Atados Wins George W. Romney Award for Volunteer Program Supporting Refugees in Brazil
In difficult times, we often look to humanitarian groups to support those in need. Since the onset of the refugee crisis, this has certainly been the case in Brazil – where the number of refugees has doubled each year since 2011.
, the winner of Points of Light’s 2017 George W. Romney Award, adapted its successful volunteer engagement model to respond to the global refugee crisis and provide aid to the people taking refuge in Brazil.
The Romney Award, presented annually at the
to an affiliate from Points of Light’s global network, aligns with core strategies impacting volunteering and service and celebrates the extraordinary work taking place around the world in local communities. In the past, awards have focused on collaboration, innovation, collective impact and mobilizing local changemakers.
This year’s award, inspired by Points of Light’s resilient communities framework and aligned with the UN’s
, recognizes an affiliate’s contribution to healthy, vibrant, thriving communities by leveraging the contributions of neighbors, networks and nonprofits. Points of Light created the resilient communities framework based on the four domains of community resiliency as recognized by the
, highlighting the critical role that volunteerism plays in education, neighborhood/built environment, economic stability and overall health. Our approach to building resiliency is grounded in three core components: partnerships, programs and people. The framework provides opportunities for Points of Light to lean into cross-sector partnerships that align with local community needs to make an impact and drive change.
Scaling programs that work is essential to how we drive community change. Equally as important is ensuring people and nonprofits in the community have the leadership and capacity building opportunities to sustain this change. Atados, recognized for their work inspiring volunteers and building engaged communities across Brazil, identified a need and developed a program that engaged the community in solving the challenge. In 2014, as Brazil hosted the FIFA World Cup, there was an influx of refugees into the country. In response to the challenges that often accompany the transition to a new cultural environment, Atados created opportunities for volunteers to train refugees for employment as language teachers. What started with a small team and many volunteers has evolved into
– a language school that has trained and created opportunities for more than 60 refugees, who teach the language and culture of their native countries to more than 2,000 students in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. The program is a shining example of the role that networks, neighborhoods and nonprofits play in engaging community members, both as participants and beneficiaries of programs.
“Cities are only as resilient as their residents. A community’s ability to adapt and progress is dependent on the strength of its local networks. Too often the human infrastructure to create viable, locally-driven, sustainable solutions does not exist,” said Gared Jones, senior vice president of global at Points of Light. “Atados’ work demonstrates how our network is mobilizing and equipping volunteers to create local solutions to some of the world’s more pressing challenges. Innovative solutions like Abraço Cultural are what Points of Light’s network is scaling and replicating around the world.”
The George W. Romney Excellence Award was established in 1996 to honor
Gov. Romney
and his personal commitment to volunteer service. Romney was chairman and CEO of American Motors, a three-term governor of Michigan and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He was also founding chairman of the National Volunteer Center and a founding member of the board of directors of Points of Light.
In Greece, Nonprofits Come Together to Coordinate Volunteer Response to Refugee Crisis
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in March 2011, thousands of Syrian citizens have arrived on the shores of Greece in search of refuge. Today, more than 62,000 refugees still reside in Greece and roughly half of them are women and children, according to the International Rescue Committee. Volunteers from around the world are providing assistance – helping refugees arriving by boat make it safely to land, providing support at refugee camps and packing care packages with essential supplies. Even with all of this assistance, however, the influx of immigrants has put great pressure on the Mediterranean nation to equitably distribute continually limited accommodations and resources amongst so many in need.
In times of crisis, while nonprofits and other aid organizations are frequently depended upon, they can also experience difficulty managing resources and delivering aid to people in need. In Greece, NGOs have had difficulty managing the influx of volunteers and donations that began to pour in as news of the refugee crisis spread around the world.
“Almost every NGO in Greece gets donations from people that just want to help, but don’t know what to do,” said Alkisti Macrynikola, director of partnerships and programs at Ethelon, a Points of Light global affiliate. “So when every NGO has donations, they have to cooperate with other ones to see where they have to send the donation, at which point, at what time – so at first there was a lack of communication.”
With Athens being the unofficial hub of volunteer response activities and no set system to manage donations, it was also difficult to distribute volunteers to help the right NGOs at the right time, Alkisti explained. So Ethelon stepped in as a coordinator.
