Leicestershire Scouts are thrilled to announce the appointment of 2 new Local Growth Officers to support the growth and development of Scouting in Leicestershire. Sumaya Qirbee and Abena O’Connor have now started work for The Scout Association’s Growth and Communities team, working exclusively on Leicestershire based projects. This is funded by money left to The Scout Association for the benefit of Leicestershire in a legacy from John and Barbara Ash, former volunteers in Ashby and Coalville District. This project will run for an initial 2 years, with an option to extend this further if successful.
Sumaya and Abena have already started work, contacting Groups, Sections and Units who have been identified as in need of support, in accordance with the project goals to expand places for young people, safeguard places for young people in Sections with low numbers of volunteers, expanding Scouting in areas of low IMD, increasing our reach into ethnic minority backgrounds and supporting our initial target Districts (South West Leicester, North East Leicester, Loughborough and Hinckley), though we hope to access all 10 Districts across the County during the course of the project.
This project will complement the existing work going on within Districts and Groups to boost growth, and we are really excited to see the results over the coming years. Of course, not all Sections will automatically be eligible for a project, but we hope to be able to offer varying levels of support to all of those who need it – including by still making use of the existing Growth and Communities team and working with Districts locally to establish priorities, plus areas which could use support from the County Team, or from the new Local Growth Officers.
For more information about this project, or to let us know about recruitment challenges for young people or adult volunteers in your area, please contact jack.barber@leicestershirescouts.org.uk in the first instance.
Keep checking this page for more updates and to track our progress!
Meet our Local Growth Officers
The Local Growth Officers can support with volunteer recruitment, running open events and other recruitment events for young people, promoting Scouting or advertising volunteer vacancies on social media, accessing schools or local community groups to help increase Scouting’s profile and recruit members, inductions for new volunteers and helping to re-energise Sections with lower numbers – or open entire new Sections and Groups. We know that many Sections and Groups are struggling for volunteers, while others will be struggling to recruit young people for a variety of reasons, including our continued recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Across the period of this project, we hope to boost adult and young people growth across the County, including expanding the provision of Squirrels to more Groups. We also aim to create a lasting legacy of flexible volunteering structures, warmer welcomes to all of our volunteers and making the most of the ongoing Transformation to ensure that joining Scouting as an adult is attractive and enjoyable for all of our fantastic volunteers.
Success Stories
Growing Scouting from the Ground Up: New Squirrel Dreys Across Leicestershire
Over the past few months, the ASH Legacy project has been busy working across Leicestershire — growing and supporting Scouting to create more opportunities for young people to get involved.
Fresh Energy from University of Leicester Students
Find out about what happened when we partnered with the University of Leicester to invite students to get involved with Scouting.
