Call for Nationwide Community Service stepped up as Dame Elisabeth’s retirement announced

Dame Elisabeth Hoodless who has been dubbed as both ‘the Mother of Volunteers’ and more recently, ‘The mother of Big Society’ has announced her determination to see nationwide community service become reality as the charity announces the search for her successor when she retires next February 2011.

Elisabeth was CSV’s first ever employee 47 years ago but currently leads a charity that has involved more than 1 million volunteers and employs 700 staff throughout the UK.

Dame Elisabeth Hoodless said: “2010 is a historic turning point and a timely moment to look at nationwide community service in a fresh light. The crisis in care for frail elderly people who would prefer to remain in their own homes; the growing need for support for families under pressure; the alarming drop out rates from higher education and the escalating rate of youth unemployment reinforces the benefits to our young people and to our communities of a year of full-time service for 18 year olds. Finland, France, Germany, Israel and Italy have all taken the plunge. Why not here and now?”

When Elisabeth was awarded an honour and became a Dame in 2004 she said:
 
“Back in 1963, when I first started at CSV, to be a volunteer was seen as slightly suspicious. Today, you don’t need to explain yourself – it’s as normal as going to the pictures.”
 
Elisabeth leads CSV’s wide-ranging work with volunteers who help divert young offenders from crime, work with homeless people and refugees and enable people with disabilities to go to university.
 
Elisabeth started with CSV in 1963, but her dedication over the last forty years has seen the organisation grow in size and the breadth of its work. She has been a leading figure in the voluntary sector throughout this time.
 
Elisabeth Hoodless has kept volunteering and citizenship involvement at the top of the local, national and international agenda. She has served on many public and voluntary sector committees to promote citizen engagement at all levels from the NHS through to local community groups.
 
•    Elisabeth has been a key figure in getting Citizenship introduced into the National Curriculum (September 2002). As far back as 1969, Elisabeth launched school and community kits and in 1990 she originated the Speaker’s Commission ‘Encouraging Citizenship’. Meanwhile, she continued her involvement in the Crick Committee on Citizenship in the National Curriculum.
 
•    1992 saw CSV establish a nationwide network of university students tutoring young people in schools (CSV Learning Together).
 
•    The UK’s single biggest day of volunteering action (Make a Difference Day) was pioneered in this country by Elisabeth Hoodless. This massive programme of events involved more than  67 ,000 people in 200 9  
 
•    1993 saw CSV expand its employee volunteering programme as a response to the increasing number of requests from employers to help involve their employees in the community.   
 
•    In 1995 Elisabeth realised an ambition for CSV with the establishment of the Citizens’ Service pilot projects in London, the North East and Wales. This initiative  was transformed into Millennium Volunteers, which involve d  100,000 young people (16-25yrs) in volunteering projects throughout the UK  before the arrival of v, the youth volunteering charity.  
 
•    CSV established RSVP in 1988/9 (CSV’s Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme). As part of its Primary Care Project,  RSVP now works with more than 270 GPs at surgeries and health centres nationwide. More than  12 ,000 volunteers assist 15,000 people nationwide.  
 
•    In 1972, with Granada TV and Gus Macdonald (now Lord Macdonald), Elisabeth initiated mass volunteering, through Reports Action, a weekly 30 minute television programme, fronted by Anna Ford. 2001 saw the groundbreaking expansion of the CSV Action Desk Network at 36 BBC local radio stations across England, making the charity Europe’s leading specialist in Social Action Broadcasting in Europe.
 
•    In 1993, CSV, under Elisabeth’s direction, responded to the growing numbers of reports of young people at risk in public care by importing a new venture from the USA – Foster Grandparents – where mature local volunteers give time, love and commitment to young people in care. Elisabeth has now taken this concept one step further in 2003 by developing CSV’s Volunteers in Child Protection– a project working alongside social services to identify and train people from local communities to visit children at risk on a daily basis.  This is now set for expansion throughout the UK after the successful pilots that you  reported on.

•    In 2005, Elisabeth led CSV’s strategy for the Year of the Volunteer
 
•    In 2007, CSV stepped in to save the long-established Cathedral Camps charity which sees young people go on week-long camps to help protect the nation's ecclesiastical heritage

•    2010 will see the launch of Grand Mentors, a pioneering programme that will see retired people mentor troubled youth and help prevent them turn to a life of crime.

Other biographical highlights:
 
During her university career at King's College, Durham and the London School of Economics, Elisabeth volunteered to teach Hebrew in Israel, worked with children in Kent and in a general hospital.
 
After qualifying as a medical social worker, she was appointed Assistant Director of CSV in 1963, Deputy Director in 1972 and Executive Director in 1975.  
 
In 1964, she became Islington’s youngest ever councillor. She has been a volunteer Juvenile Court Magistrate since 1969 and chairs Islington Youth Court.
 
Her husband Donald, an economist, was  Chief Executive of Circle 33 Housing Trust.  They have two sons and two granddaughters.

Further press information: Jason Tanner on 07941 433598 / 020 7812 0038 or Melissa Goss on 020 7812 0037 / 07725 808052