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Question: Hi, I'm a junior at Tripoli High School and I'm taking a government class where we're studying local problems and how citizens can participate in their government. We're basically working toward promoting community service and volunteerism in our town to help improve our community; We're wondering how your organization could help us out! We've thought about creating a "volunteering club." Do you have any other suggestions on how to promote community service or how we can make our idea become successful?
Answer:

Hello Hannah,
It's great to hear about your plans to promote citizen participation in government.  The Community Toolbox has several resources that you might find helpful.  Here are a couple of Community Toolbox resources that you might find especially helpful:

  • Recruiting people to participate in change efforts can be more successful if there are clearly defined, specific tasks that they can take on.  This requires careful planning, a clear mission and vision, and an action plan with specific goals and objectives.  A great resource for developing such a framework can be found by going to the Toolbox home page and clicking on "A Model for Getting Started."  Then click on the Toolkit for "Developing a Framework or Model of Change."  This provides a clear outline of steps to take and links to more useful resources.
  • Under that same "Model for Getting Started" is a link to "Increasing Participation and Membership."  This provides a framework for how to determine who you need, and how to engage them. There are many links to other resources there too.

We wish you luck with your project. If specific questions come up as you work on it, please feel free to contact us again.
The Community Toolbox Advisor
 

Question Date: Wed, 10/29/2014