Grant paves way for head of citywide volunteerism plan

January 18, 2010
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/fspielman@suntimes.com

Chicago will hire a full-time “chief service officer” to craft a citywide volunteerism plan, in part to help at-risk youth, thanks to a two-year, $200,000 grant awarded today.

Mayor Daley accepted the Rockefeller Foundation grant on the National Service Day created by Congress to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.

He was joined by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who already has a chief service officer to coordinate disparate groups of volunteers.

“There’s a lot of people who want to volunteer and a lot of organizations that need those volunteers. Matching them up … and making sure they’re vetted [is the key]. You can’t just send anybody that walks in the door out to mentor a kid. You have to do some investigation first,” Bloomberg said.

Daley pointed to the massive relief effort under way in earthquake-ravaged Haiti to underscore the point that Americans are willing to give their time and money.

“No other country does that. That is … the difference [between] America [and] the rest of the world: the generosity. That’s the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and what he died for,” Daley told a news conference at Dulles Elementary School, 6311 S. Calumet, where more than 100 high school students spent their day off painting hallways and murals.

Fifty cities applied for Rockefeller Foundation grants. Ten of them - including Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit and Philadelphia - were awarded $200,000 grants.

Chicago’s application centered around Chicago’s ongoing efforts - championed by First Lady Maggie Daley - to develop after-school programs for at-risk youth and help Chicagoans hardest-hit by the recession.

“Volunteerism is not just nice. Volunteerism is a serious strategy capable of delivering solutions to meet critical needs of cities across the nation,” said Leslie Bluhm, co-founder of Chicago Cares.

Last fall, Daley and Bloomberg formed the Cities of Service Coalition. It turned into a mutual admiration society.

During today’s news conference, Bloomberg lauded Daley for devising “innovative solutions” to the nation’s “toughest challenges,” including education and the environment.

“If you called Central Casting and said, ‘Send me a great mayor,’ Richie Daley would be the person they would send,” Bloomberg said.

“The only thing annoying about Mayor Daley is he does some of these things in Chicago before we do them in New York. But, I’m not competitive at all.”

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