Cities of Service

Cities of Service Website Network Named Finalist for SXSW Interactive Awards

Cities of Service — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:10:45 +0000

The Cities of Service website network, used by coalition members to connect volunteers to impactful service opportunities in their cities, is a finalist for the prestigious SXSW (South by Southwest) Interactive Award in the community category.

To win, we need your help. Please vote by clicking here (no registration required).

To view samples of our sites currently in operation, visit:

If your city is interested in launching its own free Cities of Service custom website, please contact us at info@citiesofservice.org.

Kingsport Mayor Phillips Launches Impact Kingsport

Cities of Service — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:16:28 +0000

Kingsport, TN Mayor Dennis Phillips launched Impact Kingsport, the city’s high-impact service plan. The plan targets the city’s priority area of economic development. Skilled seniors will volunteer their time to work with local companies, helping the companies expand operations within the city, ultimately increasing economic opportunities for residents.

This plan was created as part of a unique partnership between Cities of Service and AARP that helps cities with fewer than 125,000 residents develop high-impact service plans under the guidance of a volunteer Chief Service Officer.

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Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake and VISTA Team Tackle Vacant Lots

Cities of Service — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:20:31 +0000

Power In Dirt, an initiative of Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake’s high-impact service plan, StepUP! Baltimore, was launched in 2011 to transform the city’s vacant lots into community maintained green spaces. With the support of the city’s Chief Service Officer, four AmeriCorps VISTA corps members, and dozens of citizen volunteers, over 270 vacant lots have been transformed in the last five months.

Read the article

Read the StepUP! Baltimore Service Plan

21 Mayors Urge Peers to Support Chief Service Officers and Impact Volunteering

Cities of Service — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:53:17 +0000

This month, Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter, Vice President of the US Conference of Mayors, was joined by 20 other mayors, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, President of the US Conference of Mayors, in urging their peers across the nation to adopt the Cites of Service model of impact volunteering and to establish or sustain a Chief Service Officer in their administrations.

Read the letter

Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa and AmeriCorps Director Gomperts Encourage Mayors to Leverage Citizen Service

Cities of Service — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:28:08 +0000

On Martin Luther King Day, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and AmeriCorps Director John Gomperts encouraged mayors to use citizen service as a reliable, viable strategy to address local challenges. Mayors have a variety of tools available to help them tap the power of their residents – for example, AmeriCorps volunteers from the Corporation for National and Community Service and impact volunteering blueprints and technical assistance from Cities of Service.

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Chicago Mayor Emanuel Launches ChicagoShovels.org

Cities of Service — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:59:50 +0000

This week, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel launched ChicagoShovels.org, a one-stop shop for city residents to learn how they can help their neighbors during snow emergencies. A key component of this program will be the Snow Corps initiative, which matches volunteers with residents in need of snow removal like seniors and people with disabilities. In addition, the website features a snow plow tracker that updates residents in real time on the status of street plowing, as well as downloadable applications that offer a variety of information such as which streets have parking restrictions and if a resident’s car was towed.

NYC Service A Finalist for Harvard Government Innovation Award

Cities of Service — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:06:19 +0000

NYC Service, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s high-impact service plan – which pioneered impact volunteering – has been named one of the six finalists for this year’s Innovation in American Government Award. The award, which is administered by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, recognizes “excellence and creativity in the public sector.” The six finalists were selected from more than 500 submissions. This year’s top awardee will be named in March 2012 and receive a grant of $100,000.

To view NYC Service’s final presentation before the award judges, click here.

To learn more about the Innovations in American Government Awards, click here.

To learn more about NYC Service, click here.

Pittsburgh, Home Depot Team Up to Renovate 70 Homes

Cities of Service — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:14:28 +0000

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, through his high-impact service plan servePGH, is teaming up with The Home Depot Foundation to weatherize and upgrade 70 homes. The renovations will be targeted to veterans, seniors, and low-income homeowners and the Home Depot Foundation has generously provided a $500,000 grant to cover the cost of materials. ServePGH is working with local partners to recruit and manage the volunteers that will help provide the renovations.

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Read the blueprint to learn how to conduct similar projects in your city.

New York City Coats Two Million Square Feet of Rooftops White

Cities of Service — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:19:07 +0000

NYC Service, the office tasked with implementing New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s high-impact service plan, and the New York City Department of Buildings recently announced that volunteers have coated more than two million square feet of rooftops white in an effort to reduce the city’s carbon footprint and lower energy costs. The NYC°CoolRoofs initiative formed the basis for a “Service as a Strategy” blueprint released earlier this year by Cities of Service and ServiceNation called Cool Roofs.

Read the release
Read the blueprint

York Mayor Bracey Announces High-Impact Service Plan

Cities of Service — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 14:59:08 +0000

Spurred by her decision to join the Cities of Service coalition, York Mayor C. Kim Bracey recently announced her city’s high-impact service plan. MENTORYork, through a new partnership between Mayor Bracey’s office and the School District of the City of York, will pair 25 of the city’s most at-risk high school students, or “grads to be” as the Mayor terms them, with a qualified and dedicated mentor.

Over subsequent years, MENTORYork will scale up with the aim of eventually providing each designated “grad to be” with a mentor to help boost school attendance and city graduation rates.