Peter Jones is the Digital Volunteers Manager at Beatbullying:

Bullying is a malaise that affects us all. Practically everyone has had some experience of it, whether at school or work, as the victim, the witness or even as a bully. It is especially widespread amongst young people. Our research repeatedly indicates that 1 in 3 children and young people experience bullying and emotional child on child violence.

When bullying goes unchecked in our schools and communities, the breeding ground for gang culture, crime and violence prospers. Acknowledgement of these consequences is reflected in the growing number of support services for young people experiencing ‘offline’ bullying. At present, though, not enough exists to support them in the online environment, where we know at least 40% of young people have experienced some kind of cyberbullying.

CyberMentors is the latest project by Beatbullying designed to meet this need. CyberMentors.org.uk is a new service for the digital age: a traditional mentoring system delivered via a social networking site. Young people aged 10-25 are trained as CyberMentors, in schools and online, in universities and workplaces across the UK, so that they can offer support to other young people who have/are experiencing cyberbullying.

Beatbullying is working with a variety of partners in order to populate the site with young, dynamic and empathetic staff from companies across England. One of these is City & Guilds – a member of City Action.

Kathryn Kirkpatrick from City & Guilds has this to say about being involved with CyberMentors:

“We were drawn to working with Beatbullying on the CyberMentoring project due to the huge difference staff can make by using only a small amount of time. The scheme fits in well with our CSER programme and was easy to sign up for. Staff attend a one day training course and then volunteer for just 2 hours a week online. The feedback from staff was great and 100% of those that were trained said that being able to take part in this award winning and pioneering social phenomenon made them feel good about the company they work for”. 

Beatbullying is always looking for new partners to work with on CyberMentors. We are holding our next training session on Saturday 20th February 2010 at our offices in Crystal Palace. Training will be from 11am until 4.30pm. If you, or anyone you know is 20-25 and interested in volunteering online for just 2 hours a week, please drop us a quick email to digitalvolunteering@beatbullying.org

Shenelle spent nine weeks within the Corporate Responsibility team as a City Business Trainee, a scheme funded by the City of London and facilitated by local charity, the Brokerage Citylink.  The scheme offers many talented young people from the City-fringe boroughs a unique opportunity to undertake a paid work placement after their A’levels within a City business.  This is Shenelle’s story of her placement:

“As I commuted to the City on July 6th 2009, I felt like an outsider amongst the well known businesses. However, by September 4th 2009 my knowledge about the City had developed immensely and I felt like a real City worker!

Approaching the east wing of the Guildhall for the first time as a member of staff at the City of London Corporation felt like a bird leaving their mother’s nest. My initial feeling was of excitement, as I was about to embark a valuable opportunity of working in a corporate environment, enabling me to learn new skills and meet new people. Nevertheless, my excitement was also accompanied by nerves as I began to question whether a 17-year old would be able to assist in bringing lasting social, economic and physical regeneration to the City’s neighbouring boroughs.

Once I arrived to the Economic Development Office, all thoughts of doubt had vanished. An introductory meeting with my line manager where I received information packs about the projects I would be supporting and the roles I would be carrying out reassured me that the next two months would be an enjoyable and exciting experience. The fact that I was introduced to my fellow team members and had lunch with them on the first day made me feel more relaxed as I was getting to the know the people that I would be working with.

During my placement I was assigned to various tasks in which I had to manage my time effectively in order to complete the work. My first task was to develop an annual questionnaire to send out to City Action’s community members, to identify the type of support they need.  Undertaking a telephone survey of the community organisations that responded was extremely rewarding and was one of the highlights of my placement.  I found it a privilege to identify the support community organisations need so that corporate volunteers can share their skills and resources. My work with City Action has encouraged me to increase my active involvement within the community.

My other tasks included supporting the City of London’s Employee Volunteering Programme, as well as the Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards. Both of these projects gave me the opportunity to practice my writing skills which I very much enjoyed.

