Newark, Delaware recently learned about the headway that can be made when a town combines citizen engagement exercises with service delivery to solve local problems. With their “U Don’t Need It?” program, the City of Newark, DE, the University of Delaware and Green Delaware Recycling partnered to create a program centered on reducing and reusing the ”waste” of departing students, but their work could only be carried out with the generosity of local volunteer organizations.  You can learn all about how Newark, Delaware developed their volunteer relationships in their award submission document “’U Don’t Need It?’ Student Move-Out Program.”

The following resources offer a wealth of information about volunteering practices that can offer guidance for implementing new volunteering programs in your community.

• San Antonio, Texas has employed thousands of volunteers as support members for police services through their Volunteers in Policing (VIP) Program. Read their report to learn how this program has already saved them over $8 million.
• Volunteers recently helped the city of Richardson, Texas reduce a burgeoning trend of burglaries when they helped to implement Richardson’s Neighborhood Crime Watch Program.
• Read through the League of Oregon Cities’ report, “Managing Volunteers in a City,” for tips for managing the volunteer process from recruitment through placement.
• Greg Langan of the New Hampshire Local Government Center offers a strong case for conducting background cases on local volunteers in his report “Wolves in Volunteers' Clothing: The Need for Background Checks.”
• The city of Roseville, California uses volunteer contracts to lay out the terms of their volunteer relationships. You can review their volunteer waiver here.

For more information on the many volunteer-related resources on the Knowledge Network, be sure to make your way to the volunteers topic page. It is full of articles, blog posts, documents and discussions about volunteers in local government management. Further, be sure to share your thoughts on this post and offer any of your favorite volunteer-related resources in the comments section below.

Aloha,

James Davidson

James Davidson is an intern for ICMA’s Knowledge Network. You can reach him for questions and comments at jdavidson@icma.org.