Durham Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen has launched new plans develop the skills of volunteers who work on her behalf.
To coincide with Volunteers Week 2025, the County Durham and Darlington PCC announced a £15,000 funding grant to Durham Community Action (DCA).
This funding is intended to support the charity in 2025-26 and to establish a support package to shape future volunteering prospects in her office.
This initiative is part of the PCC’s commitment to offer a 'high-quality' environment for volunteers to learn, grow, and succeed while adding value to their communities.
Ms Allen aims to achieve the County Durham Volunteer Kitemark accreditation for her entire office, similar to the success of her Community Peer Mentors service.
This scheme, managed by DCA, awards certificates to organisations committed to providing high-quality experiences for both volunteers and those they assist.
The PCC has allocated £10,000 annually to DCA since 2019 to support its efforts in helping communities thrive.
The charity’s activities support all six of the PCC's new Police, Crime, and Justice Plan priorities.
This year’s additional investment has led to DCA being tasked with creating a new Volunteering Development Strategy to promote best practices across all OPCC volunteering roles.
The funding will also allow DCA to review current practices, develop a new volunteering framework, and create a tailored volunteer development and training programme for different OPCC volunteer groups.
The charity is also exploring the possibility of establishing a Criminal Justice Volunteering Partnership to boost networking and provide more opportunities to recognise volunteers.
Commissioner Joy Allen said: "Volunteers collectively sacrifice thousands of hours every year to make our communities safer, stronger and more resilient and I cannot thank them enough for their selflessness and support.
"I want to unlock more hours and more potential by becoming an organisation of choice for volunteers, connecting people to opportunities and causes in community safety that they are truly passionate about and providing them with a learning experience that is second to none.
"I believe there is significant scope to widen and enhance the current volunteering opportunities available within the Criminal Justice System and to address the barriers to volunteering that people can face, especially those with lived experience of the justice system."
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Kate Burrows, DCA’s Executive Director, said: "At DCA we are excited to work alongside the OPCC as they build on the great practice through volunteer-involving, demonstrated by the Community Peer Mentors project.
"And we are delighted to be supporting the endeavour to demonstrate the OPCC as a beacon of good volunteer involvement through the accreditation process of County Durham Volunteer Kitemark across all services."
Volunteers Week, running from June 2 to 8, is an annual campaign to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of volunteers across the UK, providing a platform to thank both current and past volunteers for their efforts.
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