Supporting the Dragon Awards programme brought to my attention that as well as success and financial wealth, Corporate Responsibility is a high priority within the City. Writing the pages for the Dragon Awards dinner book showed me that the City goes beyond the Square Mile, as City companies actively support their neighbouring boroughs and the communities that face social exclusion or disadvantage.

Working as City of London employee for nine weeks has been a really positive experience. By working on various projects I have learnt a great deal and I will take these skills away with me so that I can enhance my personal and educational development. I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement and I would recommend the City Business Trainee programme to all A-Level students!”

No matter how the information comes – word of mouth, through the media or the various periodic indicators – one thing is agreed; the nation’s construction sector is in a bad way, consistently and precariously placed on the wrong side of the growth/contraction divide. Indeed, one index forecasts a staggering 16% shrinkage in the sector during 2009. The technical data is unfortunately backed up by lay-offs, redundancies and closures on the ground.

However, even this thunderhead has something of a silver lining.

In the last six months a major builder has bucked the trend, securing contracts worth over £6.5 billion. Its total orders to June are estimated at £12.8 billion. Another company has gained preferred bidder status for a contract worth £35 million. These and others up for grabs are all public sector infrastructure contracts: schools, hospitals, roads, museums. Faced with the scarcity of privately funded projects, builders are fighting tooth and nail to win them.

Those that do win these contracts, apart from being very good at what they do, have another thing in common. That is, a history of going beyond ‘best endeavours’ in attempting to deliver local recruitment and procurement. They have robust working relationships with the sector skills councils, colleges, training providers, job brokers, funding bodies, schools and charities. They get involved with schemes designed to train and employ women, people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, ex-offenders, the homeless and NEETS (young people not in employment, education or training).

And, increasingly, in a time of burgeoning unemployment, when central and local government look to award contracts on more than simply price alone, this track record can mean the difference between a healthy order book and the struggle to survive.

The most forward looking have embraced Corporate Social Responsibility activity and made it a core element of their business model because it works. Corporate Social Responsbility is fast becoming an accepted aid to the all-important maintenance of the bottom line.

The economic downturn has hit the construction sector very hard. When people are losing their jobs and livelihoods it could be seen as highly unfeeling to argue that the bad times could possibly have a progressive outcome. But, switching proverbs, it would be an extremely ill wind that blew no-one any good at all. If there are to be winners when these austere times are done, CSR itself looks set to be one of them, together with those companies who looked into the storm and saw its value.

City Action organise regular, half-day tours of the City fringe Boroughs, offering a unique insight into the challenges faced by charitable organisations within those Boroughs. As the newest member of the City Action team, I was delighted to be able to spend a sunny morning attending the most recent tour of Lambeth on the 4th June.

Lambeth enjoys great affluence in certain pockets of the Borough such as the Southbank; indeed it even plays host to the London Eye. Despite these ever-popular landmarks, Lambeth is the 5th most deprived borough in London. Perversely however, it also receives the least volunteer support from City businesses. The City Action Community Tour of Lambeth aimed to raise the profile of its community activity, with the modest hope of reversing these stats.

The Tour commenced its journey at Guildhall, leaving swiftly at 8.30am for the first destination, Lillian Bayliss Sports Action Zone. We heard from Karim, who gave us an enthusiastic presentation describing the wide variety of active projects that they provide to the people of Lambeth. He stressed the important role that sport and physical activity can play in aiding social inclusion and community cohesion.

Our next destination on the Tour was the Karibu Education Centre in Brixton, a lively community hub, providing young people with the educational & social skills needed to move them safely into adulthood. En route to the Karibu Centre, we received a talk from Iago Griffiths from Lambeth Council, who provided a general overview of Lambeth, in particular what challenges the third sector faces and how Lambeth Council supports their local community. Once at the Karibu Centre, we were greeted by big smiling faces and delicious cakes – always a winning combination! We had a brief talk from Leah Levane, Head of Communities and Neighbourhoods at Lambeth Council, followed by an inspiring presentation from Elaine Holness, the Project Co-ordinator at Karibu, explaining just how essential their support and facilities are to the local community.