The organization’s database of volunteer opportunities provided a centralized location where volunteers could search for refugee aid projects based on the type of service they were interested in doing, and identify NGOs providing opportunities that matched. Ethelon also offered seminars to train organizations on how to be effective leaders in times of crisis, the importance of cooperation among NGOs and how to maximize impact with existing resources.
Ethelon is uniquely suited to provide this kind of leadership among NGO partners. Ethelon, which means “I want to volunteer” in Greek, was founded through a 2016 merger between Volunteer4Greece and Glovo, two nonprofits dedicated to mobilizing volunteers in Greece. The new organization’s vision is “to make volunteering an everyday thing for the Greek people,” said Alkisti. “It’s to provide a volunteering culture in everyday life, and to make volunteering available for all people from all ages.”
Though Ethelon has been successful in achieving this mission since the merger, the organization initially faced several of the same challenges that many Greek NGOs encountered when coming together in response to the refugee crisis.
“It’s very hard for people to work together when they have been working apart for many years,” Alkisti explained, noting the different – but ultimately complementary – approaches to volunteerism that each organization had specialized in prior to the merger.
Glovo was originally founded by three students in 2012 and focused almost exclusively on recruiting groups of volunteers for small events that they organized. Volunteer4Greece, while also small in size, focused more broadly on connecting volunteers to NGOs for long-term projects. Though the way these organizations organized volunteers was different, the causes they focused on were very similar – they felt that together they could have an even greater impact on their community.
Despite the initial challenge of unifying two organizations under one roof, allocating resources and focusing efforts appropriately to match organizational objectives, Alkisti said the experience turned out to be a unique advantage. Having successfully navigated their merger, Ethelon now had first-hand experience connecting and incorporating like-minded individuals to offer other NGOs looking to coordinate and collaborate to increase impact.
Through this alignment process, Ethelon helped plan and manage several volunteer projects in support of the refugee crisis. Popular projects included making hygiene kits with soap, toothpaste and other essential items; assembling entertainment kits for refugee children to keep them busy and take some of the strain off of refugee parents; and accepting and sorting food donations. The kits and food donations were then sent to refugee camps all across Greece.
For Ethelon, it’s been a rewarding experience to organize volunteers in pursuit of their organization’s mission – allowing volunteers to engage in small-scale projects that would not consume all of their free time – while also serving an important cause.
Because she balances her time between working as a dentist and serving with Ethelon, Alkisiti is one volunteer who especially appreciates the opportunity to give back in her limited free time. Over the last 5 years, she says, volunteering has been a part of her everyday life and she is dedicated to creating projects to get other Greeks involved in similar ways. In fact, the hygiene kit project was her idea.
Ethelon held several events to pack hygiene kits, each engaging more than 40 volunteers. Alkisti explained that the main result of these events was seeing how people can be engaged in simple ways.
“The payoff I think was actually giving the opportunity to people, to neighborhoods, to contribute to the refugee crisis in very simple ways, such as donating supplies or just coming for an hour, or half an hour, to make the kits,” said Alkisti.
Take a Stand for Service with Points of Light and Voices for National Service
The White House budget proposal for fiscal year 2018 calls for the elimination of the Corporation for National and Community Service over the course of the next year, which would include ending national service programs like AmeriCorps and Senior Corps. If enacted, these cuts would devastate thousands of faith- and community-based organizations, in communities across America – programs that serve children and families, respond to natural disasters, support military families, and generally serve as the backbone of community efforts to address pressing challenges.
Points of Light and Voices for National Service are partnering on a social media campaign to help supporters of national service take action and make their voices heard – calling on Congress and the White House to invest in, not eliminate, service and volunteering initiatives supported by CNCS. Add your voice.
Each year, more than 62 million Americans volunteer to improve their communities. Their work supports local efforts to provide food, clothing, shelter, education, youth engagement opportunities, medical services, community development, job training, addiction counseling, prisoner re-entry support, disaster response and much more. National service members who serve through AmeriCorps and Senior Corps support these volunteers who are donating their time and talent to community problem-solving.
