DWR: Jul 2003

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="09ed05a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>          </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>                             </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>    Reading Council for Voluntary Youth Service</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> </B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="09fd2123.jpg"> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ff000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">DWR: Jul 2003</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DWR Oct 2004"><U><B>DWR - Oct 2004</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DWR Jan 2005"><U><B>DWR - Jan 2005</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Reading Council for Voluntary Youth "><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>DWR: Jul 2003</I></div> <div> <I>Development Workers Report: July 2003</I></div> <bR> <div> <B>Background</B></div> <bR> <div> I took up this post on 6<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >th</FONT> May this year so I have now been in post for 2 months.</div> <bR> <div> My background is perhaps a little unusual in that I worked in the electronics industry for 13 years before taking time out while my children were young. So why RCVYS? Since the age of 14 I have been a volunteer myself, always involved in work with young people. I currently head up a peer led church youth group (in my spare time) with a fantastic bunch of young people as well as being involved with the running of an adventure camp in the summer and teaching and assessing lifesaving and canoeing. So perhaps it's inevitable I would end up in a role like this. </div> <bR> <div> Working for RCVYS so far has been fun and rewarding. My role requires me to</div> <div> map the existing provision for children and young people by getting out and meeting the voluntary and community groups</div> <div> encourage and enable resource sharing between groups</div> <div> support the work of these organisations</div> <div> identify gaps in provision with a view to seeking opportunities and bidding for resources to sustain or expand  services where provision is limited</div> <div> support, represent and advocate on behalf of RCVYS and children & youth services in appropriate local fora</div> <div> promote and enable a stronger voice for children & young people in the voluntary sector in Reading</div> <div> identify training needs and liase with funding bodies and providers to maximise opportunities</div> <div> identify and develop capacity building opportunities</div> <bR> <div> I obviously can't do it all at one so my two main areas of focus have been to get out and meet various voluntary and community groups as well as trying to meet the key players in the statutory services. The groups have ranged from Sea Scouts to a youth drop in centre in the former Forbury Vaults pub. I have tried, as far as I can, to meet a mix of groups from different backgrounds. I was recently treated by the Bangladeshi Association of Greater Reading to a tour of the Mosque where they are based.</div> <bR> <div> I have been receiving a warm welcome wherever I go and met some lovely children and young people. So far I have met with around 25 different groups.</div> <bR> <div> I'm also building good working relationships with workers from other groups such as RVA and BCVYS who have all been very helpful and supportive.</div> <bR> <div> As far as the statutory bodies are concerned I have met with a number of key players to discuss issues like training and funding. In the last week the main area of communication has been with the Connexions team in an attempt to clarify the PAYP situation. I am attempting to get myself on the circulation lists of these various people so that I get the information first hand rather than belatedly or, worse still, not at all. It is not a straightforward issue and involves building credibility and trust with the people concerned.</div> <bR> <div> Because my role is partly funded by the Children's fund, I have been working closely with Richard Stowell on the issues particular to the areas that the Children's fund targets. These areas are also areas where there is often less voluntary sector involvement.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Networking</B></div> <bR> <div> So far I have met around 25 groups. All have expressed enthusiasm for the idea of being a part of RCVYS. I have tried to vary the groups in terms of size, ethnicity, location and type of activity to give me a broad picture of the work being done in Reading. </div> <bR> <div> The last week has been difficult to make appointments with groups as people go into summer holiday mode.</div> <bR> <div> I am now concentrating on making plans to visit groups that run special activities over the summer instead until the start of the next academic year so if that's you and I haven't contacted you then please let me know!</div> <bR> <div> <B>Promoting RCVYS</B></div> <bR> <div> I have developed a “marketing” brochure for RCVYS which can be taken to all of the groups I visit to explain our role. As I visit groups I am encouraging them to join us. I also plan to had this out at meetings with the various statutory groups.</div> <div> <B>Common issues</B></div> <bR> <div> The main issues that are common to most of the groups I have met so far are</div> <div> shortage of leaders</div> <div> access to good cheap (or free) training</div> <div> CRB checks</div> <div> funding</div> <bR> <div> <B>OTHER INFORMATION</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>South East Regional Event</B></div> <bR> <div> I have been involved with the early stages of planning for a regional meeting planned for Guildford on 17<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >th</FONT> September. The meeting is to capture the work done so far between voluntary sector and Connexions. It will celebrate the good work done, identify good practice for work between Connexions and voluntary sector, explore issues which impede the involvement of the sector and make proposals for the support of the sector within the South East. The meeting is being planned and led by the CVYSs around the South East. Speakers will include Jane Harwood (CSNU) and Susanne Rauprich (NCVYS). It is aimed at interested parties from the local CVYSs. There will be a variety of workshops. More details will follow.