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The EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE Newsletter
GLW, 1 year after p5
150 VOLUNTEERS p6-7
FUTURE EVENTS p8
Clair Brown, Co-founder of Everything is Possible.
The main aim of Everything is Possible is to help marginalised young people to find their direction in life and to strengthen their understanding of global citizenship. Everything is Possible set up in 1999 as a small organisation and now, although we are still relatively small, we are a team of eight enthusiastic people that are active on an international level, sending and hosting young people on volunteering, training and learning placements from anything from two weeks to one year in length. Since 1999 Everything is Possible has developed partnerships with local and international organisations who support young people with fewer opportunities (such as homeless young people, those with drug & alcohol problems, those in prison, young people with no education or excluded from school, individuals with a history of mental health, black & minority ethnic groups, those who have been through the system of local authority care and young parents). Our current aims and the work we have done over the last few years have allowed us to work with more & more marginalised young people. We would like to build on this experience and multiply the opportunities we offer through disseminating what we do within the programme more diversely to organisations working in new fields and also new countries we do not work in partnership with.
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So, today it seems Spring has finally sprung, the sun is shinning (at last) and with it comes this addition of Journey which marks the end of a very busy few months. We have completed two years of amazing work in on our projects ‘breaking barriers building partnerships’ and ‘creative inclusion’ Youth in Action funded projects which allowed us to mobilise many young people between the United Kingdom and Latin America, Africa, The Caribbean, India and Europe. Through these Programmes we were able to support 150 young people on European Voluntary Service, many of whom were from disadvantaged backgrounds. We are enjoying some ‘reflected glory’ celebrating the success of two Everything is Possible
volunteers who won ‘Your Story’ a writing competition where volunteers prepared a creative piece about their EVS. We have created some amazing publicity and dissemination materials thanks to support from the British Council and ECORYS through the Youth in Action and Lifelong Learning Programmes, all of which you can view from our website. March and April are a very busy couple of months for us, just now we are preparing two workshops for young people around Sport and Inclusion as well as a seminar for professionals working in the field of inclusion. We will host 15 young people and youth workers on an Advance Planning Meeting, preparing for a group of 60 volunteers we will host at Leeds Festival this Summer. Have a great few months and I’ll be back with an update in June.
News in Brief: 7th-9th March : Advance Planing Visit in the United Kingdom with all our partners involved in our three applications F.E.S.T.I.V.A.L. R.E.C.Y.C.L.E. & B.E.L.I.E.V.E. supported by the British Council and the Youth in Action programme. Click here for more info or visit www.everythingispossible.eu 3rd-7th March : Training 4.3 Inclusion in International Youth Work.
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25th January: New Year, New Start in Leeds. The 25th
January 2012, Everything is Possible was at the event ‘’New Year, New Start’’, organised by Europe Direct and the Leeds Library to present our new Leonardo and EVS projects.
Rebekah and Vaila with Simon Williams, Head EU Programmes, British Council.
Two of our volunteers won the national competition ‘‘Your Story’’ The 24th November 2011, Everything is Possible staff came at the British Council London office to support our two volunteers, Rebekah and Vaila, at the Your Story Prize Awards Event organised by the British Council and ECORYS UK. Rebekah won second place and Vaila the third place in the Youth in Action essay category of the ‘Your Story’ Competition. Their poems are absolutely brilliant and offer positive testimonies about their EVS projects supported by the Youth in Action programme of the European Commission.
AM I ELIGIBLE?
Rebekah did her European Voluntary Service in Reussir Mission Locale Lille (France). She published regularly testimonies on a blog that she created for this project and that she continues to update. Click here to visit her blog. All Everything is Possible staff are very proud of them and delighted as well to share with you their fantastic work.
Poem of Rebekah (extract) There are experiences in life that come so rare Suddenly appear, surprising you, drawing you in “Youth in Action” had this exact effect On my life it seems, stirring my choices deep within A story of passion, excitement and daring Growing as a person with an opportunity once in a million No longer feeling the need to hide like a chameleon
To read the full poem, click here or visit our website.
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Poem of Vaila (extract) Over time I had a good relationship with the elderly And I actually could understand them! I read them newspapers everyday And they tell me stories of memories of war and family I’d play board games with them and paint and design I made them smile and they made me shine.
All our opportunities (volunteering, training, education) are open to all young people from 18 to 30 years of age (some opportunities extend past these age limits). Our organisation was set up to support the most excluded young people, therefore we have many different types of projects which are accessible to everyone. Depending on the project, the volunteer doesn’t always need language skills or other technical skills. As well, these opportunities are mainly supported by the European Commission and are therefore fully funded. All we ask from the volunteer is motivation.
EUROPEAN MOBILITY PROGRAMMES
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INTERNATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES ABROAD
To read the full poem, click here or visit our website.
Our projects are funded through various sources notably the European Commission. In general, tavel, accommodation, training, pocket money allowance and insurance are provided.
