Strengthening civic engagement through partnering
The increasing population, combined with the rising age demographic facing the tri-county area served by the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, creates a number of challenges. Thanks to the Community Experience Partnership (CEP) community assessment, the foundation has identified an opportunity to strengthen and enhance a civic engagement program in partnership with key nonprofit partner organizations, most notably MAC, Inc., the area agency on aging.
One of the key findings in the assessment is that two primary gaps exist relative to civic engagement—specifically volunteerism—among older adults in its communities:
- Older adults do not know what organizations exist and what opportunities there are for participation
- Local community service and nonprofit organizations are often unprepared to effectively utilize the skills and talents of volunteers, particularly baby boomers and beyond, yet these organizations are often in dire need of human resources
Three-year plan
Over the next three years, work is being conducted that supports the successful engagement of older adults to help meet current and future community needs. By utilizing existing partnerships and establishing new relationships, the community foundation will boost the capacity of organizations to recruit older adults and provide increased visibility for current opportunities through marketing and outreach. Through its new role as the coordinating body for the regional volunteer center, the community foundation will provided training, technical assistance and most importantly, marketing and outreach to help address the challenges outlined in the assessment phase.
As with other communities, indications are that the next wave of retirees, for the most part, prefers episodic volunteer assignments rather than long term, as has traditionally been the case. Therefore, the goals of the program are to develop new and exciting volunteer assignments, and educate local nonprofits about the needs of the new baby boomer volunteers. All training includes insight into the evolving meaning of service to the community and development of new skills, and capturing life skills that the volunteers bring with them. Innovative recruitment of this incoming crop of baby boomers will be a priority. The Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore has experience in this area as it currently sponsors a number of continuing education and training opportunities for local nonprofit organizations.
The first year of the three-year plan is devoted to program development and reaffirming existing community partnerships while also reaching out to new partners. The second year focuses on development of a strategy to reach out to individuals who are migrating to the Maryland lower shore counties following retirement, as well as engagement of existing local residents in community service and volunteer activities.
Partnership and training
A collaborative training effort is being coordinated between the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore and Temple University. Marketing initiatives will be implemented for recruitment of nonprofit organizations and engagement of older adults in civic activity. A strong relationship with media is planned to help build public awareness of the work.
The third year focuses on implementation of the work through efforts to match interests and skills of individuals with the needs of the local community, service groups and nonprofit organizations. Program evaluation will focus on:
- evaluating the increase in the number of opportunities and the number of older adults engaged in civic activity
- examining the level of philanthropy supporting such endeavors
- identifying critical community needs that have benefited from the involvement of older adults