Across the country, 80,000 AmeriCorps members and 270,000 Senior Corps members are currently serving local communities. Working hand in hand with thousands of nonprofit organizations, these dedicated Americans deliver vital services and recruit and manage millions of additional volunteers. At the same time, national service expands opportunity for its participants, especially young Americans, to gain marketable job skills and pursue higher education, which increases their employability and earning potential.
Our country’s modern national service programming began when President George H.W. Bush created the White House Office of National Service in 1989, a federal investment that has had bipartisan support in Congress and from subsequent presidents of both political parties. CNCS was created by Congress in 1993 to be a public-private partnership that would expand upon the White House Office of National Service, while decreasing dependency on government and empowering citizens to tackle pressing challenges at the local level.
“As we continue to make the case for strong funding in fiscal year 2018, we are counting on bipartisan leadership in Congress and the thousands of national service supporters across the country who will join the fight to ensure AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members can continue to provide critically needed services to their communities and the nation,” said AnnMaura Connolly, president of Voices for National Service.
CNCS’s FY 2017 budget of $1.03 billion makes up less than .03 percent of the federal budget. National service is a public-private partnership that recognizes that no one sector can meet our challenges alone. CNCS, which leverages more than $1.26 billion in resources from the private sector, foundations, and local agencies, is helping organizations across the country work in creative ways to tackle our most persistent and costly challenges. A study by economists at Columbia University found that for every dollar invested in national service, there is a $3.95 return to society in terms of higher earnings, increased output, and other community benefits.
And national service is tremendously popular. A poll in nine presidential battleground states found that 83 percent of registered voters support increased or maintained federal investment in national service. This overwhelming support defies party lines, including 78 percent of Republicans, 84 percent of Independents, and 90 percent of Democrats surveyed.
It’s easy to understand why voters support national service. CNCS programs harness the energy and ingenuity of our nation’s most valuable resource – our citizens – to address community needs and help local economies grow.
“Proposals to dismantle national service cut the heart out of a culture and an ethic of volunteering and service that has been one of America’s most sustaining virtues and that the rest of the world strives to emulate,” said Tracy Hoover, CEO of Points of Light. “We can’t let this happen.”
On June 20, during the Service Unites Summit at the Conference on Volunteering and Service, we will release a Thunderclap in support of national service. Thunderclap, the world’s first “crowdspeaking” platform, allows individuals and organizations to lend their voice – and social reach – to the causes they are most passionate about.
Seattle Nonprofits Will Unite Against Childhood Hunger at Conference on Volunteering and Service
During the annual Conference on Volunteering and Service, thousands of nonprofit, government, business and civic leaders gather to discuss the future of volunteerism, and to showcase the true power and impact of putting people at the center of change. And each year, Points of Light organizes a service project that supports the local community and addresses a pressing need. In 2017, the Conference will take place in Seattle – a unique city for Points of Light, with two HandsOn Network affiliates: Seattle Works and United Way of King County.
On June 17, attendees can kick-off their Conference experience by participating in a service project collaboration – “Fuel Up For Kids” – with our local affiliates. United Way’s Fuel Your Future program connects kids to nutritious food year-round, and Seattle Works Day is an annual day of service that supports more than 60 local nonprofits and engages thousands of volunteers. This project is the perfect mashup between our Seattle affiliates and enables Conference attendees to have a direct impact on the local community.
In King County, 1 in 5 kids regularly goes hungry. Many of these children eat free lunch at school; however, many families do not know free lunches are available throughout the summer in many city parks. To raise awareness of these summer programs before school lets out, Conference volunteers will join the United Way and Seattle Works to host a free lunch giveaway and party in a city park.
“It is a perfect example of the way two organizations can come together for the greater good,” said Chloe De Wolf, development and communications manager for Seattle Works.
Founded in 1989, Seattle Works’ main objective is to harness the altruistic and philanthropic tendencies of Seattle’s young adults. Beyond Seattle Works Day, the organization focuses its efforts on generating mutually beneficial relationships between nonprofits and volunteers, promoting a fun and social atmosphere.
Chloe explained that “at our core, we believe that volunteering should be impactful and fun.” To that end, the organization designs volunteer programs with an emphasis on social connection in addition to community service.
Team Works, one of the organization’s signature programs, achieves this outcome. The team-based nonprofit support initiative takes place over a 4-month period, once in the spring and again in the fall, and engages teams of volunteers in four projects organized by Seattle Works and a nonprofit partner. After each project, teams are encouraged to take part in some form of family-friendly social activity – visiting one of Seattle’s many local breweries is a popular option.
