Leveraging Community Volunteers
Leveraging Community Volunteers One of the most important aspects of serving in local government is the relationship you have with community volunteers. Local government politics may be the front line of democracy and in a vibrant, healthy community the front line is populated by active community volunteers. So I developed three rules for myself that helped to leverage their efforts into what I called ‘happy endings.’ Rule #1: get out of their way. Our municipality owned a rundown heritage home and the neighbourhood wanted to restore it and create a unique seniors’ centre. Most of my colleagues were skeptical and municipal staff were aghast at the potential cost but I just kept clearing ‘yah-buts’ out of the way. I wasn’t their champion – the volunteers were the best champions such a project could possibly have – I was their ally. I opened doors to Cabinet Ministers that could obtain grants, service agencies that could provide advice and introductions to a similar cen