In June, SAVS invited the Youth Council to attend one of our forum meetings, following discussions regarding the very low number of volunteering opportunities listed as being ‘suitable for under 18’s’.

They presented to local Volunteer Coordinators, and then conducted a study with young people, to find out how they felt about volunteering.

These give an idea of what young people want to do, barriers to volunteering, and what they hope to achieve from offering their time.

We are pleased to say that there are now 40 opportunities for young people, on our Southend Volunteer Hub website, compared to just 16 earlier this year, which is INCREDIBLE!

Thank you to all the Volunteer Coordinators who have reconsidered roles and age ranges, enabling more under 18’s to volunteer within their wonderful organisations, and to Apryl, Lucy and Abbigail, for bringing this to our attention, conducting the survey and helping us improve the number of opportunities available to you.

What a truly worthwhile collaboration and it’s amazing to know your voices have made a difference.

We will endeavour to continue to improve accessibility to volunteering opportunities for under 18’s.

Young people are hopefully better informed, too, as to how they can find volunteering.

Working together brings positive results. Your voice matters!