Archives for December 2016

Charity of the Month – December 2016

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Dundee Comics Creative Space

Dundee Comics Creative Space (DCCS), developed by The University of Dundee, is a social enterprise which encourages learning through comics, supports aspiring comic artists and provides individuals with educational workshops.

What is our Relationship with DCCS?

Since 2015, The Rank Foundation have worked in collaboration with DCCS, who have been really willing to engage in all the Foundation’s projects. For instance, DCCS designed the front of The Rank Fellowship Charities Evening brochure (see picture), recently hired their first intern on our Time to Shine programme and supported Caitlin Mitchell, one of our Leadership Award Holders on her CAP placement.

Caitlin (see photo below of Caitlin out in Dundee delivering DCCS posters and flyers with DCCS Coordinator Damon Herd) thoroughly enjoyed her CAP placement and gained valuable skills by working at DCCS:

‘’A highlight of my placement was getting to sit in on some of the workshops, both with young people and with Advocating Together (another Rank-funded organisation), who are creating a comic about tackling disability hate crime with DCCS. It was fantastic to see how happy the young people are here and it showed how worthwhile DCCS is. I’ve had a great time and I thank the team at DCCS for making me feel really welcome.’’

I’ve also learnt lots of new skills, such as graphic design and website editing, which I will definitely use in the future. During my placement I’ve worked closely with other people in DCCS, such as working out social media strategies with Damon Herd the Coordinator, which helped develop teamwork skills. I’ve also done some individual work where I needed to be innovative and confident in myself, such as creating interview questions for each of the different groups of people I profiled.’’

For more on Caitlin’s experience during her CAP placement, please see the comic below.

Caitlin’s CAP placement also made a positive impact on DCCS, as explained by Damon:

‘’Caitlin’s main achievement was boosting the public profile of DCCS and the work we do here. She did this through a concentrated burst of blog posts on our website and social media platforms, designing the graphics for new print media and by interviewing staff, artists and the young people who attend our Comic Clubs and using this material in her promotional blog posts. She also collaborated on a comic’s project with Rebecca Horner, an artist here at DCCS.’’

Contact Details

If you would like to find out more information about DCCS, they can be contacted through their website here or at info@dundeecomicscreativespace.com.

Summer Rank Report: Daniel Oliver

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Daniel Oliver tells us about his experience as a Yapper, under The Rank Foundations Youth Apprenticeship Programme (YAP). During the programme, he spent numerous years working with children at Frenford Clubs and worked towards a degree at the YMCA George Williams College.

”Frenford Clubs was established in 1928 and has grown from strength to strength, currently with over 80 volunteers. Frenford Clubs aims to facilitate learning and development of young people through purposeful leisure time activities. A key focus of the organisation is the development of volunteers, as this is the cornerstone of Frenford Clubs history and existence.

Each year, Frenford Clubs runs an annual residential trip to Woodrow High House (see photo). During the trip, I was responsible for 20 young people, who took part in team building activities such as raft building, assault courses and drama. In addition, the young people took part in an inspirational public speaking workshop with Hussain Manawar, who won a competition to do a speech in Thailand and regularly does workshops in local schools. This really helped the young people, as they all got something out of the workshop, whether it was confidence or inspiration. At the end of the residential the feedback from the young people was very positive, with all rating the week as enjoyable. Furthermore, many individuals cited teamwork as one of the biggest factors in their learning experience and reason for enjoying the residential.

I feel that my development as a worker has progressed every year during my placement at Frenford Clubs, due to the experience I gained from working full-time, which enabled me to learn on the job, combined with studying for my degree. Completing my education over the last five years has been a long but fruitful journey, which has enabled me to learn a great deal about informal education and I look forward to putting the theories I have learnt into practice. I have now completed my degree and was awarded a 2:1 in Social pedagogy (Youth Work and community learning & development), which I was delighted with. Frenford Clubs are also in the position to keep me employed full-time, so I will be staying on as an assistant manager.”

Daniel’s line manager further describes how the YAP programme benefited Daniel and Frenford Clubs:

”It has been a wonderful journey for Daniel and for Frenford Clubs. Daniel has now developed into a senior youth worker who has taken on managerial duties, due to his confidence and maturity when dealing with problems and new challenges. He continues to be a favourite of the young people and leads a team of volunteer and paid staff on a daily basis. I would like to say a big thank-you to The Rank Foundation for the support and funding invested in Daniel. He is very much an integral part of Frenford Clubs and is definitely not the shy young man he was at his interview 5 years ago.”

Frenford Clubs still have big plans for the future, with planning permission in for the 11-a-side astroturf football pitch with floodlights. Frenford Clubs hopes this will help the organisation become more self-sustainable and secure the future of the club. Frenford Clubs are also aiming to boost female participation in their activities, which is going well at the moment, with female only arts & crafts, basketball, zumba and football as well as the mixed sessions. Disability projects are also a big part of the Clubs future, with wheelchair basketball and cricket already established, as well as disabled multi-sport sessions and independent living programmes.