MAYOR LAUNCHES CITY'S FIRST HIGH-IMPACT SERVICE PLAN, CALLS ON COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS TO 'SERVEPGH'

Residents encouraged to participate in service initiatives by going to www.pittsburghpa.gov/servepgh

Sent 03/22/2011 @ 12:59 pm

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl today officially launched Pittsburgh’s first citywide, high-impact service plan and called on City residents to help the City fulfill its commitment to citizen service through impact volunteerism. The plan, called servePGH, seeks to match community volunteers with five key service initiatives that address the Mayor’s top priorities of youth engagement and neighborhood revitalization. The initiatives will be launched throughout 2011, with the first, a mentoring initiative, to be launched today. The creation of this innovative plan was made possible through a $200,000 Cities of Service Leadership Grant awarded to the City last June, funded jointly by the Rockefeller Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

“The servePGH plan is a direct result of the commitment to service that was made in 2009 when I joined the Cities of Service coalition and signed the Declaration of Service,” said Ravenstahl. “This plan represents the beginning of Pittsburgh’s renewed focus on volunteerism and will show the inspiring difference that dedicated residents can make when they work together toward the common goal of improving our neighborhoods and the lives of Pittsburgh’s young people.”

Last September, the City hired its first-ever Chief Service Officer, and in November the Mayor’s Service Advisory Council was formed to help create the service plan. For the last six months, an intensive analysis was conducted, which included focus groups, community surveys, and expert interviews, to identify specific challenges facing the City and to develop initiatives that capitalize on the City’s already strong service infrastructure.

Today, the Mayor launched the first service initiative called the Mayor’s Mentoring Initiative by signing an Executive Order that gives special allowance for City employees to serve as middle-school mentors during work time.  The Initiative is being launched in partnership with “Be a 6^th Grade Mentor”, the largest mentoring recruitment effort in our region’s history, initiated by the leadership of the Youth Futures Commission and developed through the collaboration of The United Way of Allegheny County, Pittsburgh Public Schools and the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Employees are encouraged to apply to be a mentor today at www.pittsburghpa.gov/mentor. The Mayor has committed to becoming a mentor himself next fall.

“Although it is universally accepted that we want children to do well in school, unfortunately many students fail in school and drop out,” said Bob Nelkin, President and CPO of The United Way of Allegheny County. “The Mayor’s commitment to recruiting volunteer mentors will definitely help many middle-school students have plans for their future and understand the relevance of working hard in school to achieving those dreams.”

Additional initiatives include: Love Your Block; Redd Up Zone; Snow Angels; and a youth Civic Leadership Academy. Each initiative highlighted in the servePGH plan has its own official launch date, but all will be launched by the end of 2011. Residents who are interested in getting involved with any of the service initiatives are asked to visit www.pittsburghpa.gov/servepghf  or more information and to sign up for email updates.

“The service initiatives target two of my top priorities – securing a bright future for our young people, and improving community pride,” Ravenstahl said. “Each initiative is supported by a dynamic coalition of partners committed to cross‐sector collaboration.”

ServePGH Initiatives

1. Mayor’s Mentoring Initiative
   City employees are encouraged to serve as middle-school mentors during the work week. This initiative was launched in partnership with the “Be A 6th Grade Mentor”, the largest mentoring recruitment effort in our region’s history. The ultimate goal is to dramatically increase the number of mentors and thereby increase participating students’ engagement in school.
   
   Interested employees are asked to fill out an application today at www.pittsburghpa.gov/mentor. They will then undergo a series of interviews and a training session that will cover Mentoring 101, Cultural Awareness, and the Career Education Workbook used in the program. Applications will be accepted until September 1, 2011, but it is encouraged that they be submitted early.
   
    
2. Love Your Block
   A new block revitalization program created to provide resources for volunteers to reduce blight and instill neighborhood pride. Neighborhood groups from across the City will be invited to propose volunteer-led projects to transform up to 20 blocks a year with a small grant and the support of key City departments. Love Your Block will begin later this spring.
    
3. Redd Up Zone
   Through coordinated litter clean-up efforts, volunteers will help to enhance Pittsburgh’s quality of life and reduce blight. Businesses and organizations will recruit volunteers to remove litter from a designated area, a ‘Redd Up Zone’, and coordinate year-round opportunities to enhance the appearance, safety, and cleanliness of Pittsburgh’s streets. Redd Up Zone is scheduled to launch this fall.
    
4. Snow Angels
   A new referral program through which volunteers will be matched with seniors or residents in need of assistance with shoveling their sidewalk throughout the winter. The initiative will build upon the Pittsburgh culture of “neighbors helping neighbors.” Snow Angels is scheduled to launch this fall.
    
5. Civic Leadership Academy
   A 10-week course about local government that aims to foster informed, effective, and inspired community and civic leadership. At the end of the course, participants develop and implement one or more service projects based upon their experience in the program. The spring session of the Civic Leadership Academy held its first class on March 15, 2011. This opportunity will be expanded to include high-school youths this summer.

About Cities of Service
Founded in New York City on September 10, 2009 by 17 mayors from cities around the nation, including Mayor Ravenstahl, Cities of Service is a bipartisan coalition of mayors who have committed to work together to engage citizens in a multi-year effort to address pressing city needs through impact volunteerism. The coalition includes more than 100 mayors, representing more than 49 million Americans across the nation.
 
Cities of Service supports mayors to leverage citizen service strategies, addressing local needs and making government more effective. All Cities of Service efforts are characterized by a concept called “impact volunteering” – volunteer strategies that target community needs, use best practices, and set clear outcomes and measures to gauge progress.

About Cities of Service Leadership Grants
In June 2010, the second round of Cities of Service Leadership Grants, funded jointly by the Rockefeller Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies, were awarded to Austin, TX; Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; Baton Rouge, LA; Chula Vista, CA; Houston, TX; Little Rock, AR; Orlando, FL; Pittsburgh, PA; and Richmond, VA. As with the first round, these two-year grants enable cities to hire Chief Service Officers responsible for developing and implementing high-impact service plans.

The first round of Cities of Service Leadership Grants, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, were awarded in January 2010 to Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; Los Angeles, CA; Nashville, TN; Newark, NJ; Omaha, NE; Philadelphia, PA; Sacramento, CA; Savannah, GA; and Seattle, WA. These ten cities launched high-impact service plans in September 2010.

The first high-impact service plan was developed by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg when he created NYC Service and hired the nation’s first Chief Service Officer in 2009.

More information about the coalition can be found at www.citiesofservice.org.