NEW YORK - On Wednesday, New York City and Nashville, Tennessee, mayors Michael R. Bloomberg and Karl Dean announced the winners of the second round of “Cities of Service Leadership Grants,” which awards 10 cities $200,000 to help design citywide volunteer projects. The fund, which totals $2 million, is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Rockefeller Foundation, whose president, Judith Rodin was also present at the announcement.
The 10 cities selected this year are mostly in the southern region of the country, like Atlanta, Georgia, and Houston, Texas, but also includes Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Chula Vista, California.
Awarded by Cities of Service, a coalition of U.S. mayors founded in 2009 to expand civic engagement and community service in the country, the grant will be used to hire a “Chief Service Officer,” who is a “senior city official who will develop and implement a citywide plan to increase volunteerism and target volunteers to address their city’s greatest needs,” according to a statement by the organization.
The first round of grant winners was selected and announced in January. Those cities’ project proposals were thereafter published for interested candidates to reference. Thus, the second round of winning cities have “even more ambitious and attractive bids,” remarked Bloomberg at the press conference.
For this round, 50 cities applied in a competitive selection process, which has requirements like a minimum population of 100,000 and at least one 4-year university nearby. The winners are selected by a board.
The 10 newly appointed chief service officers were present at the press conference, which was held on the last day of the 2010 National Conference for Volunteering and Service, a countrywide gathering of volunteer and service groups. The president of the Rockefeller Foundation, Judith Rodin, announced the names of the 10 cities that won the leadership grants and expressed her wish for the project to help increase Americans’ dedication to volunteer service. She believes that “cities are the engines of innovation and growth,” which can help promote activism and community service on a national scale. Through the services provided by the leadership grants, “we can change the face of the nation one community at a time,” Rodin said.
Karl Dean, the mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, explained the importance of volunteer service in helping with rescue and cleanup efforts during the heavy flooding that occurred in May this year. After the massive flood, which caused as much as $2.5 billion in damages, “volunteers descended in unprecedented numbers,” Dean said. With a chief service officer and a leadership grant (received in January) available, Dean said over 17,000 volunteers assisted in rebuilding efforts, such as cleaning up the flood debris from people’s homes. They also teamed up with local organizations and universities to speed up the rebuilding. The mayor said that with the help of volunteers, the city was able to recover quickly. “Nothing can tear down a city with volunteers,” he remarked.
Mayor Bloomberg, who along with Mayor Dean were founding members of Cities of Service, said that after the national volunteer service conference is over, the chief service officers will go back to their respective cities with fresh ideas and learn to solve the city’s problems with civic participation.
The 10 cities selected this year are mostly in the southern region of the country, like Atlanta, Georgia, and Houston, Texas, but also includes Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Chula Vista, California.
Awarded by Cities of Service, a coalition of U.S. mayors founded in 2009 to expand civic engagement and community service in the country, the grant will be used to hire a “Chief Service Officer,” who is a “senior city official who will develop and implement a citywide plan to increase volunteerism and target volunteers to address their city’s greatest needs,” according to a statement by the organization.
The first round of grant winners was selected and announced in January. Those cities’ project proposals were thereafter published for interested candidates to reference. Thus, the second round of winning cities have “even more ambitious and attractive bids,” remarked Bloomberg at the press conference.
For this round, 50 cities applied in a competitive selection process, which has requirements like a minimum population of 100,000 and at least one 4-year university nearby. The winners are selected by a board.
The 10 newly appointed chief service officers were present at the press conference, which was held on the last day of the 2010 National Conference for Volunteering and Service, a countrywide gathering of volunteer and service groups. The president of the Rockefeller Foundation, Judith Rodin, announced the names of the 10 cities that won the leadership grants and expressed her wish for the project to help increase Americans’ dedication to volunteer service. She believes that “cities are the engines of innovation and growth,” which can help promote activism and community service on a national scale. Through the services provided by the leadership grants, “we can change the face of the nation one community at a time,” Rodin said.
Karl Dean, the mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, explained the importance of volunteer service in helping with rescue and cleanup efforts during the heavy flooding that occurred in May this year. After the massive flood, which caused as much as $2.5 billion in damages, “volunteers descended in unprecedented numbers,” Dean said. With a chief service officer and a leadership grant (received in January) available, Dean said over 17,000 volunteers assisted in rebuilding efforts, such as cleaning up the flood debris from people’s homes. They also teamed up with local organizations and universities to speed up the rebuilding. The mayor said that with the help of volunteers, the city was able to recover quickly. “Nothing can tear down a city with volunteers,” he remarked.
Mayor Bloomberg, who along with Mayor Dean were founding members of Cities of Service, said that after the national volunteer service conference is over, the chief service officers will go back to their respective cities with fresh ideas and learn to solve the city’s problems with civic participation.
Friends Read Free