Since launching the program in 2010, Seattle Works has engaged 4,054 volunteers through Team Works and has already activated 138 volunteers in 2017.
Like Seattle Works, United Way of King County focuses on making volunteering easy and fun, whether they are organizing an individual project or a company-wide day of service. And with so many local children going without the food they need, many of their events and days of service focus on childhood hunger.
“United Way has been involved in ending childhood hunger since 2009, when we developed a response to the recession,” said Lauren McGowan, senior director of ending homelessness and poverty for United Way of King County. “Today our Fuel Your Future program is a key strategy in our work to make sure families are financially stable.”
The Fuel Your Future program is a major voice for advocacy in the region, both helping schools arrange the necessary staffing and resources to provide children with food, and raising awareness of the hunger initiatives and resources available to local schools and families.
With the help of corporate partners, United Way provides incentives for King County schools to deliver quality nutrition to their students. One example is the Breakfast Challenge, which operates with the support of the Seattle Sounders, a professional soccer team. The program creates friendly competition between school districts, encouraging them to feed more children by reducing barriers – like fighting the stigma that surrounds accepting free meals, or reminding parents to get their children to school on time. Schools can also compete based on the availability and thoroughness of their nutrition education programs. Winners receive a trophy and a special visit from the Sounders.
Since the initiative started in the fall of 2015, 1,000 additional students are eating breakfast every day, 3,000 more students are getting nutrition education, and an additional 1,000 students are eating meals after school. Other events, like the Summer Food Invasion program, where families come to eat, partake in sports activities and literacy programming, and learn more about Fuel Your Future, help increase the program’s reach and impact in the community.
Both organizations are excited about the potential impact that their collaboration will have on hunger and the overall welfare of the greater King County region.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Seattle Works and Points of Light to launch our 2017 Summer Food Invasion campaign,” Lauren said of the upcoming Conference service project collaboration. “This partnership will help raise awareness about the issue of summer hunger and that free meals are available all summer long.”
The Call of a Global Movement: Laying the Groundwork for the Future of Changemaking Around the World
This post is by Gared Jones, senior vice president of global at Points of Light.
From the time I lived in South Africa in the late 1990s, I’ve had this idea of a “future memory.” It’s an experience you know as clearly as a recollection from your past – say, jumping off a rope swing into a mountain lake as a child – but it hasn’t happened yet. It’s more than a premonition. It’s something you can visit over and over in your mind. You just haven’t lived it.
I stepped into my first future memory as I sat on a park bench in the middle of winter in Johannesburg and watched a black housekeeper walk by. In that moment, I sat in an experience I’d known from five years before. What I have learned since is that they are quite rare. A bit like sightings of the pileated woodpeckers that haunt the woods around my house. I’ve only seen a handful, though I frequently hear their calls.
Two weeks ago I stepped into another. I was standing in the hall of a crowded arts center in Paris with hundreds of stakeholders of Points of Light’s French affiliate,
. Through the dim light I watched our Brazilian leader share a story in English to a bunch of French-speakers about a Haitian refugee who was now teaching French in a language program his organization had launched; the refugee would soon be rebuilding a school for her village back in Haiti. In that moment I experienced the arrival of a future that we had seen in only a glimmer – a fleeting sighting of the pileated woodpecker – six years before.
Points of Light is currently witnessing the emergence of a global changemaking movement. In the arts hall that night and during our global network meeting over the following two days, we had more than 50 leaders from 27 countries talking about the future of changemaking – 15 to 20 years out – and how we are innovating engagement strategies, storytelling, and community impact approaches (around refugees, the elderly, disenfranchised youth, environmental stewardship) to both anticipate and build that future.
We recognized a profound shift taking place in each of our countries. It is one from volunteering (our starting point) to changemaking. We know that meaningful entry points that allow individuals to experience empathy and take action through volunteer experiences remain as important as ever. However, cycle times for today’s citizens to move from showing up at an activity in which they give their time to conducting social problem solving with their full repertoire of talent, skills, voice, resources and connections, have dramatically reduced. And, individuals today are increasingly going off road – building solutions to social needs in the spaces that exist between nonprofits, community organizations and companies.