After saying our goodbyes to the Karibu Centre, we had another en-route talk, this time from Nick Mason, Chair of the Lambeth Summer Projects, an innovative youth engagement charity in partnership with Lambeth schools and the Metropolitan Police. He talked in particular about their Growing against Gangs programme, providing life skills to pupils to help them avoid involvement in delinquent or anti-social behaviour, violence or gang membership and ‘signpost’ them towards positive activities.

Our final stop of the morning was at the Waterloo Action Centre. For 35 years the centre has been committed to supporting their local community in a variety of ways, offering assistance to people of all ages, irrespective of their problem or query. What particularly struck me was the variety of information and help they offer for such a small community organisation. They even have a weekly surgery where anyone can come in from the street and obtain free legal advice from a dedicated team of qualified lawyers (all volunteers of course).

By 12.45pm our Tour ended where it had begun, at Guildhall. I personally found the morning not only enjoyable but also thought provoking. Many of the City firms present have already expressed a keen interest in supporting the three fantastic organisations we visited. Indeed, one major financial consultancy that attended described the tour as “incredibly insightful and inspiring…This tour allowed me to open my eyes to what’s available”. This is real testament, in my view, to the tremendous value of these City Action Tours.

The idea of using volunteering as a way to develop leadership seems to be growing. I know that City Action has been working with Barclays to place volunteers into trustee, mentoring and finance project roles as part of their Leadership Development Programme.  Also, the Civil Service fast stream now offer a one year placement with a charity to some participants as part of the scheme.  Many organisations are using similar partnerships to further develop their staff that are already in leadership roles.

Last Thursday I attended the launch of a piece of research, carried out by Corporate Citizenship on behalf of ACEVO looking at how private sector leaders can strengthen leadership in the third sector through cross-sector partnerships.

The research highlighted the numerous benefits that come from such initiatives for both the charity and the business. Brian Bannister, Head of Communications at PwC gave a vivid and enlightening account of what he has gained from a 6 week secondment to Barnardos in the North West where he was working with Wendy Shepherd a Project Manager, who Brian described as a truly inspirational leader.

It was clear to see that Brian had benefited immensely from the experience. Not only did he leave the secondment feeling a strong sense of loyalty to PwC, he also changed his perspective towards managing staff (everything he now does is based on the ‘Wendy test’). Brian’s experience of working on a small, under-funded project has strengthened his innovation skills, and his ability to motive staff when times are tough or uncertain, which is especially relevant in the current economic climate.

 From Brian’s description it sounded as if Wendy also gained a lot from the PwC staff, not least observing how PwC colleagues challenged ideas in a professional way, and project management – in particular full cost recovery in terms of preparing tenders.

There definitely seems to be a lot of scope for this model to grow, and hopefully it will in many businesses. In PwC it lies within Human Resources and not Community Affairs, however, it could be a really good way for organisations to strengthen relationships between these two departments.

Whilst the headlines these days are grabbed by multi billion pound bailouts of the banking system there’s a growing view in politics that a more ground up approach might actually be the best route out of the credit crunch.

Speaking at the Voice 09 conference, the Conservative party leader said Britain needed to open up its training system to third sector alternatives and social enterprises so that standards can be raised:

“This is where I see a really important role for social enterprises. Enterprises like City Gateway in Tower Hamlets, which takes young adults from local estates and trains them in the skills our economy will need in the future like web design,” he said.

“These social enterprises have the local knowledge, the human touch, and sensitive understanding of the complex and interconnected problems of educational failure and worklessness and I want to see more City Gateways come in, take this recession by the scruff of the neck and help get people into work.”

