News

Dig for Victory - Aire Action Week 2010

Aire Action 2010 took place last week at Thwaite Mills on the River Aire. The project has won the Community and City Pride Award Project of the Year 2 years running and forms part of longer term plans to increase the number of people who use the waterways. Aire action aims to improve the environment along the footpaths and ultimately increase inward investment into the city.

We would like to thank all volunteers who took part from Leeds City Council, Aire Valley Homes, Rugby Football League, Mills & Reeve, Barclays Corporate, Yorkshire Bank and Kier. We would also like to thank Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, BTCV and Groundwork for supervising the activity.

Allotments were created and work was done to improve a community garden as part of the week’s 1940's theme. In addition to this a new garden was created to look as it would have during WW2.

The work has been completed just in time for the Leeds Waterfront Festival which is taking part on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 July across four locations; Thwaite Mills Watermill, Clarence Dock, Brewery Wharf and Granary Wharf. The event is free and there's something for everyone from live music and arts, to angling and boats. For more information see http://www.leedswaterfrontfestival.com/

 

Valuing Volunteering in June

The Leeds year of volunteering theme for June is ‘valuing volunteering', which is a celebration of the work that volunteers in Leeds do and a chance to focus on improving the overall quality of volunteering in the city.

One of the aims of the 2010 Leeds Year of Volunteering is for Leeds to be recognised for having excellent volunteering programmes which give volunteers a high quality experience of volunteering. Valuing volunteering is also about recognising everyone who gives their time to help people and causes. Some may not even consider themselves to be volunteers, but their contribution is just as worthwhile and important.

 

June 5th - Volunteering Marketplace at Victoria Gardens 11am until 3.30pm

This is for organisations seeking new volunteers to book a free stall at. Also an opportunity for members of the public to have a look over the range of volunteering available in Leeds. Organiser: Rachel Charlton, Leeds City Council 0113 247 5878 rachel.charlton@leeds.gov.uk

 

June 9th - Leeds Compact Launch at Civic Hall, 10.30 - 12 noon

Partnership events between Leeds City Council and the Voluntary Sector. Organiser: Pat Fairfax, Leeds City Council 0113 247 8128 Pat.fairfax@leeds.gov.uk

 

June 12th - Volunteer Thank you Tea Party at Leeds Metropolitan University Headingley Campus 11am - 2pm

Thank you event for volunteers hosted by Voluntary Action Leeds. Are you a volunteer? Is so we would like to say a big ‘Thank you' for all that you do for the city. Free tombola, activities, music and cream teas - please bring your own picnic (no BBQ's or alcohol). Organiser: Natasha Mort 0113 395 0405 Natasha.mort@val.org.uk

 

See the Leeds year of volunteering website for more details

Students Balance their Budgets

 

Students are learning how to manage money and prepare for their futures with a new money skills course taking place throughout Leeds.

The sessions are organised by Leeds Ahead with support from East North East Homes.

A money skills workshop was delivered at John Smeaton Community College with the help of staff from high street bank Barclays as part of the initiative. Pupils are taught about budgeting and banking, affordable credit, illegal money lending, identity fraud and phishing scams.

West Yorkshire Trading Standards developed the financial literacy programme to help thousands of young people manage their money and it is already proving to be a real success.

New Members of the Leeds Ahead Team

Leeds Ahead would like to welcome Peter Balderston and Felicity Donlan as the newest members of the Leeds Ahead Team. They will both be working with us over the next 6 months and we look forward to working with them to support the regeneration of Leeds.

Peter has joined Leeds Ahead as a project delivery assistant and will work alongside our business brokers.

Felicity is working with Nigel Conder the town centre manager for Armley and Pudsey who is employed by Leeds Ahead, providing admin support.

Future Jobs Fund

Leeds Ahead are working with Leeds City Council and Jobcentre Plus to support the Future Jobs Fund. This Government initiative is supporting the creation of jobs to help combat the impact of the recession on young people. It will create around 170,000 new jobs across the country by March 2011 for 18-24 year olds who have been out of work for over 6 months to prevent them from becoming long-term unemployed.

With more young people in Leeds being unemployed than the national average, the Future Jobs Fund is playing a vital role in helping prevent this unemployment being long term.

Whereas the majority of jobs will be placed in the public and third sectors, Leeds Ahead has a pioneering approach of linking jobs to the private sector, supporting their CSR teams. Jobs must have a clear community or environment benefit, and Premier Farnell, Yorkshire Bank, Kodak and Hewlett Training are currently involved in creating new roles.

The first placement has been made by Premier Farnell, who have appointed a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Assistant to support the Company Secretary, and tasks will include helping to meet external reporting requirements associated with the Group’s CSR initiatives. Steven Webb, Company Secretary and General Counsel for Premier Farnell plc said “We believe that it is imperative that responsible businesses take action to create opportunities for young people and working with the Future Jobs Fund has given us the chance to offer a young person access to training and development, as well as a guaranteed income. The Fund offers employers a paid role to support their community work, and in return the Company invests time and experience in developing that young person, making them better able to find a job after the programme.”