Capture the volunteers while we can
Andy Hillier
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Volunteers are the life blood of youth work. According to the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services, more than 500,000 volunteers give up their spare time to work with young people, outnumbering the number of paid employees by almost 10 to one.
It's a staggering figure yet it still isn't enough. The Scouts Association recently revealed that it has a waiting list of 33,000 potential Scouts due to a shortage of more than 6,000 leaders. Girlguiding UK is in a similar predicament.
The need is particularly acute among smaller youth clubs where a failure to attract even just one extra volunteer can lead to closure.
Sadly, too many people don't view volunteering to work with young people as an attractive option. Men worry their motives will be questioned if they volunteer to work with youth groups, and some women fear they will end up working with the violent teenagers they read about in the press. The public rarely hears about the many benefits.
Yet volunteering can be hugely rewarding. For those looking to enter the job market for the first time, it shows a willingness to learn new skills and be part of a community. And for those looking to re-enter the job market, it can show they have been using their time constructively.
A coalition of uniformed youth groups in London is planning a joint campaign to attract more adult volunteers. Now that we are in a recession and lots more potential volunteers are out there, perhaps the time is right for a more concerted campaign to attract volunteers to the youth sector. There are, after all, few volunteering opportunities that beat working with young people.