Over the past 7 years, Points of Light has been laying groundwork for our corner of this global movement with a network of capital “C” Changemakers – social entrepreneurs, now in 37 countries, who through their pioneering work are multiplying the numbers and impact of volunteers in their communities. We have also been fortunate to do so with a number of like-minded companies willing to take this journey with us – UPS, Hilton, Disney, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and AbbVie to name a few.
We find ourselves now at an especially interesting moment in time. An inflection point. One in which we are stepping into “what’s next.”
As part of this we’ll be heading to Seattle in a few weeks for our
. It’s a gathering of more than 3,000 of the world’s most inspiring changemakers – our people. It’s where the movement foments; where we make our connections and touch on the big ideas that will shape our collective journey over the next year.
It’s where we will hear from folks like Celina de Sola in sessions like, “
, is building communities and transforming lives of tens of thousands of young people through the work of volunteers across Central America. Or leaders like
.
We understand that the woods of the Pacific Northwest are home to pileated woodpeckers. We are expecting to hear their calls! We hope you’ll be able to
Bridging the Transition to Civilian Life Through Volunteerism
This post originally appeared in the spring 2017 issue of Stars and Stripes Magazine and was written by Malikah Berry, chief programs officer for Points of Light.
Courtesy: The Mission Continues Volunteers with The Mission Continues at a service project for the United 93 Memorial.
Service to country is in Jaime Waterbury’s blood. The daughter of a retired Army colonel, Jaime served in the Air Force with two tours to Iraq. Jaime’s husband is active duty Air Force and currently serving his fourth tour in Iraq. When Jaime transitioned from active duty to the Air Force Reserve she still felt a call to service. Jaime joined the Points of Light Frontline Families AmeriCorps program, where she found a new sense of duty by helping empower others to volunteer.
“Nothing makes me happier than to guide a veteran or soldier to building their own volunteer program – whether it is a one-time special project or building a volunteer program from the ground up,” said Jaime. “I enjoy seeing the end result and how much better the community is because of the dedicated volunteers I get to work with every day.”
Jaime is just one of more than 1 million service members who will re-enter civilian life over the next few years. Reintegration is a process that requires an extensive amount of time and effort. When service members transition out of the military, they are often faced with the impact of deployment, combat-related injuries and continuous transitions. They also retain a deep sense of civic responsibility. Service members are among America’s biggest untapped civic assets.
Volunteerism is proven to be a successful bridge that links veterans and military families with their community through civic engagement, improves their physical and emotional well-being, and provides meaningful connections with their civilian neighbors to create more vibrant and resilient communities. According to the
, veterans demonstrate higher levels of engagement than non-veterans on all civic health indicators. Veterans volunteer an average of 169 hours a year, compared to 129 by non-veterans. They are also nearly 30 percent more likely to work with neighbors to fix problems in their community.
Across the country, service members, veterans and their families are sharing their unique skills and talents to build bridges with their civilian neighbors through volunteerism. With an emphasis on reintegration, the Points of Light Frontline Families program inspires and empowers veterans and military families to be volunteer leaders to help address the most pressing challenges facing their communities in collaboration with local nonprofit organizations.
Courtesy: The Mission Continues Jose Martinez, an Army veteran, works on various projects with The Mission Continues to help other veterans.
After more than 22 years in the U.S. Army, Jose Martinez retired in 2013. Following a successful military career, he struggled to find anything more than an entry level job.
“When you leave the military, you’re starting all over. And you lose that – whatever it was in the military that you were – sergeant first class, a private, even your name because in the military we go by last name or nickname. You’re no longer that person anymore. And that was really hard for me,” said Jose, “I felt like I was going backwards, so I decided the best course of action for me would be to go to school.”
At age 40, Jose enrolled at Drexel University, in Philadelphia. It was there that his future started to take shape. On top of his studies and dad duties, Jose started volunteering to help fellow veterans. He connected with
, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that evokes veterans’ inner call to service and engages them in projects that will improve their communities.
“What happens to a lot of us is we tend to isolate ourselves when we get out of the military. We don’t want to build relationships with people who don’t understand the struggle of what it is to be in the military,” Jose said. “[The] Mission Continues allows us to make those relationships again, to serve again and be part of something that’s bigger than we are.”
