Today is the first day of Student Volunteering Week 2017, which is taking place across the UK. Having delivered SVW for multiple years, Student Hubs is acting as a strategic partner, supporting the UK Student Volunteering Network to coordinate the national campaign. We are thrilled to be promoting social action alongside further and higher education institutions, the #iwill Campaign, the National Union of Students and, of course, thousands of student volunteers.
This is an exciting time for social action nationally, with the DCMS and New Economics Foundation championing public sector involvement and Step Up To Serve releasing their Youth Social Action Survey findings today. Through Horizon, a digital mapping tool developed by Generation Change, SUTS and British Gas, we can now explore more than 1.2 million social action opportunities taken up by young people in the UK.
SVW is a brilliant opportunity to highlight these national initiatives and focus on the positive impact that student social action is making in local communities. Here is a selection of events we are looking forward to:
Intergenerational Tea Party – Winchester Hub
Wednesday’s event will bring together older people from local care homes and sheltered housing with University of Winchester students for tea, cake and dancing. Part of our long-term LinkAges programme, which aims to tackle social isolation, this was a firm favourite last year.
Sorting Clothes for Refugees – Kingston Hub
To mark Social Justice Day and SVW, students from Kingston University will be sorting donated clothes for refugees and having a tour of the Hackney Destitution Resource Centre. We hope that this will be the start of a longer-term collaborative project.
Branch Up, which also runs at Southampton Hub, aims to provide disadvantaged children in the Oxford area with extracurricular opportunities. Student volunteers lead activity days on 2-3 Saturdays during term-time, including visits to the zoo and the local ice rink, as well as an after school youth group. This taster session will involve party games for 8-11 year olds and current volunteers will be available to answer questions from interested students.
Find events at other universities and colleges by visiting the Student Volunteering Week website, follow live updates via @StudentVolWeek and let us know what you’re up to using #SVW2017.
If you would like to learn more about how we can support social action at your university, you can find our brochure here.