The Hunter Volunteer Centre

Our mission is to promote, encourage, and empower volunteers in their contribution to the community, and to support and resource organisations in their utilisation of volunteers.

Hunter Volunteer Centre (HVC Newcastle) is a 'community facility for volunteers and those who work with them'. This gives you a good idea why the Centre was set up. That is, anyone in the community who has an interest in volunteering, or volunteerism, or requires assistance with volunteering issues can utilise the staff and resources of the Centre.

HVC's activities, as they relate to our organisational members, primarily encompass:

• Volunteer Recruitment, Interviewing and Referral
• Education and Training, and
• Provision of up-to-date information

Volunteer Recruitment, Referral and Education

HVC strives to meet the needs of the potential volunteers seeking referral to volunteer supporting community organisations. This is achieved through face -to-face contact between potential volunteers and educated volunteer staff as specialist interviewers. Once the volunteer sits for the interview, the aim of our service is to:

• offer a wide range of appropriate choices for referral,
• organise the link between the potential volunteer and member organisation,
• contact the volunteer three months following the interview to ascertain the outcome of the referral,
• offer education for volunteers on an as-needs basis.

The secondary focus of this service is to meet the needs of community organisations seeking volunteers. We achieve this by:

• providing an opportunity for organisations to be registered with with the service and to provide full details of their volunteers' needs, and
• contacting all member organisations regularly to update information.

Education and Training

Centre staff work with stakeholders and participants to design and deliver education and training appropriate to perceived needs as they emerge during an interactive process..

For volunteers and those considering volunteering, weekly education sessions are conducted, covering a broad range of areas such as:

• what it means to be a volunteer,
• the types of volunteering opportunities,
• rights and responsibilities of a volunteer and the volunteer organisation
• OH&S
• duty of care
• confidentiality
• issues relating to insurance

All those attending these sessions are issued with a certificate of participation for the benefit of member organisations as well as the volunteer. Education sessions for managers of volunteers are also available. All courses and workshops have written or verbal opportunities for recapping, providing feedback, and evaluating their content and process.

Information

HVC endeavours to update its organisational members regularly with a quarterly newsletter covering current news and correspondence on important issues relating to volunteering such as:

• Good Practice Principles,
• Rights & Responsibilities,
• Occupational Health & Safety,
• Insurance, and
• Confidentiality

For more information about HVC or becoming a member organisation, go to our membership section, email us, or contact us on (02) 494 00077