Volunteering continues to thrive in Leeds
Published on: 20th October 2011
The recent focus on volunteering in Leeds is really paying off, with more and more residents making enquiries and signing up to get involved in volunteering activities that support their local communities.
In addition to this, the contribution made to promoting volunteering by the city’s champion for volunteering, Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, and the council’s international relations team has also been recognised with both being nominated for ‘Making a Difference’ awards by Local Government Yorkshire and Humber.
Back in October 2009, all the political parties of Leeds City Council agreed to designate 2010 as the Leeds Year of Volunteering. The aims of this were to:
- celebrate and promote volunteering;
- increase community engagement through volunteering;
- create more volunteers and volunteering opportunities; and
- deliver a quality volunteering experience.
During 2010, the number of people putting themselves forward to volunteer in Leeds rose by over 200%, and because of this success, the council, Voluntary Action Leeds and other key partners decided to continue the good work by supporting the 2011 European Year of Volunteering.
To further build on this, the council’s international relations team secured EU funding to help establish links between voluntary organisations in Leeds and from its five European partner cities. They are Brno (Czech Republic), Brasov (Romania), Dortmund and Siegen (Germany) and Lille (France). The purpose of this project was to share information and best practice, undertake mutual learning, look at shared challenges, analyse key themes and explore the potential for further cooperation on an international level.
The project brought together a range of organisations in Leeds and the partner cities to compare what works well in different volunteering settings. There is now a sustainable network in place which will continue to share experiences and good practice to further develop volunteering in the respective cities.
Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, champion for volunteering in Leeds said:
“I am delighted that the work that has been done to encourage more volunteering in Leeds has been recognised by Local Government Yorkshire and Humber.
“The 2010 Leeds Year of Volunteering was an initiative that the whole of Leeds council backed, and for very good reason.
“Not only is volunteering a really positive experience for the people who take part, it gives them a real sense of belonging to the communities that they live and work in. It also makes a massive contribution to the city’s economy, and with the number of volunteers doubling as a result of this initiative, the value of volunteering in Leeds during 2010 was almost £87million.
“The focus on volunteering over the past two years has also helped the council to develop better working relationships with the voluntary sector and other key partners in the city, including the business sector. Both years have been a real joint effort for the benefit of the people of Leeds.”
The work of Volunteer Centre Leeds has been a key factor in the success of the volunteering focus in the city, and it continues to play an essential role. The centre carried out 780 face-to-face interviews between April and September this year, an increase of over 56% on the same period last year. It has also been noted by Youthbase that Leeds is one of the five busiest volunteer centres outside of London. This is particularly impressive as the other four centres (Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and Sheffield) all have higher staffing levels than Leeds.
During the last six months Volunteer Centre Leeds has run three training programmes linked to the volunteering toolkit and kitemark. These reached fourteen organisations that are now on track to developing in-house volunteering programmes.
The centre has also made links with Leeds University with a structured introduction to volunteering for overseas students. This will introduce those new to Leeds to ways in which they can be more involved in their local communities.
