Awards scheme recognises voluntary youth sector’s efforts
Three voluntary sector organisations are the latest to be recognised by an awards scheme highlighting work with young people.
The Warwickshire Award for Involvement (WAI) is a benchmarking scheme that enables organisations and projects to progress their work around the involvement of children, young people and families in the design, development and evaluation of voluntary youth services.
They can work towards Bronze, Silver or Gold levels as part of the WAI programme – which is funded by Warwickshire County Council and managed by Warwickshire Children and Voluntary Youth Services (WCVYS) – by submitting a portfolio of evidence to support their application.
Young people trained by WCVYS then assess the portfolio and visit the organisation before marking it against a set of standards to see if it meets the criteria for each of the award levels.
Bromford Support in South Warwickshire recently received a bronze for their work in supporting people to live independently in their own accommodation; The Gap Community Centre in Warwick were awarded Silver for their youth team; while Warwick Saturday Club received a bronze for their provision of activities for young people with physical and social disabilities.
Helen Smith, Development Worker for Warwickshire Children and Voluntary Youth Services, said: “It is really important to recognise the work of the voluntary youth sector and the Warwickshire Award for Involvement provides a great opportunity to do that.
“The criteria encourage very high standards so it is really pleasing to see these organisations join the many others that have already been recognised by the scheme.”
To find out more about Warwickshire Children and Voluntary Youth Services, visit http://www.warkscvys.org.uk.