dale lane

For the young people who do Millennium Volunteers, today’s transfer of MV from the DfES to the new independent charity ‘v’ is probably a non-event. I imagine many of them won’t notice at all – and “business as usual” is certainly the message that v is encouraging us all to send to them.

The most noticeable difference will probably be the change to the certificates that young people get after completing 200 hours of voluntary work. Before today, the certificates were signed by a government minister – because they were the responsibility of the DfES. Now that link has gone, the certificates from today will be signed by the Chief Exec of the new charity v – Terry Ryall.

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One of the things I found out about at the v conference on Thursday was vcashpoint.

vcashpoint is their “funding initiative” where they will give money directly to young people to fund set up voluntary community projects. The idea is that if a young person (aged 16-25) has an idea for something that they think will benefit their community, they can apply to v for a grant of up to £2,500 to help them make it happen. Successful applicants get the money transferred to a bank account of their choice, and v monitor the outcome of the project in much the same way that they would with a voluntary provider like us.

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