'Cities of Service' to expand, mobilizing volunteers nationwide for change

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Companies rely on Chief Executive Officers to guide their strategy and vision. Several cities across the U.S. are coming to rely on Chief Service Officers to help do the same.

At last week's National Conference on Volunteerism and Service, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and the Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin to announce the second round of ten cities to receive "Cities of Service Leadership Grants."

Each city will receive a $200,000 grant over the next two years, funded jointly by The Rockefeller Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies, to hire a Chief Service Officer (CSO), a senior city official tasked with developing and implementing a citywide plan to address the city's greatest needs through volunteerism. These ten cities include: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Chula Vista, Houston, Little Rock, Orlando, Pittsburgh, and Richmond.

Nashville Mayor Dean says that his city, which like N.Y.C. participated in the first round of funding, relied heavily on CSO-organized volunteers during one of their greatest disasters in recent times -- the historic May flood that left thousands homeless and more than $1.5 billion in estimated damages.

"Nashville has seen and experienced first-hand the amazing power of volunteers," said Nashville Mayor Dean in a news release. "Over 17,000 people have stepped up to help Nashville recover from the historic flood that hit our city in May. These volunteers removed flood debris from homes, distributed donations, staffed disaster recovery centers, and continue to work in our community as people have started to rebuild. They have provided the manpower to respond to this disaster in a way that government could not have done on its own."

The Cities of Service program is limited to members of the program's bipartisan coalition (now 100 cities strong) that have more than 100,000 residents and at least one community college or four-year public or private university. Eligible cities were also asked to submit at least two high-priority issue areas they will target with increased service. My favorite aspect of the program is that Cities of Service will develop best practices and resources to help spread this knowledge to all cities across the U.S., struggling with similar challenges. Now that's a win-win.

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