European Voluntary Service:
The European Volunatry Service (EVS) gives the opportunity to be involved in a local community project, gain skills (personal and professional) and discover a new culture. EVS funded by the European Commission is open to all young people between 18-30 (in some case, from 16)).
Leonardo:
Leonardo Da Vinci is a programme funded by the European Commission, open to all people over the age of compulsary education, based on non formal learning through training.
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WHAT KIND OF PROJECT CAN I BE INVOLVED WITH?
25 participants in Leeds to learn and share experience around inclusion Today, 7th March, was the last day of our 4.3 Training ‘‘Inclusion In International Youth Work’’ supported by the British Council and the Youth in Action programme of the European Commission. During five days, 24 participants from 10 different countries around Europe (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Turkey, the UK) learned about Inclusion, shared their experience with people currently «not in education,
employment, or training». Everything is Possible team shared with them their 10 years of experience working in this field and taught them about both the Youth in Action and Lifelong Learning programme. Just a few participants knew about the Youth in Action programme. The feedbacks were very positives. Francesco from Italy said Thank you to Everything is Possible, because I have to say that this training course was really high level.
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Live update on the official blog from the 3rd to the 7th March: During this 4.3 training, Everything is Possible decided to innovate in offering everyone the possibility to follow this event live. Therefore we updated our Inclusion in International Youth Work BLOG every 15 minutes as well as our Twitter and Facebook accounts. We also taught the importance of social media to reach some young people and how to use Twitter and we gave participants the chance to tweet during the training.
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PROJEC CURRENT EV S:
Short Term - Malta - Project with cats - Italy - Cultural project ardo: Short Term LeonItaly - Music edition - t - Carpentry projec Sweden
The BLOG created for this training 4.3
For more info click here or visit or website.
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Visit of an EVS project
Workshop ‘‘What is exclusion?’’
Everything is Possible has developed partnerships with organisations around the world. We offer different types of projects (Environmental, Social, Children, Sport, Music, Media and others). The duration of the project depends on the confidence and circumstance of each volunteer/trainee: we have got some short and long projects. Our mobility facilitators work with each applicant in order to find the most suitable project according to his/her previous experiences and what they want to do in the future.
Leeds Volunteering at Festival. K Application for U soon. participants open
One year after, some news from our Grundtvig Workshop learners Already one year has passed since our last Grundtvig Learner Workshop ‘‘Exchanging Dreams’’ . This event supported by ECORYS UK and the Lifelong Learning programme of the European Commission offered us the possibility to organise workshop around media for 25 people from France, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom.
Marta La Bruna, Participant from Italy.
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For me the biggest contribution to myself has been the boost in confidence when I contemplate learning new things. One little anecdote is from when I held a wedding speech to the bride and groom. I was the last one to give a speech for the night and so I had to make it the best that I could. I managed very well and made both of them cry! [...] I believe that part of my success is due to the workshop and the part where we had the opportunity to speak publicly on a radio show. Simon Gullberg, Participant from Sweden.
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It was a great experience to live in that days. For me it was useful for many reasons, first of all because when I had my interviews, to apply for some job, I spoke also about Grundtvig experience, and how it helped me to be more conscious of my attitudes and capacities, thanks to same moment of reflexion that were programmed [...]So thanks to the association and to all the participants.”
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Here are some extracts:
In order to celebrate this anniversary we wanted to know the impacts that this Grundtvig Learner Workshop had on participants, in their life (personally and professionally). Therefore we contacted all of them and received positives testimonies from them that we will publish in March/April on our special blog: http://epexchangingdreams. blogspot.com/ .
HOW TO APPLY? SHORT TERM OR LONG TERM PROJECT?
Everything is Possible is working primarily with young people aged 16-30 years old, however not all programmes have age restrictions. If you are motivated you can take the opportunity to join one of our many projects. There are two different durations of project, depending on your previous experience and current circumstances, and this would be determined through a meeting with one of our faciliators.
Short Term Projects:
If you have never volunteered abroad or are receiving support from an organisation you can take part in a short term project. Contact: shortterm@ everythingispossible.eu
Long Term Projects:
If you have experience in local or international volunteering, or perhaps have studied or have work experience then you can apply for a long term project of 2 months to 1 year. Contact: longterm@ everythingispossible.eu
For more testimonies about our volunteers and trainees click on the following banner or visit
http://volunteers turnupthevolume. blogspot.com/
Over 90 EVS volunteers in Europe and Latin America
This project allowed us and our partners in Latin America and Europe to mobilise 90 volunteers (but 94 have been prepared) from 10 countries across 2 continents (Costa Rica, Peru, Uruguay, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Spain, Malta, Ecuador, Mexico and the UK), and introduce many of new partners to EVS, creating strong and lasting partnerships
which we’re happy to continue with in the future. Nearly half of the volunteers were young people with fewer opportunities. We’ve hosted 28 young people in the UK on placements ranging from two weeks to 12 months and sent 62 volunteers (66 were prepared) on projects lasting between three weeks and 12 months. This project has been supported by the Youth in Action programme of the European Commission.
