will run until March 2023.

Media Cultured is an ‘education and training’ CIC (community interest company) that delivers positive messages on the diverse nature of Britain using film and social media.

Aik Saath – Together As One – is a peer-led organisation for young people, striving to make the future a safer, more cohesive place. It delivers anti- racism and community cohesion talks to schools and young people. Established originally due to tensions within the Asian community between young Sikhs and Muslims in Slough, has evolved to work with the whole community. It works with people from all communities, faiths and backgrounds to promote and encourage conflict resolution and community cohesion through training, campaigns and projects.

Kumon Y'all is a West Yorkshire charity that's working to bring people together across communities. Projects have included a successful befriending project connecting young Muslims with older, non-Muslims, getting teenagers tidying up the grounds at a residential home for elderly people to getting young people helping West Yorkshire Policein delivering crime prevention leaflets 

‘Cook2Give’ is a project run by the charity Forward Assist(they support UK military veterans in their transition from soldier to citizen). Cook2Give, which is based in Dudley, Northumberland, gets veteran volunteers cooking weekly meals for older veterans and also local people.

Refugee Radio supports refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants. It runs community projects targeting mental health, isolation and social exclusion. They use radio and music to give a voice to those who do not have one.

Sheffield Hallam Students’ Union runs Think Care Help, a homelessness support project in collaboration with various homelessness services in Sheffield.

Salaam Peace in East London uses sports, media and education initiatives as a way of bringing together people from diverse backgrounds and tackling issues that could lead to communities becoming polarised.