Blog | Middlesbrough Voluntary Development Agency

Using crafts to overcome barriers to volunteering

26 September 2019 - 2:20pm

Using craft sessions to boost your CV? Yes, it works, and let me explain how.

My role at MVDA is volunteer development officer for the Step Forward Tees Valley project which aims to overcome barriers to work for people. One of the ways we do this is by supporting a participant into a volunteering position to enhance their skills, develop their confidence and boost their CV’s.

More people, more active, more often

30 August 2019 - 2:12pm

Guest blog by Jen Berger, Insight & Analytics Officer at ‘You’ve Got This’ - a Sport England local delivery pilot

Quietly proud of our State of Caring

6 August 2019 - 3:54pm

A combination of chaos on the railways and a friend standing me up for tea left me all alone on Kings Cross Station until 8pm after the State of Caring Conference – hence the empty chair next to me! This gave me a chance to mull over the day’s events and to take stock of all things carers, particularly Middlesbrough Carers.

All I wanted was something nice to go with a baked potato…

26 July 2019 - 12:17pm

Last night was exceptionally warm; the second warmest day on record in the United Kingdom. I wanted something simple for tea, a baked potato with something nice. The choice was limited at my local Co-op so a went a bit further up the road to a big Sainsbury’s store, but the shelves were oddly empty – all the chilled shelves had been cleared. I thought they were probably just moving the stock around.

Lift the Ban: Campaigning for the Right to Work

19 June 2019 - 11:32am

In this guest blog for Refugee Week, Jen Laws, Campaigns Project Manager for the North East with Asylum Matters, shares some of the realities for people seeking asylum in the UK and why policy change is so important.