In September 2016, Jose was recognized with a
AmeriCorps member, she is stationed with the local Red Cross at Winn Army Community Hospital. Jaime helps recruit, onboard and train new volunteers. She also helps the staff determine volunteer needs, promotes Red Cross Reconnection Workshops and supports different volunteer-run initiatives.
Serving with Frontline Families has not only been rewarding, but has also provided Jaime a sense of stability. “The joy and experience I have felt working with the American Red Cross and all of the wonderful volunteers have been truly spectacular,” she said. “The opportunities that Points of Light’s Frontline Families program has afforded me have been nothing short of amazing in the sometimes tumultuous time of being a military spouse, having to move often and looking for a career that you love.”
Points of Light and The Mission Continues are part of a growing coalition of organizations that want to evolve military reintegration from providing support for veterans to engaging and problem solving
, we create opportunities for veterans and their families to create new roles for themselves as civic leaders in their communities. We believe that together, we can bridge the military-civilian divide and strengthen our local communities.
Empowering Youth to Discover Their Potential to Create Change
In recent years, national leaders and community groups alike have called upon volunteers to help break down the income inequality gap by supporting disadvantaged youth and young adults. In response, organizations like
, a community program designed to help young people grow, develop, and succeed.
United Way of Greater St. Louis is also a host site for ServiceWorks, a national program that engages youth in finding solutions to some of their community’s most pressing issues. Powered by the
uses structured volunteer service as the primary strategy to help low-income youth and young adults – called service scholars – in 13 cities across the United States develop the skills they need to prepare for college and careers.
Since becoming a host site for the ServiceWorks program in July 2014, United Way has engaged more than 690 young adults in service to their community.
Through service, participants in the program see that they are able to effect change in their communities, explained Mary Pryse, volunteer center manager at United Way. “The projects that we’ve done with them allow them to see that they can always give back – that they can always help other people.”
In St. Louis, ServiceWorks is operated through partnerships with various local high schools and community colleges, as well as local youth development organizations like the St. Louis Science Center’s Youth Exploring Science program, a STEM program that also has a life skills and service learning component. The partners provide the space for the program and United Way provides the programming and staffing.
While there are many factors to consider when building a program that works with such a diversity of partners, if you ask Mary, she would say the most important thing is flexibility.
“I think our success has come in our flexibility of allowing the program to meld to the needs of the different partners and allowing it to fit within what they’re already doing or what they want to do,” she said. In some cases, this has also meant adapting the program to be appropriate for older and younger audiences.
Nationwide, organizations that host the ServiceWorks program adapt the model to fit the specific needs of their community. In St. Louis, United Way focuses on five impact areas: financial stability, education, health, strong communities and basic needs, such as food and shelter.
Though the organization hosts events that support all of these causes, the adaptability of ServiceWorks has provided a more direct path for United Way to support community needs by helping prepare youth and young adults – the next generation of changemakers – for college, their careers and their lives.
Host sites implement the ServiceWorks program with the help of AmeriCorps VISTA members and volunteers, who help lead workshops and facilitate the planning of service projects that are carried out by the service scholars. At the United Way of Greater St. Louis, programming is managed by AmeriCorps VISTA Lisa Cohn.
Recently, Lisa coordinated a project at Lift for Life Academy in St. Louis where the service scholars, frustrated by the underrepresentation of African Americans in popular children’s books, decided to make a change. Using a website called
, they wrote their own books featuring African American protagonists and communicating important messages they found missing in existing children’s literature.
The scholars took their books to a local elementary school and read aloud to the students there. By sharing their creativity and using artistic expression as a response to exclusion, they saw first-hand their power to effect change.
“Not only are we teaching youth stuff, but we’re also empowering them to become leaders in their communities – showing them that they have skills that are necessary for the world,” said Lisa.
The focus of each service project is up to the scholars, allowing them to address community needs in a variety of ways. The ServiceWorks program demonstrates the power of service as a strategy to empower youth and young adults, helping them develop skills to become changemakers and realize their full potential.
“Our mission as an organization is to help people live their best possible lives and we believe that there are many different ways to do that,” said Mary. “ServiceWorks has allowed us to continue to help people in a more direct way by bringing this programming to some of our agencies, but also our community partners and the community as a whole.”
