#iWill

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You often tell us that, as your membership organisation, it’s important that we champion the work of community transport to wider society; that we increase public understanding of what community transport is, and how much it benefits our communities. Connecting with organisations that share our values of supporting and giving back to our communities in an accessible and inclusive way could be a big benefit to our sector.

You also tell us how challenging it can be to recruit and retain volunteers. We know, owing to the unique licensing arrangements of our sector many drivers passed their driving test prior to 1997; so encouraging a young demographic of volunteers could be a real asset to your organisations.

The work we do is shaped by the feedback you give us; so we’re always thinking about how we can address your concerns. Earlier this year we dedicated part of our Roadshow to recruiting and retaining volunteers and we’re continuing to work on responding to your feedback, so here’s our next step.

CTA recently pledged to the #iwill campaign, a national campaign run by the charity Step Up to Serve. The campaign aims to get 60% of young people involved in social action by 2020. This includes activities such as volunteering, fundraising and campaigning. The campaign recognises the double-benefit of young people being involved in social action; enhancing skills for young people themselves, and at the same time, strengthening their own communities. The #iwill campaign has over 700 partners who have pledged to help them achieve their target- and we’re excited to say that CTA is joining them!

You can click here to read our pledge.

Our pledge aims to tie together a recognition that many young people are isolated from the opportunities around them, with the incredible work your organisations are doing to create an understanding that young people and community transport can support each other.

This is an exciting project for CTA, but one that won’t be without challenge. Part of our pledge is providing you with the resource to make your opportunities accommodating and accessible to young people, and alongside this we will be reviewing our own processes, so we’re in this together.

Soon, we’ll be bringing you new resources and making new connections to make sure we are not only responding to your feedback as members, but supporting youth social action while we’re at it.

If you are already working with young people in your community, or want to find out more about what we’re doing to fulfil our pledge, please get in touch with Emma at emma@ctauk.org.