Social Action Fund grant will boost youth volunteers in libraries

Finance | Kirsty Weakley | 10 Sep 2012

The Reading Agency has received a grant of £127,000 from the Cabinet Office’s Social Action Fund to set up a network that will create new volunteering opportunities for young people in libraries.

The charity is working with local authority library services to set up the Youth Innovation Network, with 74 out of 152 local authorities in England signed up so far. Funding is not yet available for Scotland and Wales although the Welsh and Scottish authorities have expressed an interest in the scheme.

It will be delivered in partnership with the Society of Chief Librarians and the Association of Senior Children’s and Education Librarians.

The Network will provide training and resources to help librarians engage with young people, aged 11 to 25, and set up new volunteering programmes.

Potential volunteering opportunities include designing new services, organising author events, reading with children and using library space and computers to tell stories about their community using social media.

Miranda McKearney, director of the Reading Agency, said: “The Network builds on libraries’ long-standing experience of involving volunteers, extending this to build year-round volunteering opportunities.”

The Cabinet Office launched the £20m Social Action Fund last year to support projects that will expand volunteering. Both application windows have now closed.

Nick Hurd, minister for civil society, is visiting a library in Southwark this afternoon to meet young volunteers and to launch the scheme. He said: "I am particularly keen for more young people to get the opportunity to contribute to their community and develop their skills and confidence."

Who's Who: Nick Hurd

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