Public Allies: Fostering Long Term Leadership Service Professionals

Tags

americorps, community growth, diane bacha, leadership, michelle obama, public allies, public service, turning the tide

Public Allies was one of the first organizations to become part of the AmeriCorps program, and has remained one of the most effective, life-changing, incredible organizations that continues to grow each day.  I talked with Diane Bacha, the Marketing and Communications Director, to learn more about how to get involved and what programs are available to those interested in a career in Public Service.

Love and Water- Can you talk about the main mission of Public Allies?

Diane Bacha- Public Allies is about finding young adult leaders who want to do something positive for their communities and put them into a ten month apprenticeship with a non-profit where they not only do something important for the non-profit but they are learning core values of how to create community-based change.  We are committed to diversity, not only in race and gender but in socio-economic backgrounds.  We were one of the first model AmeriCorps programs, and have remained an AmeriCorps program to this day.  We have a growing leadership training program and some specialized initiatives, but the young adult leader program is really the core of what we do.

L+W- I know that Michelle Obama is a huge supporter of Public Allies- can you talk about that?

DB- Barack Obama was on the national board for Public Allies in the early days, and Michelle Obama founded the Chicago Public Allies office.  She is a huge supporter of the organization.  I’ve been talking to people who worked with her in Chicago, because the Chicago office quickly became one of the most successful sites because of her and the team she assembled.  Everyone I speak to seems to feel she was really in alignment with the values of our program and understood the mission at hand.

L+W- I know you have many programs- can you talk about one that is exciting to you?

DB- We have one called Turning the Tide, which is a two year fellowship for people who want to have a career in human services work formed in 2007, and is just a great program all around.  With that program we work with the Alliance for Children and Families to place people to support the next generation of leaders, which is focused on children and families.  We are also in 21 communities that work on different initiatives.  My job at the national office is to support all of them in what they do, but each community has its own programs based on what they need.

L+W- What is the most moving moment you’ve had so far working with Public Allies?

DB- We did a project that required me to collect stories that expressed who we are as an organization.  We asked for sites to volunteer for this project, and mailed them all Flip cameras so they could document different things they were doing in their communities.  I had a series of questions they had to answer, with rough guidelines.  I think the most moving moment was when I was uploading all the material from the Flip cameras to my computer and listening to all these people talk about how a Public Allies program changed their lives personally or how it changed their communities for the better.  People were inspired by each other, by the challenges at hand and by the realization that they could make a significant difference through this work.  While they’re working through the issues they are trying to figure out, change is happening as a result, which is just incredible to both realize and witness.

L+W- What is the easiest way to get involved with a Public Allies program?

DB- The easiest way to learn about Public Allies is through the website, and the easiest way to have a dialogue is through the Facebook Fan Page.  It is an exciting time to be thinking about service programs like Public Allies because there is an increased interest in Washington and in corporate America about engaging people in volunteerism and community work.  Some of that comes from people realizing the potential of so many folks out there who want to work toward community change.

L+W- Is there anything else people should know about the organization?

DB- I think one of the most important things to understand is that Public Allies is for people who want a long-term commitment, rather than someone who just wants to take a year off to do service.  Our programs focus on establishing long-term commitments for people who want to make public service their careers, so we help people identify and get specific about what they want to do, and then work with them on implementing those goals into their careers.  That is what makes this organization so effective, both now and for the future.

Go to the Public Allies site

Go to the Recruitment site

Join the Facebook Fan Page

Follow Public Allies on Twitter

Go to Michelle Obama’s speech about Public Allies

Volunteer Family: Redefining Our Future Philanthropists

Tags

americorps, boston, bright horizons children's care centers, children, future philanthropists, heather jack, volunteer family, volunteer work

Heather Jack wanted to find an organization for her daughter and herself to volunteer for together in Boston, and couldn’t find one. So she started her own organization that helps families nationwide find local volunteer opportunities. Since then Volunteer Family has participated in many other programs to teach children the power of volunteering, including starting one of their own called Future Philanthropists. Read more about these two truly amazing and inspiring programs.


