On 30 June, Mayor Boris Johnson launched Team London, the Mayor's ambitious scheme to transform the city by getting thousands more Londoners volunteering.
The £4.5 million programme will mobilise more than 10,000 volunteers across initiatives that will impact upon some of London's most pressing issues: reducing crime, increasing youth opportunities and improving quality of life by building stronger neighbourhoods and improving the environment. The Mayor wants to create an army of community spirited volunteers who will become leaders of uniformed youth groups, mentors, sports coaches, and literacy champions, help green London through planting trees and support learning activities for older people.
Based on the Cities of Service Model pioneered by Mayor Bloomberg in New York and now being pursued in over 100 American cities, London is the first city outside the United States to develop its own plan to bring individuals, public, private and voluntary organisations together to work more effectively to change communities. The scheme will also ensure better co-ordination of existing volunteering activity and help make volunteering in London easy to do and easier to find out about.
The Mayor has appointed third sector organisations to deliver each of the inaugural projects, which Londoners can volunteer for and businesses can sign up to be become a part of.
Among these programmes is the Mi Community Intergenerational Digital Inclusion Project. Delivered in partnership with Age UK London, which has received £202,000 in Team London funding to implement, this intergenerational volunteering programme will see at least 375 young people sharing their IT skills with at least 600 older people, many of whom have little or no IT knowledge. Older people involved in the project will learn a range of skills, from how to use the Internet, to how to download digital photographs and shop online. The project will build a stronger sense of community and connectedness between young volunteers and older people, bridging differences in age, ethnicity and culture and challenging negative stereotypes.
Other Team London funded projects include:
- Greener London – will increase and maintain London's tree cover.
- Mayor's Mentors – will recruit and train at least 1000 men to help reach at risk young black boys and young men.
- Uniformed Youth – will recruit 1000 youth leaders to clear the 8,000 person waiting lists of young people who want to join groups including the scouts, guides and cadets.
- Sports Volunteer Fund – will invest in training coaches, officials and sports activity leaders to help strengthen community sports facilities.
The Mayor also recently launched the Team London Star scheme in order to recognise the thousands of Londoners who already volunteer their time to help make London a better place. Londoners are being encouraged to nominate their volunteering stars to receive a Team London Star certificate signed by the Mayor.
Among the more than 150 people to receive London Star Certificates since the launch of the programme is LOPSG's own Joan Bennetto. Joan was recognised for founding both the London Older People's Strategy Group and for organising the Capital Age Festival, and arts festival for older people held every year at London's South Bank.
Joan was presented with her London Star at the Team London launch event, which was attended by Samantha Cameron, Mayor Boris Johnson and Barbara Windsor among others.
For more information about how you can get involved in volunteering with Team London, or to nominate your volunteering star, please visit www.london.gov.uk/teamlondon.
