Developing a service plan for your city will require commitment from city management, as well as from other public agencies and community organizations. City leaders will need to build buy-in among the leaders and groups that will be involved in the initiative. The topics in this section are designed to help you to set up a process and find the support that you will need to create a city-wide service plan.
Working With City Hall and Other Public Agencies
Consider the following questions as you plan your city’s service initiative:
- Who will have the primary responsibility for the initiative?
- How will additional staff be identified for the team?
- Which departments within City Hall will have responsibilities related to the initiative?
- What other public agencies should be involved in developing the s plan? Consider some or all of the following:
- Social services/foster care
- Education
- Transportation
- Public works
- Police
- Health
- Others
Click here to dnload a form to help you through this process.
Buy-in
Once key players have been identified, building buy-in among the team will be important to the initiative’s success. In Dublin, Ohio, city leaders got stakeholders involved through a series of meetings with city staff to discuss the initiative and the city’s organizational readiness.
Other ways to build cooperation include:
- Using online discussion boards to pose questions and obtain feedback. Ask city managers and staff to dream big. Ask them to respond to questions such as “How can service and volunteering improve the issue for which your department is responsible” and “How can service and volunteering impact city needs.”
- For example, someone in the city’s transportation department might suggest that it would be helpful to have volunteer chaperones at city bus stops when children are going to and returning from school to reduce bullying.
- Conduct meetings or focus groups. Organizers could bring together a focus group of representatives from city agencies responsible for youth-related issues to explore how service and volunteering can improve outcomes for children and teenagers.
- This gives departments of education, public health, social services, housing, and parks and recreation and other departments working with children and teens an opportunity to brainstorm about ways to use volunteers to keep children safe when they’re not in school, provide tutoring services, or ensure that they’re receiving appropriate health information.
- Create, distribute, and synthesize online or paper surveys to all public agencies to get staff input on how service and volunteering can impact critical issues that their departments work to improve.
- For example, someone in the city’s public works department might suggest using skilled volunteers to analyze and improve information-sharing and communication between city departments for emergency preparation and management.