And the Conservative party aren’t alone in looking beyond the banking system – City Gateway, a charity set up to link businesses into their training projects in the local community, recently celebrated its 10th Anniversary at the Canary Wharf East Wintergarden. Stephen Timms (Financial Secretary to the Treasury) recognised the dedication of the third sector: “We need more of that passion and commitment in our communities at times like this one when we’ve got economic problems around the world.”

Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Media, Culture & Sport, who also spoke at the event added: “In this period it is difficult, it is a challenge, but in this area there is a once in a lifetime opportunity with the Olympic games. I think there are exciting times ahead, there are hopes and dreams people can look for. In my point of view this is a great time for this part of London to really open up opportunities and really ensure that we change as many young lives as possible.”

City Gateway is launching it’s own 1 year blog project in mid April to capture a wide range of opinions on CSR, volunteering and regeneration – find out more on our website.

We are so pleased to see that new volunteering matches and activity are already emerging from our annual reception event, which took place on 12th March 2009. With over 60 businesses and Livery companies in attendance, it was clear that enthusiasm around employee volunteering is very much alive and well!

We have picked up messages from our clients, which imply that Corporate Community Involvement needs to be flexible as possible at the moment, to ensure momentum remains and involvement continues: our annual reception event focused on simple and convenient ways to make valuable contributions within the City fringe boroughs.

The Lord Mayor of London, Alderman Ian Luder, very kindly delivered a keynote speech about his Financial Literacy Initiative, emphasising that Financial Literacy is essential to our future, and that you don’t need to be a financial services expert to help young people improve their numeracy skills.  Anyone who knows how to budget, what a good deal is on a loan, and why you need to save for a pension, can help out by giving as little as one hour of time a month.

The Lord Mayor also highlighted that we now live in a digital age where communication does not have to be face-to-face. Corporate volunteers can offer skilled support to a charity or individual via telephone and e-mail. For example, setting up a database, creating the structure for a business or marketing plan, mentoring a young person or proof reading documents. We recently launched the concept of ‘Virtual Volunteering’ and have developed an icon on our online volunteering opportunities bulletin, enabling visitors to identify volunteering opportunities that can be undertaken remotely.

The event was also a chance for City Action to thank our members for their contribution to our success over the past year. In the last 12 months City Action has seen a 55% growth in the placement of skills-based volunteers from 2007; and in the last quarter of 2008, City Action saw a 40% increase in new volunteering activity. However, we don’t want to become complacent in this ever-changing climate. We must continually review our services to ensure an even stronger City Action community in the coming year.

The areas we will be focusing on this year include:

Re-launching our website – with an integrated members area, more online resources including case studies and interactive news pages.

Ensuring that our community partners continue to receive the skilled support they require by increasing the accessible volunteering opportunities, such as virtual volunteering roles, we have available. 

We will also be looking to raise awareness of the lesser known City-fringe boroughs such as Lambeth to ensure those community organisations receive the support they need.

Finally, we will be consulting you! We are looking forward to discussing our plans and finding out how we can best support your organisation in the coming year.

…I hope that you all had a happy Valentines weekend and enjoyed spending time with your loved ones.  Last week, City Action was busy gearing up for the weekend by collaborating with CNN on a Valentine’s themed feature, broadcast on Saturday 14th, about our volunteering brokerage service.

CNN reporter Adrian Finighan visits Spitalfields Crypt Trust where Bank of Montreal employee volunteers support a lunchtime drop-in once a week.  Despite the slightly tongue-in-cheek approach to this news story, the value of City Action’s service is highlighted as it is described as “a unique initiative that allows volunteers and non-profit groups to work together”. 

Adrian also goes on to say: “Though it might not be ‘true love’ in the traditional sense, this relationship has had benefits for many…there are many types of (volunteer) matches but one clear goal – a relationship – built on a foundation of generosity of spirit”.

