Millennium Volunteers Project - East Anglian Daily Times Education Page, 6 April 2004 & Ipswich Angle, May 2004

“In my end is my beginning” is said to have been Mary Queen of Scots favourite motto. So fond of it was she that she had the phrase embroidered on her Cloth of State to remind her of her mother’s emblem, the Phoenix.

It’s also an adage that can certainly be applied to our local Millennium Volunteers project, as on the 31st March the Suffolk College Millennium Volunteers scheme ceased to exist only to rise again with the working title of ‘MV in Suffolk’ in a new county-wide format managed by Suffolk Council for Voluntary Youth Services.

Suffolk College started the local branch of this national initiative in September 2000. MV (as Millennium Volunteers is known to the thousands of young people involved in it) sought to change the perception of volunteering amongst young people and indeed the wider community. Working on the basis of ‘Build on What You’re Into’, MV starts with young people’s interests and encourages them to become active citizens. Naturally, Suffolk College enthusiastically embraced the scheme as it chimes with their philosophy that education is about so much more than a course.

The Suffolk College MV Project has actively recruited from the college, schools and the wider local community, with the result that over 850 young people signed up to become Millennium Volunteers surpassing all DfES targets. 450 MVs achieved the 100 hour Certificate and an impressive 350 achieved the 200 hour ‘Award of Excellence’ signed by the Secretary of State. In fact, Suffolk College MVs gave 100,000 hours to the community.

Of course it’s not statistics that are at the heart of this scheme, but people. Suffolk College MVs have become involved in, for example, the Suffolk Young People’s Health Project and Lowbiza – a drug, tobacco and alcohol-free nightclub environment for 13-17 year olds – as well as environmental issues such as conservation work. Although both the scheme and many of the young people participating in it have won prizes and awards, this really is a case of ‘everyone’s a winner’. In describing how the MVs had helped children to become much more comfortable in a large school environment, Chris Dorling of Sidegate Primary School commented that “both the staff and the MVs have greatly benefited from having Millennium Volunteers come to our school community”.

The MVs themselves talk about the confidence and satisfaction they get from their work, and along they way, of course, they acquire the valuable ‘soft skills’ that are much sought after by employers. As Geoffrey Armstrong, Director General of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, remarked “Personnel departments increasingly need to see evidence that candidates have taken steps to stand out from the crowd. Millennium Volunteers provides tangible proof of initiative, commitment and the ability to add real value….”

Although it’s time to move on it’s certainly not time to say goodbye. Suffolk College will continue to offer a full range of volunteering opportunities and also to house a MV presence in the form of Project Facilitator Cherry Finch. If you’re between 16 and 24 and want to make a difference you can contact Cherry on 01473 296454.