Youth Community Support Agency
Location: 48 Darnley Street, Glasgow
(project delivery currently online)
Are you passionate about supporting young people to achieve their goals and reach positive destinations?
The Youth Community Support Agency (YCSA) is recruiting a team of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to help deliver the following two projects:
Young People Looking Forward (YPLF) supports young people aged 14-18 most impacted by lockdown, cancellation of exams, and disruption to their education. It is aimed to give them back hope for the future, increase confidence, widen their choices, develop soft skills needed for employability, and help prepare them for positive destinations in life beyond school. YPLF is funded by BBC Children in Need.
Safe Happy Confident (SHC) supports BME young people aged 16-25 who are at risk of homelessness or offending by providing 1:1 support and creative group projects that empower young people to improve their resilience, expand their social network and achieve their goals. SHC is funded by KFC and Comic Relief.
(Please specify in your application which project you would like to support.)
Your Role as a Volunteer:
You will be a great communicator, empathetic listener and have some previous experience working with and supporting young people. You may also have personal lived experience of the asylum, benefits or justice systems which would equip you to mentor and guide others.
The ability to speak an additional language commonly spoken by Scottish BME communities, such as Arabic, would also be helpful.
Both YPLF and SHC are looking for youth support volunteers and mentor volunteers. Details will be discussed further during the volunteer interview.
As a youth support volunteer, you may provide either short-term support to young people or accompany them over a longer period of time as they work towards achieving their goals. This may include supporting young people to:
· Set goals
· Improve their CV and prepare for interviews
· Help find employment, education and training opportunities
· Practice English
· Complete official forms such as benefits applications
· Decide on what they want to do next
As a mentor volunteer, you will provide targeted short-term support to young people in overcoming & addressing issues around Education / Employability Progression. This may include:
· Exploring Motivation & Blockages
· Exploring Pathway opportunities
· Exploring Personal Development Needs & Issues
· Exploring Expectations & Hopes
· Exploring Future Personal Outcomes
Volunteers will need a somewhat flexible schedule and the ability to commit to a minimum of 3 hours per week. Some evening and weekend working may be required on occasion.
During COVID-19 lockdowns, sessions will be held virtually, therefore access to the internet and a laptop, tablet or mobile device will be necessary. YCSA staff will endeavour to provide any training and support needed to assist you in your working.
YCSA requires all volunteers to be PVG certified and will provide the necessary training to work with children and vulnerable adults. Additional volunteer training and supervision will also be offered.
If you are interested please email TiffanyHaraguchi@ycsa.org.uk for more information on how to apply.
Scottish Charity Number: SC026233
Company Number: SC313463