Volunteering WA has been awarded a Lotterywest grant to implement a 3-pronged approach to rebuilding the community after COVID-19 restrictions. They involve Awareness, Readiness and Future-proofing.
Project #1 – Awareness: A Statewide Communications Campaign for Volunteering
A state-wide multi-phase communications campaign to re-engage, remobilise and attract volunteers across WA, promoting volunteering as an activity for social connection that will help WA come through COVID a stronger and more resilient community. Creating awareness of the benefits of volunteering will lead to a stronger more connected communities, greater wellbeing and reduce social isolation.
Volunteering WA wants to re-invent volunteering as a pathway for millennials to baby boomers to achieve purpose, progress and improved well-being.
Project #2 – Readiness: Restart Package for Volunteering Involving Organisations
Volunteering WA will develop and roll out a Volunteer Ready Package that contains specific modules to ensure re-engagement of the volunteers with the organisation in a COVID environment.
These modules include but are not limited to:
- Virtual volunteering coaching.
- Online volunteer recruitment training focusing on widening demographics.
- Volunteer management alignment with National Standards.
- Pandemic guide to safeguarding volunteers and the people they serve.
Project #3 – Future-proofing: Youth Volunteering in the Peel and Southwest regions (3 year program)
Volunteering will help young people engage in the community and gain work readiness skills, while future-proofing organisations with a new generation of volunteers.
Volunteering WA’s youth program prepares volunteer-involving organisations to be youth-volunteer-ready and targets young people to link them into volunteering. Due to higher youth unemployment as a result of COVID-19 in Peel and the Southwest, we will extend our Department of Communities-funded youth program to those regions to ensure young people have the opportunity to contribute to the community.
