Our vision is to provide volunteers from the local community with a rewarding, supported and high quality volunteering experience which is mutually beneficial for the volunteer and the Council and community at large.
All volunteer motivations and aspirations must be considered including those who may wish to volunteer as a hobby, put something back into the community in which they live, fulfil a personal interest, learn new skills, meet new people and undertake volunteering as a valuable form of work experience or training.
Therefore it is important that there are a range of volunteering opportunities both short and long term, which are flexible and with no barriers to entry or exit.
To deliver a successful volunteering offer teams in the Council need to have the right infrastructure and capacity in place to ensure volunteers are well informed and organised. It is paramount their working environment is safe with good welfare standards and the work of volunteers is worthwhile, valued and supported.
Volunteering should be accessible to all with an efficient pathway from the initial enquiry to starting. Volunteering suitable for all ages, ethnicities, abilities and disabilities and backgrounds is fundamental.
Our current volunteering opportunities are below, if you would like to support the following schemes, please click on to the "Fill in an application" option on the the top right hand corner of this page.
Please click here to read our volunteer handbook
Mentoring with One Million Mentors
Can you understand the challenges a young person is facing and see things from their point of view?
Can you offer advice or even just encouragement?
If so, then you have what it takes to be a mentor.
Mentor a student from Barking & Dagenham College, this is a hybrid programme where you would support a mentee for one hour a month on Tuesday from 3-4pm, help guide and inspire the next generation!
1MM mentoring empowers young people to become the best version of themselves. We build relationships - free of assumption and judgement - where people benefit from one another's experience and perspective. Mentoring helps people to think bigger, find their own answers and take the next meaningful step into their future.
We recruit, train and deploy volunteer mentors, matching them with mentees and providing high quality support to both so that they are well prepared and can have an effective and impactful mentoring relationship.
Our mentoring is one to one, for young people aged 14-25 years old, for 1 hour, once a month, for up to a year.
If you are interested, click here to sign up! ✨
What will I do?
We are looking for Mentors in Barking and Dagenham to take part in our
October programme launch at Barking and Dagenham College.
We would particularly love to hear from mentors with experience and knowledge that would help them to support a young person with an interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) although being currently employed in one of these industries is not a requirement.
What skills do I develop?
What do I need to do?
Please click here to apply.
Reading Volunteer - Bookmark Reading Charity
Bookmark Reading Volunteers directly support children who are at risk of leaving primary school unable to read well. Struggling to read can contribute to poor educational attainment, lower literacy in adulthood and has even been linked to a lower life expectancy. You can help ignite the joy of reading and change a child’s story.
In this volunteer role, you’ll have 30-minute one-to-one reading sessions on 2 days per week. This is across 6 weeks with a child aged between 5 and 11 years old. Each session will involve reading stories and playing literacy games on our secure online platform or face-to-face. You’ll book your reading programme through Bookmark’s Volunteer Hub and select sessions on days and times that work with your commitments.
To become a Bookmark Reading Volunteer, you should be:
Volunteers tell us they find the role flexible, impactful and rewarding. More than 60% also say their own well being has improved because of volunteering with Bookmark!
Bookmark pays for your DBS checks, provides online training and offers volunteers ongoing support so that you can deliver fantastic and fun reading sessions, enabling all children to discover the joy of reading.
Bookmark are proud to offer inclusive volunteering and work to deliver a greatly accessible volunteering role. Many of our reading programmes take place online, so there’s no need to travel or access a physical location to volunteer with Bookmark. Our application process and training are all completed online, and we have a helpful team at hand to offer support with technical or access requirements.
Bookmark is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community. We aim to create an environment in which all individuals can make best use of their skills, free from discrimination or harassment, and in which all decisions are based on merit.
Please click here to apply.