Aligning Service with Corporate Values to More Effectively Manage Employee Volunteer Programs
With the increasing importance of employee volunteer programs comes an increasing demand by companies for external support and infrastructure to help align event programming with company values. While companies see value in providing opportunities for employees to give back, the logistics and resources required to run successful employee volunteer programs can be an obstacle for companies that are just getting started. Volunteer centers are powerful tools in this sphere, and
, a Points of Light global affiliate, has emerged as a leader in helping companies build their employee volunteer programs.
Hands On Manila, established in 2001, was the first international member of the HandsOn Network. Founder Gianna Montinola saw value in the organizational model of HandsOn Network volunteer centers, particularly the ability to engage average citizens with minimal free time in convenient opportunities to serve their communities.
Since its founding, Hands On Manila has connected more than 26,000 groups and individuals with high-impact service projects across 270 NGOs, earning its reputation as a comprehensive central hub of volunteer opportunities in the Philippines.
The organization does this in two ways. Hands On Manila manages volunteer recruitment for programs such as Galing Mo Kid, which pairs mentors with high-achieving 4th-, 5th- and 6th-grade students in Metro Manila public schools. The organization also manages corporate activation events like the annual Servathon, during which companies engage their employees to support and improve communities. In 2016, Hands on Manila partnered with 30 companies for Servathon, engaging 1,170 volunteers who served a combined total of 8,020 hours assembling “eco bags” that contained slippers, mosquito traps, solar light bulbs and citronella candles, to be distributed to disadvantaged citizens in Manila.
, a global leader in customer management, is one of 70 companies that have partnered with Hands On Manila for employee volunteer initiatives. Interested in engaging its Filipino employees in service to support the company’s commitment to the
, Convergys turned to Hands On Manila – the goal being to develop a program that would improve access to lifelong learning and employment opportunities for Filipino citizens.
To coordinate this, Hands On Manila connected Convergys with opportunities to support the Department of Education’s Alternative Learning System by tutoring out-of-school youth and adults. The ALS provides pre-requisite courses and accreditation exams so that students can receive diplomas and get back on-track with their education or seek employment opportunities.
Public school education is a major focus of both Hands On Manila and the general population of the Philippines.
“I firmly believe that education in whatever form it is, may it be ALS or formal education – it’s really a great equalizer,” Gianna said. She added that in a developing country like the Philippines, there is great value placed on the private sector stepping in to provide support in areas where the government has difficulty keeping up.
Convergys employees volunteer as tutors and mentors to the students, teaching them English and the basics of Microsoft Office and mentoring them in employment-focused skillsets, like job interviews. Hands On Manila coordinates the tutoring and mentoring sessions, finding spaces for volunteer and student to meet and managing the volunteers’ schedules.
Hands On Manila is an ideal partner for Convergys because its connections to available service opportunities and resources allow the organization to customize the volunteer experience to meet the company’s requirements and manage any logistical challenges that may arise.
“Hands On Manila sort of has developed a niche in the Philippines because we customize the volunteer activities depending on what the corporations want,” said Gianna. In the case of Convergys, the focus was education; Hands On Manila customized the experience by finding students at schools in convenient locations for Convergys’ employees.
The partnership between Hands On Manila and Convergys is featured in a recent Points of Light report, “
,” as one example of the ways companies can work with community partners to develop critical measures for success, including finding an appropriate match for employee interests. Success, in this case, can be gleaned from the responses of the employee volunteers who were able to feel the immediate impact of their efforts.
“As both a tutor and mentor, I helped less-privileged students meet their goals,” said volunteer Ruter Agali, a Convergys support associate. “Who knows, I might be mentoring Convergys’ workforce of the future.”
Hands On Manila and Convergys are two of many organizations worldwide that are forming partnerships to help bolster and more effectively leverage employee volunteer programs. Their relationship illuminates the impact that intentional collaborations between private companies and NGOs can have when organizations work toward shared goals.
