Sacramento wins Cities of Service grant

Sacramento Business Journal - by Kelly Johnson Staff writer
Monday, January 18, 2010

The city of Sacramento is one of 10 cities nationwide that will receive a new $200,000 grant with which to hire a chief service officer to develop and carry out a citywide plan to increase volunteerism.

Cities of Service and the Rockefeller Foundation announced the recipients of the first-ever Cities of Service Leadership grants on Monday.

Cities of Service is a coalition of U.S. mayors that encourages volunteerism. The Rockefeller Foundation is funding the grants.

The cities chosen to receive the grants have “displayed a strong commitment to service and outlined thoughtful, thorough, and creative approaches to expanding local opportunities for volunteers to make an impact in their city,” a news release said.

Five of the 10 cities are founding members of the Cities of Service coalition, including Sacramento.

In addition to Sacramento, the recipients are Los Angeles; Seattle; Chicago; Detroit; Omaha, Neb.; Nashville, Tenn.; Savannah, Ga.; Philadelphia; and Newark, N.J.

The chief service officer in each city will report directly to the mayor or another high-ranking official in the administration.

“Today’s announcement is a significant win,” Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said. “A chief service officer will be a vehicle for Sacramento to further its volunteerism efforts, and continue to showcase our city as a national model for service in this country. Most importantly, this grant will allow Sacramento to take service to the next level to help solve some of the most pressing issues and challenges facing our city. We are thankful to the Cities of Service and Rockefeller Foundation for this generous grant.”

The nation’s mayors “have quickly learned that service is an important tool that we can use to solve local problems,” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, co-founder of Cities of Service, said in the release. “These grants will quickly allow mayors to expand their local service opportunities and deepen their impact.”

The chief service office will create and implement a citywide service plan by June 1. That process will begin by forming a committee of service experts and stakeholders, assessing existing service levels, and identifying partnerships that can deepen the effects of local volunteerism. By Dec. 1, 2010, the 10 cities must submit a progress report on their service plan results, and launch a web site that allows volunteers to search for service opportunities and service organizations to search for volunteers.

Cities had to have more than 100,000 residents to apply, as well as at least one community college or four-year public or private university. The program received 50 applications.

Because of that strong response, grant program leaders announced that a second competition will be held in coming months to award similar grants to 10 more cities.

In its application, Sacramento listed education, public safety, homelessness and the environment as its high-priority issues that it will target with increased volunteerism.

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