Seven UK cities unveil plans to engage volunteers

Today, seven cities across the UK have unveiled plans to organise hundreds of volunteers within their cities to tackle local problems, as Cities of Service launches in the UK – replicating the highly successful US model founded by the former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg.

“Cities of Service is about helping to funnel the passion of local volunteers into areas most in need of support in their own communities.”

Over the next 18 months Barnsley, Bristol, Kirklees, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Swindon, and Telford and Wrekin will use their status as Cities of Service to encourage local volunteers to play their part in tackling some of the most pressing issues in their cities.

To celebrate the launch in the UK, US Ambassador Matthew Barzun will host an evening event at the US Embassy for representatives from each city, including the first four Chief Service Officers in the UK, attended by the Minister for Civil Society Brooks Newmark MP.

You can read more about the challenges set out in the cities’ individual service plans, which map what volunteers will be doing and how their success will be measured. The cities are:

Follow @CitiesServiceUK and #CitiesofServiceUK on Twitter to find out the latest news and information or email [email protected]

Author

Meera Chadha

Meera Chadha

Meera Chadha

Programme Manager

Meera was a Programme Manager in the Innovation Lab working in the Centre for Social Action to support social innovations to scale their reach and grow their impact. She led Cities of …

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