Social Action and Volunteering

What is Social Action?

Youth social action refers to activities that young people do to make a positive difference to others or the environment. There are lots of ways in which young people can take practical action to make a positive difference. It can take place in a range of contexts and can mean formal or informal activities. These include volunteering, fundraising, campaigning or supporting peers. Young people don’t have to try and save the world on their own. Taking small positive actions to improve your home, school or local community can all make a big difference.

Benefits of Social Action & Volunteering for young people

When young people take part in high quality social action, everyone benefits:

• Organisations benefit from young people’s energy, ideas and capacity to create positive change. They gain a different perspective that can shift their way of thinking and open up new ways of working.
• Communities benefit when young people feel valued, engaged and involved. It can create a greater sense of community and boost social cohesion and integration.
• Young people develop their character and confidence. They experience higher levels of wellbeing that can help improve their mental resilience. They also develop vital skills and networks that can support future employment.

Time Credits

Time Credits are a way of recognising the amazing things people do in their communities. If you live in Cambridgeshire, through giving time to your community you can earn Time Credits - which you can spend on hundreds of activities across our national network.

Everyone’s time is worth the same with Time Credits, and as well as spending them yourself you can take friends or family with you or give them some of your Time Credits to spend themselves.

There are lots of ways to earn Time Credits across your community, and hundreds of ways to spend them across the country. Have a look around our website for spending opportunities near you, and in other regions of the UK.

You can find out more about Time Credits at www.wearetempo.org.

What Can You Do?

Young People - Already Involved with Social Action and Volunteering

If you are a young person who is already involved in social action and volunteering we would love to hear from you about what you are doing. Please send an email to eden@20twentyproductions.co.uk as we would really like to share the great work that is already going on within the partnership. Photographs would also be great, please make sure you have suitable permissions for sharing.

Young People - Want to Get Involved

If you are a young person who would like to get involved, but not sure where to go and how to start, register with us and we will get in touch with you to help you find an organisation or cause that you could get involved with.

Community Ambassador Programme (CAP) in Fenland

20Twenty Productions have been running a CAP programme for three years, the current projects young people are involved with include:

• Food and hygiene poverty
• Mental health
• Reading
• Environment

To find out more about what the Community Ambassadors are doing in these four areas please visit the 20Twenty Productions web-site.

Organisations Wanting Young Volunteers

If you are an organisation or a project who would like to involve young volunteers, we would love to hear from you so we can offer your opportunities to the young people through the Youth Engagement Partnership.

If you would like to work with young people but are not sure if you have the right policies and procedures in place, we can help you. Please complete the contact form and we will get back to you.