April 2008
Smart Move, LinkLiving Falkirk’s Peer Education Project, is holding a special event this Friday to mark its newly- achieved Investing in Volunteers status and to launch a report covering its successful first two years.
The project recruits and trains young volunteers, many of whom have experienced homelessness or led chaotic lives, to deliver sessions to their peers about housing and homelessness issues. The volunteer peer educators have so far reached more than 450 young people at secondary schools, youth projects and careers centres around the Falkirk area and through sessions at Polmont Young Offenders Institution.
Smart Move has recently successfully completed its assessment for Investing in Volunteers (IIV), the national quality standard recognising good practice in organisations’ volunteer management. The standard is based on four main areas – planning volunteer involvement; recruiting volunteers; selecting and matching volunteers; and supporting and retaining volunteers. George Thomson, Chief Executive of Volunteer Development Scotland, will present the IIV plaque to Smart Move at Friday’s event.
Smart Move Project Co-ordinator Irene Blackburn and some of the project’s 15 current volunteers will also present the new report ‘I wish I’d known then what I know now…’, which details Smart Move’s work to date and contains a DVD about some of the volunteers’ own experiences of homelessness. The volunteers made the film with the help of Forth Valley College.
Irene said: “LinkLiving set up Smart Move in response to seeing young people run into trouble after gaining a tenancy and also hearing the young people themselves tell us they wished they’d known more before leaping into a tenancy without being fully aware of what it involved.
“The project has gone from strength to strength during its first two years, not only advising many young people in the Falkirk area but also helping the volunteers themselves to change their lives for the better. Our new report documents the impact that our work has had since the project was launched.
“To achieve Investing in Volunteers status is fantastic. We’re so proud to know that the work we’re doing is highly regarded and that we are delivering a top quality project, both for the volunteers themselves and the young people who take part in the Smart Move sessions.”
Page last updated on Wednesday, 23 July 2008
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