</div> <bR> <div> <B>PAYP</B></div> <bR> <div> Most of you will have received an email from me last week with details of PAYP expression of interest. A number expressed concern about the lateness of the stage in which this information was made available. I discussed the situation with Sue Baker at Connexions. The basic situation is that the shortage of time led to a less than satisfactory dissemination of the details. Having established links with the Connexions team, I hope communications will be better in the future. Sue gave me the following figures for the current situation with regard to Reading.</div> <div> £20,000 has been held back for the next two weeks (I am ASSUMING that this is a deadline of 16th July with the meeting on the 17th). There is an inclination to direct a significant amount of this money to the voluntary sector, if possible. Obviously at this stage they need to fill the gaps in the provision they have already accepted. Clear gaps are work in East Reading, in particular anything engaging with the Asian Community and anything in social inclusion with an integration emphasis.</div> <bR> <div> Over and above this there is £25,000 for additional bids up to mid august</div> <bR> <div> There is a little further money as contingency and to facilitate access for some young people e.g. for things like buying football boots for a young person who would be otherwise unable to participate and a final pot to allow young people to bid for funding for opportunities they have themselves identified.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Connexions</B></div> <bR> <div> There have been some changes at Connexions which will affect our communications with them. Sue Baker is now PAYP manager and Gina Carpenter has taken responsibility for just Reading.</div> <div> Anyone wishing to know more about Connexions can attend a free one day course. The next is being held on 7<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >th</FONT> October.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Training issues</B></div> <div>  </div> <div> This comes up regularly in conversations with groups. There are a number of sources of reasonably priced or even free training. RBC's training officer, Gill Brookman, runs training for youth workers which is available free of charge. This includes NVQ training in youth work. </div> <bR> <div> Rhiannon has details of training in sexual health issues.</div> <bR> <div> The most common request is for First Aid training. This is usually best sourced through BACYP. It is a good example of an area where we could team together to run courses. There is a course being run 19<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >th</FONT> July in Reading (although not through BACYP) for voluntary groups. It is a full 8 hr appointed persons certificate. The cost is between £20 and £25 and places are available for anyone who is interested - see me!</div> <bR> <div> If you have particular needs outside this please let me know and we'll find out how to get it for you.</div> <bR> <div> <B>CRB</B></div> <bR> <div> While this is not something that RCVYS can offer, we will try to keep you posted with details of how you can get these done. There is a group in Bracknell called Disclosure Assist who will process applications for you. They charge a small fee over and above the fee from CRB. The CRB fees have themselves just gone up (effective from 1<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >st</FONT> July) . They are still free to volunteers but paid employees, even for a voluntary organisation, must pay the full fee of £24 for a standard disclosure or £29 for a full disclosure.</div> <div> <B>Plans for the future</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Workshops</B></div> <bR> <div> The government announced last year, the preparation of a Green Paper to identify radical options for improving services for children and young people. It will consider measures to reduce the levels of educational underachievement, offending, anti-social behaviour, teenage pregnancy, and ill health.</div> <bR> <div> The Green Paper will focus on the identification, referral and tracking of children at risk and the provision of mainstream and specialist services to them. It will look at an overhaul of existing arrangements, and at services working with children and young people including social services, youth justice, as well as the role of schools, families and communities.</div> <bR> <div> The whole area of the voluntary sector involvement in this is complicated and so we are looking at planning workshops following the release of the paper (now scheduled for September?) to discuss the issues raised and to allow us to make an informed response to the proposals. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Communication</B></div> <bR> <div> One of the areas I need to work on is the dissemination of information to you all. Coming from a computer based background I am keen to set up as much electronically as possible. I plan to get a regular email newsletter with the relevant details on. Initially this will contain all the updates on what's going on. In the longer term I plan to move to a web site. I would then email summary of the information to everyone and put the details on the website. I'm keen that we should get feedback from as many places as possible so reps on various committees could supply information which I could pass on through this route. Obviously, this electronic form will not suit everyone and I will happily send out paper copies to anyone without web access.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Shared resources</B></div> <bR> <div> I'd love to see us sharing what we have. This could be physical resources like equipment or perhaps expertise. The other possibility is events that would include a number of us. Training courses are another obvious shared need. I would love to see us working together on these where we can so if you're running a course and have spaces or you're looking for spaces then let me know and I'll communicate the information to the rest of the membership.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Key tasks</B></div> <div> visits to youth and children's voluntary groups to offer to support to those involved</div> <div> continue to develop relationships with key individuals in the statutory sector</div> <div> develop and produce a directory of youth and children's voluntary groups</div> <div> develop a strategy for support of these groups</div> <div> identify sources of funding relevant to the various groups</div> <div> work closely with other support agencies like RVA, BCVYS, BACYP</div> <div> identify gaps in provision and begin to explore how these opportunities can be addressed.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>