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Build Community Involvement if You Want to Have a Community
by Karen Susman
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Check your calendar. Monday night’s council meeting – canceled. Wednesday night’s sewer board meeting – canceled. Thursday night’s neighborhood watch meeting – postponed. Playground refurbishing, Main Street revitalization – scrapped. Forget your historical society’s project to turn an abandoned building into a museum. Forget your arts association’s plan to bring the symphony to schools. Delete tedious, contentious community meetings. Nix the input and consensus-building payoffs that those meetings produce. What happened? No one wanted to get involved.
“Community involvement is the most important ingredient in almost anything we try to do as a city.”
— Tom Bussing, Mayor, City of Gainesville
Face it. Your community can’t operate without volunteers. No volunteers means higher costs, lack of services, citizen apathy and disapproval. Coral Springs Volunteer Coordinator Kim Sanecki says, “Coral Springs’ citywide volunteer program involves the community in all aspects of city government. We log approximately 30,000 hours a year, which is a cost savings to taxpayers of over $300,000 per year.”
Community involvement pumps fresh ideas into municipalities. Mayor Bussing remarks that “in planning, we have come to recognize that the participation of a full cross-section of the community gives a validity and creative boost to community plans and designs for neighborhoods.”
“Communicate — it’s a partnership.”
— Laura Beagles, Dade City Assistant to the City Manager
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How To Build That Community Partnership
1) Understand what motivates people to get involved. Each person has a different impetus. If you don’t believe this, ask your volunteers why they stepped up to the plate. You’ll hear reasons such as these:
Fulfill civic duty
Learn a new skill
Use existing skills
Promote a cause or issue
Assuage guilt
Gain recognition
Enjoy free food (literally “stepping up to the plate!”)
Meet new people
Gain status
Be an example to children
Make a difference
How do you find out what motivates your citizens? Ask them. Then design events, marketing, time commitments and approaches that grab constituents. Here are some ideas for doing so:
2) Generate a variety of ways to attract constituents.
Be visible. Dade City’s Beagles feels that all city employees should be ambassadors for the city. Elected officials can spread the word by speaking at service clubs and other events. Strolling downtown, attending city concerts or picnics, and grocery shopping are opportunities to broadcast volunteer opportunities. A Web site is invaluable for communicating community events and volunteer openings.
Form partnerships. Frank Benest, city manager of Palo Alto, Calif., states that “people have greater trust in churches, schools and voluntary civic organizations than in local government . . . It makes sense for local government agencies to form partnerships with voluntary community organizations.” Dade City formed an unusual partnership with the YMCA. The “Y” was location-hunting. Dade City offered its unused civic center. City employees and citizens volunteered for cleanup and painting duty. Public Works installed showers. In return, the “Y” gave city employees free introductory passes and reduced membership rates. The YMCA’s summer camp is open to all children. regardless of ability to pay. Youth now have a safe place for recreation. Another benefit of this partnership has been to bring all facets of Dade City’s diverse community together.
Educate citizens. Coral Springs stages a Citizens’ Police Academy. Volunteer Coordinator Sanecki states, “It started several years ago in an effort to get citizens more involved in their police department. If they understand what the police department does and why, (citizens) are less likely to criticize. These graduates are not only great volunteers, but they are the strongest supporters.”
Web sites are cheap, effective, dynamic educators. Novato,Calif., posts the Municipal Code, council meeting minutes and agenda on its Web site so citizens can get involved. Each department has a detailed Web page.
Leadership training institutes bring citizens up to speed. Longmont, Colo., found that institute particpants tend to become community volunteers.
Welcome new neighbors and businesses. Get them involved immediately. This serves the newcomer as well as the community. New residents can feel detached, especially in communities where citizens scatter daily to larger cities to work.
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“It is important to find out what the community wants; what the people need. Do activities that people want to be involved in.”
— Jan Sebald, City of Dunedin Coordinator of Volunteers
3) Convert the involved into volunteers.
ASK! The main reason people become volunteers is that they were asked. If they are asked by a friend, chances are even higher that they will say “yes.”
Match the volunteer job to the volunteer. The more the job overlaps with the volunteer’s talents, motivations and availability, the more successful the volunteer experience will be for all involved. Dunedin’s Day of Good Deeds involved 180 volunteers doing 80 good deeds, such as painting a porch, taking pets to nursing homes, or cleaning a yard. Three hundred Dunedin volunteers painted the homes of needy families during “Paint Your Heart Out Dunedin.”
Keep a current database. Gather names and personal-interest profiles at every function. Post interest questionnaires on your Web site. Keep a stack of questionnaires in waiting areas at City Hall. When an opportunity becomes available that matches a constituent’s profile, alert the constituent.
Recruit volunteers where they hang out. The coffee shop, senior center, ethnic fair, outdoor concert and ballpark are rich sources for volunteers.
Recycle volunteers. Boards and commissions, for instance, are good training grounds for future council members.
4) Maximize the volunteer’s experience.
Hold orientation sessions. If volunteers are unsure of job duties, productivity slumps.
Promote volunteers. Reward them with increasing responsibility.
Offer training opportunities. Learning is a big plus for most people.
Reward often. Be creative and specific.
Erect a Wall of Fame. Hang pictures of volunteers, testimonial letters and project photos in City Hall.
Recognize volunteers on your Web site.
Write handwritten thank-you notes.
Develop an exit interview. Volunteers like to be asked their opinions. You’ll discover how to improve future volunteer experiences.
It takes time, patience and money to recruit, train and retain volunteers. But the payoff is worth it. Gainesville Mayor Bussing states, “It is what people want in life, to care about things and to make a difference with their contributions.”
Karen Susman is a municipal maven. She speaks on Building Community Involvement, Networking, Presentation Skills, Life Balance and Humor for audiences like Florida League of Cities, APWA, IIMC, ICMA, and NLC. Contact Karen at 1-(888) 678-8818, karen@karensusman.com. Her guidebook, 201 Secrets for Building Community Involvement, can be ordered for just $5 at www.karensusman.com.
Reprinted from Quality Cities July/August 2002
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