What Are Community Learning Champions?

Community Learning Champions – or CLCs – are volunteers or workers who become active in their community promoting the value of informal learning to others – friends, relatives, neighbours, workmates or pure strangers they buttonhole in the street.

Very often their effectiveness owes a lot to two commonly shared personal qualities:
* they speak from personal experience about the difference learning can make to quality of life or job prospects,
* CLCs are recognisably like the people they try to involve in learning, often living in the same community or working in the same place.

This doesn’t rule out professionals from playing the CLC role; it’s just that, as outsiders, they often lack the credibility and local know-how of most CLCs. Ideally you would be someone who wants to undertake the role as a volunteer within your community or be someone who can undertake this role as part of your work role within local communities.

What Do Community Champions Do?

CLCs can play a variety of roles.
* Signpost people to the learning opportunities that suit their needs.
* Introduce them to learning providers, maybe sometimes accompanying them to a college.
* Support and mentor people through a course.
* Help to set up new learning opportunities, filling gaps in provision.
* Feedback to learning providers suggestions for any improvements made by learners.

Why Should I Become A Community Learning Champion?

* Professional and personal development for the CLCs themselves.
* Free nationally accredited training and development framework for CLCs is being developed building on established good practice. This will include core skills plus specialist modules.
* Enhance CLCs role within their communities and support them to develop the communities that they work within.
* Enhance future career opportunities of CLCs.
* Receive CLC badge and be recognised for their role through a simple national registration scheme.
* Be part of a team of CLCs supported by Voluntary Action North East Lincolnshire.

What Would I Need To Do To Be A Community Champion?

* Promote, support, signpost and help people to access informal learning opportunities.
* Be well informed about local learning opportunities – you will have access to a database of informal and formal learning opportunities and providers.
* Commit to keep records of those you support and provide data to VANEL at regular intervals.
* Commit to access free training to develop your role where relevant – travel expenses paid.
* There is no set time commitment – this is a voluntary role whether done as a volunteer or within your work role and as much time as you can give is appreciated.

Are You Interested In Becoming A Community Learning Champion?

For further information contact:
Richard Wendel-Jones at VANEL on 01472 231123
richard@vanel.org.uk

Related articles

About the Community Learning Champions Programme
Introducting the Community Learning Champions Programme
Becoming a Community Learning Champion
Learning Directory
all the news related to the Community Learning Champions Programme

Further information

Download this page as a pdf factsheet
Contact VANEL for information about the project
Download a full information factsheet

Download the flyer for the course here.

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The North East Lincolnshire Third Sector Hub subscribes to GRANTnet, a user-friendly free to use service which has been devised to assist community and voluntary groups, sports and other clubs, schools, social enterprises and small businesses in identifying funding sources available for specific projects.

Once you have registered with GRANTnet, you will be e-mailed a password which will allow you to gain access. Having logged into the system, you must answer a few simple questions about your organisation and the project which you wish to undertake; GRANTnet will then provide an overview of all the schemes available.

Visit GrantNet here.

For further support or assistance accessing GRANTnet please contact us or phone on 01472 231123.