How Volunteers Can Support People Facing Depression and Anxiety
May is Mental Health Month, aimed at raising awareness of mental health and helping to fight stigmas – and providing support for the millions of Americans living with mental health conditions. Depression and anxiety are among the most common mood disorders; more than
will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime, these disorders are still stigmatized. Negative public perceptions of mood disorders can cause those affected to suffer from feelings of alienation and loneliness – often making recovery all the more difficult. In recent history, changemakers have played an important role in changing public perception of mental health disorders and establishing support systems for those who need help.
Clifford Beers, known as the founder of the modern day mental health movement, is one of many changemakers featured on the
, a one-mile walkway in Washington, D.C., that honors the actions and service of famous Americans who have transformed our nation and the world. Beers courageously shared his own experience with mental illness in his autobiography, “A Mind That Found Itself,” opening the nation’s eyes to the mistreatment of people with mental illness and leading to the creation of modern treatment methods for mental health disorders. His humility, courage and vision lead to the creation of the organization now known as
– revolutionizing and changing people’s attitudes and misconceptions regarding mental illness and its proper diagnoses and management.
Today, volunteers still play an important role in supporting those who live with mental health conditions and continuing to fight the stigmas associated with them. Volunteers like
, who engages nursing home residents with music and art, which have been proven to help with depression; or Sean Gobin, who created an outdoor therapy program to help fellow veterans suffering from PTSD.
Here are a few ways you can make a difference:
Support an organization that supports mental health
help patients suffering from mood disorders, and there is a wide array of opportunities to support these organizations. For people who have suffered or are currently suffering from depression or anxiety, you can
proven to help others find hope and support. The organization also operates a network of local crisis centers that rely on dedicated and trained volunteers. Locate
Sometimes, just being there for someone can make a world of difference. Because of the enduring stigmas associated with mental illness, many people do not feel comfortable talking to anyone about what they are going through.
NFL Safety Michael Thomas Follows Lifelong Commitment to Give Back and Create Change
During National Volunteer Week, we celebrate volunteers who lend their time, talent, voice and support to causes they care about. Their stories inspire others to take action and discover their collective power to unite in making a difference. Points of Light is recognizing five NFL players with Daily Point of Light Awards; Competitors on the field, these players unite for a common cause as volunteers with the Van Duzer Foundation’s First Step program – acting as mentors and ambassadors of change. Meet honoree Michael Thomas, read his story and nominate an outstanding volunteer, family or organization as a Daily Point of Light.
“I volunteer because I want to see real change in our communities,” said Michael Thomas, safety for the Miami Dolphins. Dedicated to giving back, he was one of the first NFL players to participate in the First Step Program – an initiative led by Daily Point of Light Award honoree
that gives kids and teens the opportunity to engage with community leaders on a regular basis, coming together for casual pick-up games, mentoring and small group discussions on community issues.
Michael has attended First Step events in the Fort Pierce community in Florida, playing touch football with local kids and speaking to them about relevant social issues, such as communication with law enforcement. “The best thing you can give to these kids in these communities is time,” he said. “To show that you actually care.”
In addition to his work with First Step, Michael is actively involved in several other initiatives that allow him to make a difference. He volunteers with the Boys & Girls Club and, in partnership with the Dreambuilders Foundation, supports mentoring programs in South Florida. Over the last three years, his Dreambuilders program has provided more than $35,000 of funding to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami, which pairs at-risk youth with positive mentors. Michael is heavily involved in the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality, or RISE, and also runs a free youth football camp, which provides an entire day of SAT, ACT and college application prep. Along with fellow NFL players and Daily Point of Light Award honorees Jonathan Meeks and Coty Sensabaugh, he has also partnered with
, an organization that strives to end human poverty and world hunger around the world, to help provide fresh water systems to communities in Haiti. He is also a recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award.
“I always said that if I ever made it, I would give back,” Michael told a group of children at a First Step event at King Middle School in Atlanta. “The importance of giving back to your community is just showing those who come after you that I care about this community, I care about you, I want to give my time.”
Meet the other NFL players honored this week for their commitment to volunteerism and the First Step program: Sam Barrington, Jared Cook, Jonathan Meeks and Coty Sensabaugh.
You can help these Daily Point of Light honorees increase the impact of their work! The First Step program has pitched its creative solution to solving community needs to A Community Thrives, part of the USA Today network. Cast your vote to help First Step win a $100,000 grant to expand the program to neighborhoods across the United States. Vote today!
