Young People
Free work experience opportunities to do #SomethingConstructive.
How does it work?
Volunteering with VIY is like a free work experience opportunity.
It’s pretty simple – young people volunteer on a VIY project, where we’re renovating a vital community space in need of maintenance or improvement. They’re mentored and supported to work alongside professional tradespeople to complete the project as a team on site, as well as developing key life skills together.
They also have the opportunity to gain City & Guilds Entry Level 3 accreditations in skills like carpentry, painting & decorating, health & safety, tiling and brickwork.
We work with young people aged 14-24 (some age ranges may vary per programme), who may be NEET (not in education, employment or training), or deemed at risk of becoming so, including young people with special educational needs and/or a disability.
We help young people do #SomethingConstructive
Learn trade skills. Gain City & Guilds Entry Level 3 accreditations. Meet new people. Have fun. Help the community. Be your best self.
Get involved!
Sound like an opportunity for young people you know or the young people you support?
Whether it’s the first VIY experience, or you’re looking for another project for your young people to get involved with, take a look at what we’ve got coming up in your area here. Our FAQs below should help too.
Sounds great! How do we sign up?
It’s super simple – first come, first served, with a limited amount of places on each project!:
- You’ll register your young people with your local VIY Youth Engagement Co-ordinator, sharing all of their relevant support needs to help us adapt our programme for each learner
- Bring a friend – our Vouch-for-a-Friend scheme means young people can receive a £10 Amazon voucher for referring someone to VIY
- Get prepped – each learner receives a Welcome Pack and call from us before they join to make sure they’re prepped and ready to join (with your support and encouragement too!)
Project, complete: it’s only just the beginning
A week after the VIY experience on site, we’ll set up a call to check in and see how you or the young people you support are doing.
We’ll discuss how you found the experience and how we may be able to support with positive next steps, whether that’s another local project, or further opportunities in the construction industry and beyond, through our big name employer partners or smaller steps like a CSCS card.
Honey was previously home-schooled then found herself NEET at 16. She joined the NEET re-engagement provision at City College Norwich to build her confidence and explore progression options for the future. Honey struggled in the classroom environment finding staying focused challenging. Honey pushed herself outside of her comfort zone to give the VIY project at Drayton Road, Norwich, a try – turns out she loved it! Honey really enjoyed being practical and getting stuck in. As a result, Honey is now training in Level 1 Painting & Decorating at City College Norwich!
Honey told us: “I found this experience eye opening. I have never tried practical work before but have loved it! VIY has given me a career direction and I can’t wait to start my next course in Painting & Decorating at college. The mentors have been great, and I have really enjoyed working with new people.”
Liam Bensley and Kelsie Ferguson both joined us at our Community Hub project at East Norfolk College. Liam, who was unemployed at the time, was referred into VIY via the local DWP, Kelsie a student at the college looking for different skills and volunteering opportunities over the summer. Having enjoyed the VIY experience so much, and impressing our mentors along the way, both returned to our Gorleston Community Room project in partnership with Orbit Housing. Since, both Liam and Kelsie have received paid work with VIY as Peer Mentors on three further projects across Norfolk, helping to teach other young volunteers just like them, alongside Jasper and Matt, our Lead Mentors in Norfolk.
They’ve achieved seven City & Guilds Entry Level 3 accreditations between them, Liam achieving an additional qualification in pipework.
VIY Lead Mentor, Simon Kitson, one of the key mentors who have helped develop the pair through multiple VIY projects, said: “They’ve both really stepped up from volunteer to Mentor really well, which can sometimes be a tricky transition. Not only that, I taught Kelsie how to saw some wood and the next week she was putting this learning into action, teaching another young volunteer in the exact same way! The true role of a VIY Peer Mentor.”
