Community Support Fund: Maximising Volunteers Progression Routes

This session is for anyone in the VCSE sector who wants to expand on using volunteering opportunities to support individuals’ progression journey by maximising collaborations across the skills landscape.

Volunteering has proved an important progression route as part of Community Support Fund in enabling the most vulnerable in our community to build experience, skills and confidence. The role of coaches and volunteer peer to peer support has proven important in developing participants confidence and handholding them onto the next stage in their progression. Through our Digital Badging pilot, we have been able to recognise skills developed through volunteering.

This session will showcase some of the best practice examples through the fund, but also explore opportunities to link with wider services to better use volunteering as a mechanism to maximise individuals progression onto further skills, training and employability.

Brief overview of The Community Support Fund:

The Community Support Fund (CSF) supports the most vulnerable within our communities, including those who’ve suffered disproportionately due to COVID-19. The project aims to provide the vital first step towards learning, training, volunteering and employability. This £1.5m programme is a key part of the West of England Combined Authority’s Recovery Plan. It will support those who face the greatest risk of negative social, health or economic consequences as a result of the pandemic.