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Council for Voluntary Service (CVS)

Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) is a voluntary organisation that is set up, owned and run by local groups to support, promote and develop local voluntary and community action. CVS support their members by providing them with a range of services and by acting as a voice for the local voluntary and community sector.

Usually funded by the Local Authority and other local statutory agencies, there is a CVS working in almost every district and city in England. They also work in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Individual CVS differ in character and size, although they usually work to the same geographical boundaries as the Local Authority. They also differ in name. Many are called CVS, while others might be called Voluntary Action or Voluntary Sector Council.

While the characteristics, history and even name of individual CVS may differ from place to place, they share the same purpose and values. All CVS support, promote and develop local voluntary and community action through the following functions:

• Services and support CVS promote the effectiveness of local voluntary and community groups by providing them with a range of services. These may include access to basic facilities, such as meeting rooms, photocopiers and ICT equipment or more involved services such as community accountancy and employment advice. CVS also support local groups through regular newsletters, training, funding advice and specialist services.
• Liaison As a focal point for the local voluntary and community sector, CVS encourage networking between individuals and groups within the sector, and between local groups and the statutory and private sectors. This allows local groups to learn from one another, establish contacts and work more effectively. CVS also help different communities to organise their own networking activity. Some CVS have support staff who can help groups get started and write constitutions.

 Many also run volunteers bureaus to help put volunteers into contacts with community groups who need help. The national website also offers publications and advice to help local groups, and links to other community support organisations.

Schools

Many groups have very positive links with local schools. In many cases schools have important habitats within their grounds, such as heathland, woodlands and ancient meadows, in other cases schools have nothing but tarmac and are keen for the children to have a long term relationship with a local site. There is also far more emphasis on the environment in the National Curriculum these days.

It can be harder to work with secondary schools as they have less time within the National Curriculum, but some schools do have groups like Duke of Edinburgh Scheme Students who want to do practical projects, so it's worth asking. The ways in which groups can link with schools include: Regular visits to schools to give talks; setting up projects for participation by school children, outside school grounds and outside school time; doing project work within school grounds.

Supporting school conservation groups.

The best way to start work in schools is to find an interested teacher in your local school or to contact your council environmental education advisor who may be able to put you in touch with interested schools around the area. Teachers and pupils increasingly put a lot of effort into planning conservation projects within school grounds. Small scale changes such as sowing a wildflower meadow or planting a few trees are best carried out by the children, but larger projects such as constructing a boardwalk or a pond require a greater level of expertise and labour which could be provided by another local group working in partnership with parents and teachers. You could also encourage school children to join projects as volunteers, both in and out of school time. You need to be very clear about who is supervising the children. (See Volunteers for more details.)

Hampshire Conservation Volunteers have helped one of their local schools by providing safe access into their ancient woodland and also doing some coppicing. They have worked with parents, teachers and pupils on projects. The school also makes bird and bat boxes, without the help of the group. The conservation group has also run a tree-felling course for the group itself and for local parents and teachers at the school.

Schools and parent-teacher associations benefit from working with local groups, as do groups from working with schools. For the schools, it may mean help in putting plans into reality, moral support in knowing that someone else can help them when it's needed, and a chance to make important links with the wider community. In return, groups may benefit from publicity and the experience of working with a broader range of people. It can be a great way of getting more people to know and use your site; children are great ambassadors for conservation and love to bring their parents along to see what they have done.

Businesses

Businesses can be a source of funding but also a source of volunteers. Some companies encourage their staff to volunteer on projects as part of a policy of corporate social responsibility. Start by contacting the firms your members work for, then talk to Voluntary Action, or organisations like Business in the Community. They may organise employee volunteering schemes and be looking for a project to do. They may also be able to advise and assist on larger projects and it is worth letting your local Chamber of Commerce or Business in the Community know that you exist.

In urban areas regeneration work can be business-driven. In some cases this work is seen as damaging local wildlife sites but local groups are able to work with businesses to make sure that these priority sites are identified in regeneration areas and ways are found to protect them.

The Fen End Wildlife and Conservation Group is made up of staff at the Lucas Automotive Technology Centre. It has created an entirely new woodland on land surrounding the test track used by the company, which was happy to make the land available. The wood is part of the new Forest of Arden. The group was formed in 1992, made contact with BTCV and affiliated. Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and Warwickshire County Council also provided advice to the staff members who took this initiative. Staff worked on the project at weekends and have also involved children from local schools in planting trees and other woodland management activities. Twenty employees out of a staff of 200 are in the group but many more staff have taken an interest in the project and helped come up with the name, which is a reminder of the test track's origin as a World War Two airfield.

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