Totton College signs community partnership deal

Community First New Forest and Totton College have signed an agreement that will enhance the ability of local voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) to help communities around the New Forest.

Totton College will provide a number of learning and training opportunities to voluntary workers through Community First, New Forest (CFNF), from First Aid and Food Hygiene to IT skills and business planning.

Benefits of learning for volunteers and staff in local VCOs are wide-reaching. Food Hygiene training for VCO staff will help in the setting-up of a lunch club for the elderly, and a paediatric first-aid course for volunteer workers in Hythe will enable the expansion of the boys brigade to new recruits.

The partnership project has created two posts for Community Development Workers in the New Forest and on the Waterside, plus all the necessary training to enable staff to manage and deliver a wide range of community programmes.

Community First New Forest, formerly known as the New Forest Voluntary Service Council, is the representative body for VCOs in the New Forest. It provides support and training to its VCOs and has a number of other projects which run under the umbrella of CFNF. These include a volunteer bureau, community transport services, a care and repair service for the elderly and an emergency accommodation service for young people.

Michelle Babcock, Project Manager at CFNF said: "We are really enjoying working in partnership with Totton College. Both parties are learning a lot about how each other operates and it is excellent to be able to take the training into the community."