West Howe, Bournemouth
Project: Dove Project
Grant awarded: £113,570
Date: May 2007 - May 2010
About
The DOVE project is a Fair Share Trust funded initiative to encourage volunteering with children and young adults. The grant has paid for the employment of a volunteer coordinator to promote volunteering and to recruit, train, check and support volunteers from the local community.
The coordinator runs three courses a year for interested volunteers as well as offering ongoing support for volunteers in their placements. Volunteers have a wide range of opportunities including: helping out in the centre itself, being a guide at local projects and working in local schools. The aim is also that trained volunteers act as positive role models in the local community.
This is a summary written by one of the DOVE volunteers about their involvement and what it has meant to them:
‘I never felt like I was good at anything because I never had any qualifications - it affected my self-esteem and how I felt about everything…I signed up for DOVE volunteer training… [which…] was very good and I learnt lots of new skills and became more confident in myself…The course gave me the confidence to think that I could do more, and I now volunteer on the Fair Share Trust Committee for the Sunday Best Music Festival… Since last year when I came to the centre I am more confident, not just my girls’ ‘mum’. I have a bigger support network and a lot more friends. I also believe I am worth something now and have a lot more to give…If I hadn’t got involved in the DOVE training I would still be sat at home on my own'.
This project seems to have a profound and positive effect on its beneficiaries. The project has grown considerably in the past three years and extra courses have been added due to a growing demand for this service in the community. Case studies collected by the project organiser frequently highlight the social networking opportunities it offers parents in the area and project workers have been praised for their personal approach to individuals joining the programme, who often have unstable backgrounds.
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