This week is Volunteers’ Week in which the unpaid efforts of people across the country are celebrated. And today, Thursday 3rd June 2021 is the day when we particularly focus on business volunteers.

BIG Alliance is excited to pilot a new digital buddies programme designed to support members of Hillside Clubhouse with basic digital skills. Hillside Clubhouse is an Islington-based mental health rehabilitation project with a focus on mainstream employment, education and social inclusion.

My experience of the difference that mental health services made to my life inspired me to give some of my time to try to help ensure that others that are facing similar circumstances can access support.

BIG Alliance attended VAI’s Wellbeing for All event shining a spotlight on the work that has been carried out to support local residents’ mental wellbeing

Together we can end the stigma of mental health.

Last month we launched the 13th cohort of our annual CoRe programme. Find out more about it here.

This month, The BIG Alliance team caught up with Islington Giving to find out how Islington-based community organisations have been working to address the digital divide in the borough.

Check out the results of ELBA and BIG Alliance's 2020 Community Partner Survey.

With the current disruption to schools, this National Careers Week highlights challenges for us at ELBA and many student-facing staff on how to engage students in employability activity amidst Covid-19.

FoodCycle was one of the nine community partners that joined our CoRe 2020 programme. Over the six month period of the programme, the charity was supported by volunteers from Macquarie and Slaughter and May who helped them further FoodCycle’s expansion plans for their services, especially after the lockdown is lifted.

MMARAP joined our CoRe 2020 programme with the aim of improving their communications and marketing. Working with volunteers from Macquarie and Slaughter and May, they not only learned about website content and efficient use of social media, but also improved their fundraising as well as various policy documents.

The count is in: ELBA’s 2020 Toy Appeal was the biggest ever, with over 22,000 toys donated – that’s more than double the previous record. From that amazing total, over 2,200 toys went to Islington organisations who work with local families.

Our thanks go to the 26 volunteers from Expedia Group, MUFG, Slaughter and May, Euromonitor International, Fooditude and Bolt Burdon for supporting our Time to Talk campaign in Islington schools. For this video we asked the volunteers: "what tips do you have to help people stay mentally healthy?"

As Covid-19 started to impact everyone’s daily life, the importance of supporting staff came into focus even more sharply and our internal wellbeing committee has been there to support colleagues as they have faced new and unexpected challenges

In the run up to Christmas, volunteers wrote cards and letters to vulnerable people feeling lonely and/or isolated.

During a “normal” year, Christmas can be an especially lonely time for many people. Amid a pandemic involving lockdowns and limited social contact, their experiences of loneliness and isolation are understandably more profound.

The onset of the pandemic has exacerbated financial inequalities. For young people, it has led to months without schooling, with most studying from home with varied resources and varied access to the internet and electronic devices.

To tackle this, ELBA and the BIG Alliance are proud to have recently launched and adapted our 2020/21 Mentoring Works programme to ensure we continue to support students that need it most.

As part of our skills-based volunteering offer, BIG Alliance recently moderated a pro bono consulting sprint (half day session) with two teams of volunteers from Macquarie Group’s Commodities and Global Markets team where they were given just a few hours to come up with the best solutions possible to a challenge set by Choices London CIC, our participating community partner.

During our facilitation of Expedia’s Month of Caring this year, we asked their employees to share a little insight into their roles and any advice they have for young people and jobseekers. Here we highlight self-made videos shared by three of the fantastic volunteers who offered this support from Expedia Group.

Ahead of this year’s CoRe report, we shine a light on some of the key reflections which were shared at the 2020 celebration event by the amazing CoRe volunteers from both Macquarie Group and Slaughter and May. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we are delighted CoRe 2020 acted as a conduit for significant connections and understanding across sectors which seemed even more needed this year.

Earlier this year Islington Giving commissioned a group of artists with special educational needs, working with Artbox London, to create art inspired by their experience of living in Islington. These pieces are now being auctioned online and, after the artist’s fee, the proceeds will be divided between Islington Giving working on local poverty and inequality and Artbox London, working with artists with special needs.