Influencing Our Future Leaders

1. Influencing Our Future Leaders Creating a stronger community by recruiting and nurturing youth volunteers Jess van Arendonk & Marcelo Calderon

2. WHO ARE WE?... HISTORY Interchange Outer East was developed by a group of parents and professionals keen to develop an Interchange program (host family program) in the Outer Eastern suburbs. In 1981 the first Interchange program was initiated in the Inner Eastern suburbs and by the end of 1982 Interchange Outer East had their first operational matches. The agency continued to grow as a single program until 1990 when the agency began to diversify and develop other service options to meet the expressed needs of families involved in the service. From that time the service continued to grow and create new programs to meet the needs of families of children and young people with disabilities. From the inception of the program the governing body has been primarily composed of families and volunteers involved in the service. This has ensured the agency has retained it‟s “grass roots” focus and strong cultural basis on meeting the expressed needs of the service users. VISION Creating Opportunities and Choice

3. WHO ARE WE?... MISSION To provide activities, holidays and services that supports families of children and young people with disabilities. Enables children and young people to experience, participate and contribute to community life. Develops opportunities for all community members to be involved. Most of all IOE are about adventure and fun. APPROACH Upholding peoples Human Rights Dignity Respect Equity Freedom Giving things a go Focus on family as a whole Engaging the community through volunteering Developing young people through fun and challenge Being flexible ACTIVITIES Respite care and support services to families of people with disabilities. An exciting range of holidays, recreation, social, and life skill services to children and young people with a disability. Opportunities for involvement by all people in the community

4. Common Misconceptions of Youth • Today's young people are selfish and uninvolved. • Young people are empathetic and want to change the world. • Duty of care increases when working with youth volunteers. • Duty of care towards youth is no different than any other volunteer. • Young people are particularly sensitive to being 'talked at' or 'talked down to‘. • Nobody should be talked at or down to.

5. Common Misconceptions of Youth • They will expect to be given meaningful duties. • It is important that all volunteers are given meaningful duties if you would like them to become long term volunteers. • Young people are apathetic and unresponsive. • Youth are extremely enthusiastic and have many interests and abilities that can be utilised in your organisation.

6. Motivations of volunteers The Functional Approach (Clary & Snyder, 1998) • Social – A way to develop and strengthen social ties. • Values – A way to express ones altruistic and humanitarian values. • Career – A way to improve career prospects. • Understanding – A way to gain knowledge skill and abilities. • Protective – A way of protecting the ego from difficulties of life. • Enhancement – A way to help the ego grow and develop.

7. Motivations of volunteers

8. How to recruit & retain young volunteers • Approach Schools, Tafes, Universities and other services accessed by youth. • Make your recruitment presentation interesting and appealing to young people. • Make sure the sign up process is easy for young people to complete. I.e. After school hours, easy to complete paper work, etc. • Have a clear job description, and plenty of information about the roles volunteers can perform. • Offer free training, and recognition for any training that they complete. • Make sure it is easy for the young person to get to the job.

9. How to recruit & retain young volunteers • Give volunteers an opportunity to offer feedback and supply them with feedback to enhance their learning opportunities. • Keep regular communication with the volunteer. Check in to see how their experience is. • Show appreciation for the volunteer. Whether this be by saying thank you, giving them gifts or cards, or giving them certificates in recognition for what they are doing. • Make sure the volunteer feels supported during their involvement (are staff confident, approachable, etc.).

10. The Life Cycle of the Volunteer

11. The importance Youth Play in our Community • Young people represented 9.4% of all people who had volunteered in the previous 12 months. • Young people most commonly volunteered for groups related to sport & recreation. (Volunteering Australia National Data from 2010 Census) • Volunteers below the age of 18 tend to do fundraising, clean-ups, working with kids in sport & recreation. • University students tend to donate blood, do fundraising, clean-ups/working with sick or elderly people. (Dosomething.org Index on young people & volunteering)

12. What volunteering means to the young person Volunteering has done more for me than I can put into words.... Not only has it given me experiences, memories and laughs that I wouldn’t get anywhere else... But it has given me life skills that will come in handy when I eventually get married and have my own kids. Volunteering has definitely increased my confidence over the past few years. I am so much more confident in everything that I do and have gained beliefs in my own things. I stand up for things now that I believe are important and have become such an independent person. Going to university this year I was not at all scared or nervous but excited for the whole experience or meeting people and going to somewhere new. If I was not a volunteer with interchange, I think I would still be the timid shy person I was before, scared to do anything and try anything new. Interchange has really brought me out of my comfort zone. It has prepared me for the workforce and leadership positions. I have learnt so many useful skills, and it has given me confidence. Most of all volunteering makes me happy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU8_ZGST4MQ

13. WHAT VOLUNTEERING MEANS TO THE YOUNG PERSON Has volunteering made a negative or positive impact on your life? How? • Positive. It makes me happy, gives me an escape, gives me confidence and most of all if Ididn’t volunteer at IOE Imight never have met some of my friends. • A positive impact! I am who I am today, thanks to starting as a volunteer at 14. I have been shaped by a wide variety of people, experiences and attitudes that I would never have had access to at that age. I learnt to love working with families and supporting people to do what they choose to do; and that disability doesn’t discriminate, people do. Not a lesson that you can learn from a book! • Positive. It’s broadened up my views of people and communities, and given me plenty of skills and experience to assist me in all areas of my life.

14. WHAT VOLUNTEERING MEANS TO THE YOUNG PERSON Does volunteering make you feel more attached to your community than before you were a volunteer? If so how? • Absolutely. Because I started volunteering as a teenager I had not yet made any strong ties with my community. Volunteering showed me how important feeling connected is. Now as an adult, I look for opportunities for myself and my children to be involved in our local community wherever possible. My volunteering opportunities have connected me to my community in many ways which has empowered me, given me opportunities to learn and built my confidence. I am now passionate about community life and building opportunities for all in my local community. • Definitely. Volunteering has taught me the importance of Community and how great being a part of a community can be. It’s helped a lot with my work as well as I know how to create strong community connections which I learnt a lot about through volunteering. • Yes, I still volunteer in the community, both within IOE and outside of IOE.

15. 5 - 7 Yose StreetFerntree Gully 3156 Phone: (03) 9758 5522Fax: (03) 9758 5899Email: ioe@ioe.org.au Marcelo & Jess: volunteers@ioe.org.au https://www.facebook.com/InterchangeOE