Key Outcomes The purpose of the Washington State Service Summit is to engage volunteer leaders and service champions from public, private, and governmental organizations in an important dialogue about utilizing service and volunteerism as strategies to solve critical community issues. Summit participants will interact with local and national advocates and experts in the field of community service. Through a series of plenary sessions and strategy workgroups, participants will collaborate with new and existing partners across sectors to build innovative service strategies that work toward addressing community needs in Washington State.
Summit Agenda
Welcome
7:30am Registration opens; continental breakfast served
9:00am Opening Keynote Speaker: Governor Gregoire Service as a Strategy to Address Critical Community Issues
Morning Sessions
Panel Discussion: Current State of Volunteerism in Washington
What is happening with volunteerism today in our state? This session will provide an overview of the impact of volunteerism in Washington based on the latest research, and identify the current and future needs of our communities that can be addressed through volunteerism. It will outline the challenges we face putting volunteers to work in meaningful, rewarding ways with measurable impact, and paint a vision for what's possible.
Dr. Susan Finley, Chair, Masters in Teaching Program, WSU Vancouver
Dean McColgan, Senior Manager Global Corporate Citizenship - NW Region, The Boeing Company
The Kennedy Act: New Opportunities
President Obama has made service a central focus, and Congress has passed landmark bipartisan legislation through the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act that creates innovative opportunities and resources to expand our vision and increase our impact through service. This session will highlight key provisions of the Act, the opportunities it presents, and the need for Washington State to respond with innovation, cross-sector partnerships and a clear plan of action for moving beyond numbers to demonstrated impact.
Speaker: Kristin McSwain, Chief, Program Operations, Corporation for National & Community Service
Track 1: Cross-Sector Partnerships
These sessions will highlight examples of successful partnerships across sectors that can serve as models for future programs. What can we learn from these best practices? In these sessions we will use exemplary programs to demonstrate the benefits of collaboration and partnerships:
Educators & the Environment: How can we develop rich service learning opportunities that are effective in helping nonprofits address environmental challenges?
Nonprofits & Businesses: How can corporate volunteer programs contribute to our community-wide efforts to respond to the economic crisis?
Funders as Advocates for Volunteerism: How can we increase the support and resources for service as a strategy for building organizational resilience and effectiveness?
Faith-based & Nonprofits: What are some new models for collaboration on volunteer programs that engage the religious community?
Military & Human Service Providers: How can volunteerism be a strategy for the reintegration of veterans into civilian life?
Track 2: Capacity-Building Workgroups
These discussions will focus on capacity challenges faced by volunteer programs and develop solutions to utilize volunteers more effectively.
Technology & the Volunteer: This session will highlight the current use of technology to connect people with volunteer opportunities, organize events, and mobilize volunteers. How can social networking/media channels help increase the reach and effectiveness of volunteer managers and others who build community? How can we improve its utilization as a powerful tool across communities and sectors?
Measuring Volunteer Impact: This workgroup will review significant data demonstrating the impact volunteers can have. How can we better assess and measure the impact of service initiatives at the organizational level, across a community, and within our state? How can the return on investment of engaging volunteers and incorporating strong volunteer management be better measured and used to communicate impact, increase resources, and inspire volunteers?
Volunteer Management: This discussion will focus on building the capacity of organizations and groups to effectively and meaningfully engage volunteers to achieve their missions. How can we reframe and strengthen the profession of volunteer resource management? What strategies we can start employing now to advance organizational thinking about how volunteers can be used? How does the work of volunteer engagement become integrated strategically in your organization and the focus of funders?
Using Skills-Based Volunteers Effectively: What is different about skills-based volunteering? What goes into making a successful match with a skilled volunteer? How can you contract with the volunteer to give them a clear scope for their work?
Engaging Volunteers from Under-Represented Groups: How can we engage immigrant communities, people of color, and low-income families into our volunteer programs? How do we need to shape our programs differently to take full advantage of the gifts of minorities, and encourage them to share in the benefits of service?
Afternoon Sessions
Track 3: Solving Problems from the Ground Up: This set of workshops will brainstorm innovative, nontraditional approaches to applying volunteers to community problems. How can we take new ideas to scale, mobilize volunteers, and identify partners to help build and support new programs?
Reading through Volunteers: If 4th grade reading scores are an indicator of future success/graduation, what contributes to a child's ability to read by grade 4? What are the current roles of volunteers (reading to kids, building libraries, raising awareness with parents, tutoring and teaching, promoting literacy)?
Feeding through Volunteers: How can we expand the amount of quality fruit and produce on the shelves of food banks throughout the state to improve nutrition offerings for food bank users? What improvements are needed in the food distribution system, and what creative new ways might we utilize volunteers beyond stocking shelves?
AmeriCorps National Service: Those interested in hosting an AmeriCorps program (20 or more) or in applying to have AmeriCorps members placed in your organization can learn more about the AmeriCorps program and the opportunities available under the Kennedy Act.
Improving the Environment through Volunteers: What are some of the greatest environmental challenges facing Washington? How are volunteers currently being used to pick up garbage, remove invasive plants, or clean up beaches? How else might we use volunteers in new, innovative ways to more effectively help improve the environment?
Service Learning: Envisioning New Partnerships through AmeriCorps Participation: How can AmeriCorps members serve as the link between K-12 schools, higher education and community partnerships?
Track 4: Building on Success
This set of workshops examines best practice cases as models for building programs that address critical community needs. What can we learn from these exemplary cases and apply to our own programs?
Achieving Financial Stability: This session will examine a tax credit program, a financial guidance program, and a job skill development program that utilize volunteers with professional skills. How can we better use skills-based volunteers from the business community to improve economic opportunities for low income families?
Rebuilding Community: This session will examine the key ingredients in programs that empower and train local residents to plant trees, repair sidewalks and develop parks to build thriving communities. How can we engage local neighbors in turning downtrodden neighborhoods into safe living areas that are a source of pride?
Building an Agenda for Strengthening Service: This session will focus on building an agenda for improving recruitment, matching and engagement of volunteers, increasing support for service from funders and nonprofit and educational leaders, and repositioning volunteerism from a "nice to have" to a key strategy for building individual, organizational and community resilience.
The Leadership Factor: How can organization leaders build a vision and mobilize support for volunteer strategies and programs? This panel of Executive Directors will showcase organizations who have transformed their service delivery through the use of volunteers.
4:20pm Closing Speaker: Service as a Strategy to Build Resiliency in Our Communities
5:00pm End of Summit
We will add a list of local establishments where participants can continue their discussions and networking after the Summit has ended.
