Supporting the VCS in East London to make the most of the 2012 Olympics
Between 27th July and 9th September, 2012, London will be hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Olympic Park will be the size of Hyde Park, sporting, health care, education
and park facilities for East London will be created. An estimated 9,000 residential
units will be built with 50% of those promised to be affordable housing. Approximately
7,000 construction jobs and 12,000 jobs on site will be created and 70,000
volunteers will help stage the event.
The Games will have a significant social and economic impact on London, with
nowhere feeling the greatest impact than in the heart of East London within
the five Olympic host boroughs of Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets
and Waltham Forest increasing Social and Economic benefits.
Volunteering Legacy
With an estimated 70,000 volunteers needed to help stage the Games, various
initiatives like the Personal
best Programme have
been launched to provide potential volunteers with the skills and experience
needed to volunteer for the Games, as well as improve their prospects of
gaining future employment.
To maximise the sectors involvement in the continuing development of the Games volunteering programme, Greater London Volunteering [GLV] have appointed a 2012 Volunteering Legacy Officer. Hosted by GLV some of the key tasks this worker will undertake include:
- Increasing awareness of the 2012 Volunteering Strategy
- Increasing awareness of volunteering opportunities linked to events so that a pool of event volunteers for larger events leading up to and beyond the Games can be created
- Acting as a broker of sports and cultural events leading up to the Games
Worklessness
Employment rates within the host boroughs are 14% less than the London and England averages respectively, initiatives such as the City Strategy Pathfinder [CSP] have also been launched to tackle worklessness across the host boroughs.
Third Sector Involvement
Advocating on behalf of the sector is the
Big
Opportunity Steering
Group that oversees a project of the same name and project co-ordinator post
hosted by London Civic Forum.
In June 2007 the project launched the ‘Big Opportunity’ the offer
made on behalf of the VSC to the Olympic delivery agencies and statutory bodies.
Members of the Big Opportunity Steering Group and working with each of the
Council for Voluntary Service [CVS] within the host boroughs, the East London
CVS Network is working to:
- Improve the sectors opportunities to maximise the benefits of the Games through working in partnership with local CVS, strategic third sector organisations and public bodies
- Increase the sectors opportunities for engagement with public sector bodies concerned with the Games
- Secure VSC representation on the strategic boards overseeing the implementation of the East London CSP
Further reading documents related to the Olympics can be found by clicking on the links below.
- Olympics Strategic objectives
- 2012 Making Communications work
- Olympic Forum Flyer
- The Big Opportunity an opportunity for the Third Sector
- Ahead of the Games
- Olympic update
- Personal best Programme
- Greater London Volunteering
- City Strategy Pathfinder
- London Civic Forum
- Big Opportunity
The situation is changing rapidly: we will endeavor to keep the sector up-to-date so 'watch this space'