VIY combines DIY and volunteering by challenging young people aged 14-24 who are unemployed, NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), or at risk of becoming NEET to help refurbish and improve youth centres, grassroots sports clubs, and other community buildings and facilities, whilst learning vocational trade skills on the job.
The improvements to the community venues, spaces and places has a knock-on and long-lasting legacy for the people who use the facilities as well as for those who take part in the facility refurbishment projects.
At the heart of the VIY model, young people are mentored by, and work alongside, professional tradespeople who share their skills. In the process, 40% of young people typically gain a City & Guilds Entry Level 3 construction skills qualification and 15% directly progress to further training and employment outcomes beyond VIY.
Over the past 12 months, more than 1,500 young people have taken part across 90 VIY projects UK-wide.
Over the same period, VIY, has also established a number of new partnerships, including:
– Dulux – providing paint for all VIY projects as Value In Kind (VIK) and mobilising staff and trade customers as painting and decorating mentors for young people
– Sport England – co-funding VIY to deliver 200+ new projects with grassroots clubs over the next three years
– Travis Perkins – supporting VIY projects UK-wide with a significant quantity of VIK building materials.
VIY has also recently undertaken new projects with sports governing bodies and their supporting brands to matchfund projects, the most recent being with the RFU/England Rugby and NatWest.
