Thursday, 31 July 2008
Our new Young Event Volunteers project, funded by HSBC Education Trust,
launches next month and seeks to create a new generation of young
people as sports event volunteers.
It will enable us to reach across established community divides, inspire youngsters to ‘get involved’ and tackle negative perceptions of young people by providing high profile examples of the positive contribution they can and do make.
We will be working in partnership with UK Sport’s major events team and six of England’s major host cities for international sports events which include: Manchester, Sheffield, Tyne and Wear, Bristol/Bath, London and Birmingham. Each major host city will have a full-time volunteer who will undertake an amazing opportunity as a Young Event Volunteer Development Officer (YEVDO).
Each YEVDO will play a crucial part in identifying, recruiting and training event crews, led by HEI students as team mangers and young volunteers from local SSPs. Each young person will be deployed in support of at least three major events over a 12-month period, and 250 young people will be targeted for involvement throughout each year of the project.
Louise Gruchy, Young Officials Development Manager, said: "the event volunteering project will provide young people with unique experiences to support elite sport in a voluntary capacity and develop new skills. Led by young people, for young people with support from major event teams this innovative project is an opportunity to inspire everyone to develop their interests and volunteer in sport."
The Young Event Volunteers will undoubtedly, create an everlasting legacy of young people as volunteers. It has already received support for three years to ensure that a model for the provision of new volunteering opportunities is created.
Click here to find out more about Event Volunteering.