Local organization leaders meet with Volunteer Iowa representatives

Leaders from local organizations met with Michelle Raymer and Adam Lounsbury with the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service at the Decorah Public Library on Thursday. The agency's goal is to work with organizations to help provide service and strategies to help implement and strengthen their volunteer base.

The program was advertised as Volunteerism in Rural Iowa. Rural is the term used for any town with a population under 50,000. Decorah is definitely this, although it is the economic hub for surrounding smaller towns. One main goal is to help members of the community know the volunteer opportunities. People aren't as connected as they used to be. This can be a challenge for groups looking for volunteers.

Volunteer Iowa knows guidelines can be challenging and they want to make programs more accessible. Programs include AmeriCorps, Disaster Volunteers, Iowa Mentoring Partnership, RSVP, Volunteer Recognition and Service Enterprise Initiative to name a few.

Several local leaders were excited about the Service Enterprise Initiative. The Iowa Commission serves as a hub facilitating the process for additional organizations to become certified and leads development of other hubs in the state. Organizations that achieve the Service Enterprise Certification are uniquely positioned to leverage the time and skills of volunteers and expand program operations and revenues. Leaders were encouraged to check out the informational webinar to get more information on the process.

More information on Volunteer Iowa can be found at: https://volunteeriowa.org/