Volunteering and Youth Voice

Broadening horizons and raising ambitions

When it comes to volunteering, there is no level playing field. Data from Sport England’s Active Lives survey shows that people from lower socio-economic backgrounds are under-represented in volunteering, comprising just 10% of all weekly sport volunteers but 30% of the adult population.

The reasons behind this trend are simple. All too often, there are few, if any, opportunities for young people living in underserved communities to play sport – and if less sport is being played, then there’s less chance of a motivated youngster finding somewhere to help out. When these opportunities are made available, however, StreetGames finds that many young people will gladly rise to the challenge.

Doorstep Sport creates these opportunities, allowing young people to gain new experiences, take responsibility, be challenged, receive training and mentoring and earn new qualifications. Our volunteering approach is designed so that young people develop key life and transferrable skills including independence, leadership, teamwork, communication and problem-solving.

As well as supporting community organisations to develop young people on a journey from participant to volunteer in their local setting, StreetGames offers regular opportunities for young people to become Young Advisors: a national volunteering role that sees participants taking the lead on event planning, content design, research and more.

Our volunteering principles are based on ongoing feedback from young people who decide what works for them. At their core, volunteering opportunities should be FABS:

FUN

ALTRUISTIC – providing a chance to give back

Providing a sense of BELONGING

Offering SELF-DEVELOPMENT

Having been awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award in 2012, we have continued to grow our volunteer impact year on year, creating more opportunities for young people to try new sports and activities, develop skills, go to new places and meet new people – and were delighted to be awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Volunteering Award in 2022.

One of the core strands of our vision, as set out in our ten-year strategy Active for Today and Tomorrow, is that all young people from low income, underserved communities can access a pathway to become volunteers and future community leaders. We will continue to work with our network, strategic partners and mainstream sports providers to make this vision a reality.