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Volunteer Outreach: Recruiting and Sustaining Your Garden’s Workforce

Volunteer Outreach: Recruiting and Sustaining Your Garden’s Workforce. What’s Y our G arden Superpower?. Write your name on your name tag. What is your garden superpower? How will you aid the rest of the Garden Justice League to help this garden grow? Write your superpower on your name tag.

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Volunteer Outreach: Recruiting and Sustaining Your Garden’s Workforce

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  1. Volunteer Outreach: Recruiting and Sustaining Your Garden’s Workforce

  2. What’s Your Garden Superpower? • Write your name on your name tag. • What is your garden superpower? How will you aid the rest of the Garden Justice League to help this garden grow? Write your superpower on your name tag. • Ex: expert weeder, spider enthusiast, basil buff, etc. • Be ready to share.

  3. The Problem • Regular, sustainable maintenance • Without regular attention, any garden will become quickly overgrown and/or useless. • Who takes care of your gardens?

  4. The Solution • Build a community. Create a network of like-minded individuals with the same priorities; a school, the greater community, children, food, etc. • A committed group of volunteers • What are the strengths and weaknesses of using volunteers to maintain a school garden? • Engagement: turnout in April vs. turnout in August • Ownership and Responsibility: Who cares? What’s the benefit to them?

  5. City Blossoms • What is City Blossoms? • Community Green Spaces: Marion St. Intergenerational Garden & Girard St. Children’s Garden

  6. What is Volunteer Corps? • Goals for Volunteer Corps • To train volunteers to be environmental stewards that will care for their Community Green Space after the conclusion of the program • To afford City Blossoms the capacity to extend existing programing • To create new networks and to build on existing ones in the community • To test this model of volunteerism – does this work for us?

  7. City Blossoms’ Model for Sustainable Volunteerism • Outreach • Interview • Training • Support • Monitoring & Evaluation

  8. Outreach • Targeted outreach strategy, started mid-January 2012 • Who are we looking for? Where are we looking for them? • Shaw-Howard • Columbia Heights • Flyering • Churches, schools, businesses, restaurants, etc. • Social media • Networking • Tabling • Rooting DC, Howard University Green Fair • List-serves • Previous volunteers • Incentivizing the Volunteer Corps program • What incentives can we give potential volunteers? • What local business can we get involved?

  9. Outreach Priorities: Who do we want to volunteer?

  10. Interview • Applications • 19 applications were received by March 1, 2012 • Screening • Availability • 3 hours/week for 6 months, March through September • Strict attendance policy, three unexcused absences • Commitment/level of interest • Fit • Experience with children? Experience gardening? Connection to the community? • How can we fit them? How can we give back to our volunteers? • Interview Process • 9 members were chosen

  11. Volunteer Corps Members

  12. Training • Large group workdays • Individualized projects based on a volunteer’s interest • Regular tasks such as maintaining the garden log, weeding & watering • Educational workshops • Topic variety • Ex: Seeds, water, children, art, honeybees, etc. • Flexible to accommodate feedback • Guest speakers • DDOE – Invasive vs. native species • DC Greenworks – Water capture • Southern Exposure Seed Exchange – Heirloom seed and seed saving

  13. Support • Incentives • Small gifts • Notebooks, folders, food, t-shits, harvest, etc. • Workshops • Recognition • Awards, public recognition • Thank you, thank you, thank you! • Facebook, Twitter, group/individual e-mails • Feedback • Creating a relationship • Creating a sense of ownership • “Your garden” • Personal projects that fit VC members’ interests

  14. Monitoring & Evaluation • Regular volunteer feedback • Surveys, personal e-mails, &face-to-face communication • Quantitative data collection – how well did this work? • Volunteer Corps first round succeeded with an 80% retention rate and interest in reapplying • City Blossoms staff and Volunteer Corps harvested and distributed over 500 pounds of produce and worked with over 7,400 participants in the 2012 season.

  15. Concluding Thoughts and Questions • Would this work in your garden?

  16. Let’s Have a Party! • The scenario: Our community garden needs some helping hands to build and fill five new vegetable beds. To encourage people to come out we’ve decided to throw a workday/potluck celebration in the garden. To get it up and running we will need at least four volunteers to help organize it beforehand and twelve volunteers on the day of the party. We have one month to prepare.

  17. Brainstorm • In your group, brainstorm the following: • Who will you focus your energy on recruiting? Who is the priority? Second tier? Third tier? • How will you get the word out to potential volunteers the fundraiser? • Day of, how will you organize your volunteers? How will you delineate tasks? • Your garden will need volunteers for many years to come. What will you do to show volunteers your appreciation so that they come back?

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