As programmes like The Secret Millionaire become ever popular due to the deeply personal and transformational nature of the volunteering stories featured and Barack Obama’s celebrated inauguration speech which focuses on “a new era of responsibility” – perhaps engaging in volunteering is going to become a vital part of rebuilding our economies and communities.  To quote Obama:

“We have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world…duties that we do not grudgingly accept but seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task…this is the price and promise of citizenship”  

Please do watch the full news story here and let us know your views on the future of volunteering…

In our January email update, City Action sent all our clients a selection of volunteering options within schools.  The sessions are aimed at helping the students discover the ‘world of work’, ranging from interview/CV workshops to developing their own product/business concepts.  The support of employee volunteers is vital to these sessions as they bring with them real life knowledge and are positive role models for the young people to spend time with.  City Action has had an excellent response to these sessions and many are now booked-up with willing volunteers. 

City Action also supports businesses that are looking to develop a longer-term relationship with a school, via a reading or mentoring scheme for example.  I have recently co-ordinated review meetings with several businesses and their school partners. The feedback that is given by the schools is always positive as they recognise the value that 1:1 volunteer support provides each child – conversations are littered with phrases such as ‘improved social confidence’, ‘raised self-esteem’ and ‘increased literacy levels’.

The value of business and education support was re-iterated at a celebration event I attended earlier this week hosted by the Southwark Education Business Alliance.  Many businesses ranging from global fuel suppliers to SME law firms were in attendance and all had developed a valuable partnership with a school. Southwark is a borough that has unique challenges – as 4 in 10 children are given free school meals (the national average is 1 in 10).  However, Southwark’s standards of education are continuing to rise and throughout the event  it was stressed how important employee volunteer support is to the schools, particularly to help foster the ‘mindset’ in young people that they would like to achieve in school and in their future careers.

The Government recognises the need for the education and business sectors to work in partnership with one another as their recent publication ‘Building Stronger Partnerships’ illustrates.   I hope that despite the downturn, businesses and their employees continue to consider volunteering as a great opportunity for staff to get out of the office (and their comfort zone!) and as a way of each individual developing personal/professional skills whilst supporting young people at a vital time in their lives -perhaps even more so than ever before.

As 2008 is nearly at an end I thought I would take this opportunity to highlight some of the successes and achievements of City Action, our business clients and community partners over the past year.

Despite the difficult economic circumstances, City Action’s business clients have continued to be a great source of support to our City-fringe community partners – we have seen a healthy 18% increase in skills-based volunteering over the past year.  Businesses new to employee volunteering are continuing to launch community involvement programmes with the help of City Action – we have seen a 40% increase in the number of programmes launched this year compared to 2007 which is extremely encouraging.

Over a third of City Action’s community partners have benefitted from the very generous donations of resources from City businesses, ranging from meeting room space to new computers – all of which are extremely valuable to local organisations with very limited capacity.

City Action has also seen a significant increase in the number of community organisations seeking our support in 2008 – as our new community partners recognise the huge benefits of involving businesses in helping to deliver or improve their services to the local community.

Developing cross-sectoral networking, knowledge sharing and increased understanding is a key part of City Action’s service.  Over 70 City businesses and 50 community organisations attended City Action events in 2008 which have included three ‘Community Tours’ of the London Boroughs Islington, Camden and Tower Hamlets, a Partnerships workshop and a ‘Celebration of 10 years of City Action’ Networking Event.

I thought I would round this posting off with a few memorable quotes from City Action’s volunteering activity feedback forms this year, as we look forward to an even better 2009!

Employee Volunteers:

‘An overwhelming sense of achievement at helping such a wonderful charity’ 

‘I really feel like I am helping people develop whilst at the same time I am enjoying the happiness it gives to the children, young people, families, volunteers and staff!’

Community Organisations:

‘I just want to say how positive we feel it has been working with City Action – we feel that a real momentum is building with our corporate volunteering.’

‘Many of the children won’t get much adult interaction and if they do its often not positive…..the volunteers are great at interacting with the kids in a fun, friendly and supportive way, which is fantastic.’

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all at City Action! The blog will return in January 2009…..