Millennium Volunteers...
The Millennium Volunteers (MV) scheme was in operation across England from1999 to 2008, during which time over 40,000 young people were awarded certificates in recognition of their volunteering. Certificates were awarded for the completion of 100 and 200 hours of volunteering in a wide range of activities from youth work to web design.
GMYN took on the delivery of Millennium Volunteers in 2007 from Toucan Europe who had been involved in the scheme from its start in 1999. In the final 12 months of the scheme GMYN made 1000 young people aware of the scheme. Almost 600 of these young people became active volunteers and over 450 of them received the MV/v award in recognition of their volunteering.
An interesting fact about the GMYN staff involved in delivering the Millennium Volunteers project is that they have all completed their 200 hours MV award at some point in the past eight years.
The change from MV to vinvolved
In 2005 research was carried out by the Russell Commission to look at the state of youth action and engagement. The findings of this study were put into a report, which the Government used to update the delivery of youth volunteering. They created a new independent charity called v with the aim of changing the quality, quantity and diversity of volunteering opportunities for young people.
MV projects have been replaced by vinvolved teams, which are based in authority areas rather than regions so there is no longer a Greater Manchester project but instead a vinvolved team in each of the ten boroughs. Each vinvolved team is responsible for creating new volunteering opportunities and brokering young people aged 16 to 25 into volunteer placements.
GMYN are delivering the vinvolved teams in Bury, Manchester and Oldham. The teams consist of Youth Volunteer Development Managers who work with organisations to support them to create volunteer opportunties and Youth Volunteer Advisers who broker young people into these opportunities. » more info about vinvolved
