Community Representative

About the role

At Age UK Gloucestershire we are committed to our goal of making Gloucestershire the best county in which to grow older. Creating better-connected communities is a key part of that goal. Being part of a wider community helps older people remain independent, have purpose, keep active and remain connected citizens. 

The Community Engagement Team walks side by side with individuals, groups, neighbourhoods and partners and seeks to create more opportunities for people to connect. We act as a catalyst for increased community activity and participation.

As the number of social groups and activities across the county rises, we need Community Representative volunteers to play a practical hosting role, providing light touch support to help neighbourhood groups function well. 

What we are looking for from Community Representatives for Older People

·       Someone who is a good organiser, but capable of working with groups in order to help them run themselves, which is the ultimate aim.

·       Someone socially confident at welcoming and bringing people together.

·       You’ll be acting as an ambassador and link for AUKG’s wider work and support.

·       You’ll be working mainly within your own neighbourhood and supporting the creation of groups using local assets such as community centres, faith spaces or community cafes, so if you have a keen interest in your local area, this is a great opportunity for you to develop it.

·       An ability to feedback to the wider organisation any community issues, developments and local knowledge to inform our wider work on community asset-mapping.

Role overview

·       Working with the Community Engagement team and community venues to ensure arrangements are in place to run group sessions.

·       Welcoming members to sessions and encouraging interaction during the sessions.

·       Talking with new members and helping them cross the threshold and feel involved.

·       Working with group members to agree jointly a programme of content for sessions – this will be supported by a toolkit of options open to groups – you will also have the chance to contribute to this toolkit.

·       Keeping a record of the numbers attending sessions and providing this to Community Engagement team so we can monitor the reach of groups.

·       Feeding back to the Community Engagement team on any issues arising for group members or with the running of the sessions.

·       Promoting other activities and support that Age UK Glos can offer group members that might be useful, and obtaining consents for group members to receive further AUKG related information and promotions.

What we can offer you in return

·      Full induction and training with everything you are going to need

·      The chance to meet new people in your local community and help them achieve their goals

·      A supportive, friendly team of staff and volunteers who will be with you every step of the way

·      The opportunity to help make sure older people’s voices are heard in your community and the chance to improve services and support for older people in your area.

You’ll need to be able to commit to 2-4 hours of volunteering per week, mostly attending social groups and helping them organise themselves and their activities, as well as reporting back to us.

At the moment our groups are mostly based around the Gloucester area, but we’re looking to grow them across Gloucestershire, including the Forest of Dean, Cheltenham, Cotswolds, Stroud and Tewksbury, so wherever you live in Gloucestershire, we want to hear from you!