Love + Water- What was your inspiration to start Volunteer Family?

Heather Jack- I founded the organization in 2003, right after my daughter was born.  I used to do corporate work when I first got married, and my husband started his own law firm, so both of us were working more than we ever had.  When my daughter came along I decided to quit my job and wanted to get back into volunteering, which I had always done growing up.  I started looking for places where I could volunteer with my daughter, and surprisingly found it really difficult to find programs that allowed us to volunteer together.  The more I started talking to other parents the more I realized that most parents want their kids to be involved in charity work, especially during their high school years, but generally don’t know where to begin.  Initially I created a small database of places where families could volunteer together in the Boston area, and from there I was able to raise enough funding to hire AmeriCorps members to help make Volunteer Family a national organization.  Through the software they implemented we were able to cover 40 states, which was a huge step.  Now families can log on from almost anywhere in the U.S. and find volunteer opportunities in their area.  

L+W- Where does most of your funding come from for Volunteer Family?

HJ- Our main sponsor is Bright Horizons Children’s Care Centers.  We’ve partnered on many programs with them and they help support Volunteer Family.  The main program we have helped them with is developing ways to help kids under five years old learn to give back to their communities by having them work on arts and crafts projects to give to those in need.  We have a great relationship with them.  

L+W-  How has social media been helpful to Volunteer Family?

HJ- I’ve been recently working on implementing social media into our site, which is being redesigned at the moment, because I would like to give the families who utilize our service ways to report back about their experiences and to share them with others through our site.  I think it’s a great way to share not only their experiences but also information about the kinds of work they’ve done in order to inspire others who are interested in doing the same.

L+W- You also have another organization for young people under the umbrella of Volunteer Family.


HJ- Yes, we have another organization that we just started in 2009 called Future Philanthropists.  We’ve partnered with some groups who have funded us to give $10,000.00 to a number of high school groups as part of an after school program that is designed to teach about various non-profits operating near them and how they can get involved.  The kids learn how the non-profits work and then go out and interview them about what they need the most funding for at the moment.  Then they discuss which groups could most benefit from their support and allocate the funds to the charities of their choice.  The overall vision is to get kids to give back.

L+W- That sounds like an incredibly empowering program for kids.

HJ- This year we worked with eight groups and gave away over $100,000.00.  It has been amazing because we can literally see the results, both for the organizations and with the kids’ experiences with it.  


L+W- How do you choose the high schools you work with?

HJ- We try to work with schools in underprivileged areas in order to give them the opportunity to give back to their communities and also see future possibilities for themselves.  By having them research non-profits in their areas they are able to expand their horizons and envision possibilities for themselves.  They are able to see that they might be able to work for an organization like The Boys and Girls Club, or start a non-profit of their own, or choose a career path focused on their personal interests.  

L+W- Who works with the kids in each group throughout the program?

HJ- I give the teachers the curriculum for the program, which lasts 13 weeks, and once they learn it I leave it in their hands and come back at the end of the program to see what they’ve done.  I’m consistently blown away by how inventive and effective the teachers have been with the groups, and how much they are able to accomplish with the money and the amount of time they have to complete their projects.  

L+W- What is the most moving moment you’ve had with Volunteer Family and Future Philanthropists?

HJ- Future Philanthropists did a program at Cathedral High School in Boston recently.  When the kids were researching non-profits in their area they discovered a shelter for battered women across the street that they hadn’t known about before.  They visited the shelter, and found that it had beds for the women, but nothing else.  They decided they wanted to fund a kitchen for them, which they were able to do with a portion of the $10,000.00 they had.  But in addition to that, they went home and told their parents they needed canned food for the kitchen and any other utensils they could spare so they could stock it.  That was really moving to me, the fact that they really went the extra mile because they wanted to.  It showed me that the program is inspiring them in the right way- that they are able to take action on their own.  It’s really wonderful.


Visit volunteerfamily.org
Visit futurephilanthropists.org
Follow Volunteer Family on Twitter