Published: 2 years 124 days ago
Cities of Service and the Rockefeller Foundation today announced the winners of the first-ever
Cities of Service Leadership grants. As one of the ten winning cities, Sacramento will receive the
$200,000 two-year grants, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, to hire a Chief Service Officer in
their city, dedicated to developing and implementing a citywide plan to increase volunteerism.
Cities of Service is a bipartisan coalition of mayors from across the country, representing more
than 38 million Americans in 80 cities across the nation, dedicated to engaging more American in
service and channeling volunteers towards each city’s most pressing challenges.
Each of these cities 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. Of the ten grant recipients, five are founding members of the Cities of Service coalition.
Sacramento joins Chicago, Detriot, Los Angeles, Nashville, Newark, Omaha, Philadelphia,
Sacramento, Seattle, and Savannah, Ga. as grant recipients.
“Today’s announcement is a significant win. 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,” said Mayor
Johnson.
“I can think of no better way to celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” said
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, co-founder of Cities of Service. “His words – as
eloquent as you will ever find - were about more than our highest aspirations. They were also a call to
action. That is something that mayors know well. We are the ones who confront challenges, day in and
day out, and we have quickly learned that service is an important tool that we can use to solve local
problems. These grants will quickly allow mayors to expand their local service opportunities and
deepen their impact.”
The Cities of Service Leadership grants will allow each city to hire a Chief Service Officer, a
senior-ranking official who will develop and implement a citywide service plan by June 1, 2010. To do
so, each Chief Service Officer will convene a strategic committee of service experts and stakeholders,
conduct an assessment of existing service levels, and identify collaborative partnerships to deepen the
effects of local volunteerism. By December 1, 2010, recipient cities must submit a progress report
tracking the results of the comprehensive service plan and launch a website that allows both volunteers
to search for service opportunities and service organizations seeking to engage citizens.
A selection committee – made up of the Rockefeller Foundation, national service experts, and
city representatives – awarded the grants based upon the ability of the applicant to outline how they
would: conduct an assessment of existing service levels; produce a coordinated citywide plan to
increase service; engage local universities; and appoint a Chief Service Officer who would report
directly to the mayor or another high-ranking official in the administration. Applications were limited
to members of the coalition in cities that have more than 100,000 residents, according to the 2000
census, and have at least one community college or four-year public or private university. In total, 50
cities applied for a leadership grant.
Mayor Johnson officially launched his volunteer initiative Volunteer Sacramento In June of 2009.
The initiative is an effort led by Johnson, in partnership with HandsOn Sacramento and Honorary Chair
Congresswoman Doris Matsui, to encourage volunteerism and service in the greater Sacramento area.
The initiative’s original goal was to log over 500,000 hours of service by the end of 2009, which would
translate into an economic contribution of more than $10M back into the Sacramento community. As of today, the initiative has logged over 1.7M hours to date, an economic impact of nearly $39M to the city.
For more information, visit http://www.citiesofservice.org/html/home/home.shtml.
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