United We Serve
President Obama has recently unveiled an initiative calling on all Americans to help in our nation's recovery by volunteering in their communities this summer. The President's call to summer service launches United We Serve, a sustained effort to expand the size and impact of volunteer efforts in addressing tough challenges facing the nation.
“This summer, I'm calling on all of you to make volunteerism and community service part of your daily life and the life of this nation,” said President Obama in the video announcing the initiative. “And when I say “all,” I mean everyone – young and old, from every background, all across this country. We need individuals, community organizations, corporations, foundations, and our government to be part of this effort.”
Mrs. Obama will officially kick off this service initiative on June 22 at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service in San Francisco. That same day, President Obama's Cabinet secretaries will travel across the country to lead service efforts throughout the nation and highlight organizations that will be participating in this initiative. The service initiative will conclude with a National Day of Service on Sept. 11, 2009. This National Day of Service offers a chance to both celebrate the service to our country over the previous two and a half months and to honor the Americans who died on Sept. 11, 2001, by recommitting to serve in the future.
Goals
The goals of the United We Serve initiative are three-fold:
- Bolster civic engagement nationwide by connecting people from all walks of life with service opportunities and by empowering them to develop their own service opportunities to address unmet needs.
- Better our communities in four national priority issue areas: energy and the environment, education, health care, and community renewal.
- Develop creative partnerships with nonprofit organizations, faith-based groups, issue groups, labor unions, educational institutions, businesses, corporations, foundations, and all levels of government.
Purpose: A New Call to Service
The service initiative will take traditional calls to service further by:
- Putting volunteers on a path to sustained service
- Asking volunteers to step up and become volunteer organizers by identifying unmet needs in their community, developing their own service projects and engaging others who are interested in the same issue area
- Providing easy-to-use tools for volunteers to develop their own service projects, set outcome-oriented goals and track their community impact
- Developing creative partnerships with a broad and diverse group of stakeholders
The Challenge: Help Needed, Capacity Stretched
At a time when volunteers' help is most needed, the capacity of traditional service organizations to absorb volunteers has been stretched thin. To help meet growing social needs resulting from the economic downturn, the United We Serve initiative aims to both engage new volunteers in expanding the impact of existing organizations and to encourage "do-it-yourself" projects.
Timeline
The service initiative - spanning 81 days, or just under 12 weeks - will officially kick off June 22 at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service. The White House has made a public announcement, allowing time for organizations to post opportunities and prepare to absorb new volunteers. The service initiative will culminate with a National Day of Service and Remembrance on Sept. 11, 2009.
What You Can Do
To make it easy for Americans to get involved, the President is urging Americans to visit Serve.gov. Visitors to Serve.gov can type in their zip code to find local volunteer opportunities, recruit volunteers by registering their organization's projects, or get ideas for creating their own projects with friends, families, and neighbors. Plan a project, join a project and register your project at www.serve.gov.
Sources: Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service, Kentucky Commission on Community Volunteerism and Service, Corporation for National and Community Service