The Impact of Volunteerism and Some Organizations
a Volunteer Playing Guitar For the Children
National community service is an amazing thing to take part in for many reasons. In a previous post it was mentioned how one can help themselves through community service. Great benefits like satisfaction, gratification, and a sense of accomplishment. In addition, it can help you get a job. Among unemployed individuals without a high-school degree, between those that participated in volunteerism and those that did not, the volunteers were more than 50% likely to get a job, for rural areas this difference increased.
But volunteerism is not only good for the volunteers but has an even bigger impact on the economy, both local and national. In the United States in 2013, 64.6 million people volunteered for a total of 7.9 billion hours. The Independent Sector estimates the value of a volunteer’s time is $22.55 an hour, that puts the impact of volunteer’s time in 2013 at $175 billion.
But where can one find these volunteer opportunities? Here are four popular volunteer organizations.
The Peace Corps is always a standard of volunteerism but is definitely reserved for those people looking for long-term volunteer opportunities abroad. The commitment is for 27 months, and you can end up in one of 140 different countries.
If you’re passionate about the environment and enjoy working outdoors The Conservation Corps is a great option. At the Conservation Corps volunteers are trained and take part in restoration projects in America’s national parks. Conservation crews can work for 3 months up to a full year.
If you want to give back long-term in the United States Americorps is a great option. Over 75,000 people volunteer for Americorps and they have over 15,000 offices across the US. They also have a wide variety of options to choose from if your goal is to find work in a particular industry. One can focus on public safety, reducing poverty, developing youth, disaster relief and other environmental issues.
Citizen Schools is a great opportunity for those budding teachers out there, or individuals that can only volunteer part-time. Citizen Schools has partnerships with schools in low-income neighborhoods to expand access to after school education and programs for this underserved population. City Year is a similar organization that offers free tutors to students at risk of dropping out.