Our volunteers in media and events: For this project we created videos, blogs, published testimonies. But we were as
well helped by the volunteers which joined us in some event or contacted media.
Click on one image to read the article or watch the video. Or visit everythingispossible.eu
Watch the video of the project:
For more information and to watch the video Breaking Barriers Building Partnerships, please visit the special webpage created for the project:
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http://volunteersturnupthevolume.blogspot. com/p/breaking-barriers.html
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It’s a perfect amount of time to understand the culture, get to know other people. Simon Gilroy (UK), ST in Jamaica It was so well organise -the actual setup - that I feel like nothing really was never go wrong Harry Wakefield (UK), LT in Mexico
I’ve got a degree now and I’ve been unemployed for quite a long time, which is quite difficult... And coming to do this, feeling that I really do something good...It’s a really good experience to come and challenge yourself, put yourself in a different position, to open yourself to meet new people , to do new things. Katy Devereux (UK), LT in Uruguay I never thought to be a teacher and after this experience I really feel that my orientation is work with kids. Rosa Lia Gonzalez (Uruguay), LT in the UK I thing I got a bit more confident because I never thought that I could go into a class room for 5o kids. I don’t think there is anything else like that. I’ve never experience something like this before...so... you need to come. Liz Poskett(UK), LT in Peru
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In January, we submited the final report of our project BREAKING BARRIERS BUILDING PARTNERSHIP .
IMPACTS OF BREAKING BARRIERS B.P.
CREATIVE INCLUSION We received from volunteers many testimonies, pictures and videos, that we published on our special webpage created for the project. This project has been supported by the Youth in Action programme of the European Commission.
Chaimae and Maz at the event ‘‘Volunteering Abroad’’:
Our two short term volunteers, Marianna and Chaimae, were at the ‘’Volunteering Abroad’’ event in London on the Monday 5th December. They shared their EVS experience in Jamaica (part of CREATIVE INCLUSION) with many professionals and volunteers who came to celebrate this volunteering day. They were with Janette, their youth and community worker of Caxton Youth Club, who supported them in Jamaica. The mission of the Caxton Youth Organisation is to advance the educational and social development of young people with disabilities.
Everything is Possible was there of course. We presented an extract of our Creative Inclusion visibility video, with images of Chaimae and Marianna in Jamaica.
Chaimae and Maz at the event ‘‘Volunteering Abroad’’
Watch the video of the project:
For more information and to watch the video Creative Inclusion, please visit the special webpage created for the project: http://volunteersturnupthevolume.blogspot. com/p/creative-inclusion.html
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EVS had a massive impact on my life. I loved the work with children. I’ve done lots of aspects of it. I loved every minute. In particular I want to go home now and try to become a primary school teacher. Paul Newham (UK), LT in Jamaica. Professionally I’ve learned how to do basic sign language. Personally, I’ve learned not to take things for granted and just how lucky I actually am... we are in England. Rebecca Ghosh (UK), ST in India. In terms of CV, it’s phenomenal the amount of aspect I have been allowed to deal with. Going out and speaking to general public in various communities is a real good and positive thing to put on your CV. Alex Johnson (UK), LT in The Gambia When we were out there, I could actually physically see a change. They were apprehensive but because they were so accepted, they were so popular, it really increased their confidence. When I was feeling down .. Ooh it would be nice to be home... it was Chaimae who was saying to me ‘‘I can do it, you can do it’’. They began to develop skills in managing the Children Janet Beech MBE, youth worker who supported Chaimae and Maz in Jamaica.
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CREATIVE INCLUSION is a project coordinated by Everything is Possible, which gave 14 organisations the chance to offer over 60 young people mostly with fewer opportunities the possibility to realize a European Voluntary Service and to take part in a worthwhile cause in one of the 5 countries : Ghana, India, Jamaica, United Kingdom, The Gambia.
IMPACTS OF CREATIVE INCLUSION
I did lots of friends. I become more independent. Teach with them. I had learnt a bit more. Chaimae Ensser (UK), ST in Jamaica
Events. 3rd - 7th March 2012: Training 4.3 in Leeds. For more info click on the banner or visit the event blog: http://inclusionininternationalyouthwork.blogspot.com/
www.everythingispossible.eu
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CONTACT:
Unit 21, 30-38 Dock Street Leeds, LS10 1JF, United Kingdom Telephone: +44 (0) 113 242 0888 Fax: +44 (0) 113 242 0999
1st - 8th April 2012: Grundtvig Learner Workshop in Glasgow. For more info, click on the banner or visit the event blog: http://inclusionthroughsport.blogspot.com/ Channel
Discover our projects through our Youtube Channel:
EverythingisPossibl’s
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Video of one of our hosting E V S project. For any enquiries regarding the newsletter, please contact Raphael: raphael@everythingispossible.eu