Put it all together!

(Adapted with permission from the National Youth Service Day Toolkit, prepared by Youth Service America.)

Organizing one-day service projects, or projects that are intended to be completed over a period of time, can involve a large number of volunteers in getting things done in your community.

It is especially important to monitor the volunteer experience, since this experience will likely influence future decisions and ideas on community service. This means carefully considering what will make the experience meaningful to the participants and what structure provides an environment in which the participants can learn and grow.

Agencies and community organizations know best what kind of service is most important to them. They also know there are ongoing projects and issues to deal with every day, and they cannot always drop everything to plan for a once-a-year volunteer team. For participants, community organizations, and agencies, a one-day service project can be a fantastic and transforming experience, or a lot of effort that earns mixed results. Your job is to make sure it is a good experience for everyone. Ideally, the project will connect volunteers to opportunities that are available year round.

This information is organized by blocks of tasks and issues to address as you plan your service projects. They are presented in a suggested order; however, you may wish to alter this order based on your community and timeline. Again, this toolkit is intended to suggest and guide, not to be the definitive answer to organizing a Martin Luther King Service Day event.

1. SET SPECIFIC GOALS

Using your overall vision, purpose, and goals for the Martin Luther King Day of Service, think about what you want to accomplish, how you want the project to look, and what message you want the project to send to the community and the media. Do you want to reach out to an entire school system and try to involve large numbers of young people? Will this project serve as a challenge for others to serve throughout the year? What do you want the volunteers to get out of the experience? Will the volunteers see tangible results? Do you have community buy-in for this project? These are only some of the questions you will need to answer.

2. CHOOSE PROJECT SITES

Based on how many people you want to volunteer, decide how many and what types of sites you should find. There are several ways to do this. Some groups organize a few large sites, like clean-up projects to accommodate large numbers of volunteers, while other communities prefer to organize multiple sites for smaller numbers of volunteers. The following issues are important when choosing a site or sites.

Common Needs

What issues do you want to work on? Every community is unique and is confronted with different pressing social needs. Some groups find it useful to focus on a few community issues and locate sites to address these issues. Other groups can focus on many issues. Examples of issues are HIV/AIDS, the environment, youth concerns, the elderly, health care, race relations, hunger, public safety, education, literacy, homelessness, and low- income housing. the Corporation for National and Community Service encourages projects that support the goals of the Presidents' Summit for America's Future for children and young people that are championed by America's Promise—The Alliance for Youth. Those five promises are:

• a caring adult for every child;
• safe places with structured activities to learn and grow;
• a healthy start and a healthy future;
• an effective education that equips them with marketable skills; and
• an opportunity to give back through service.

If you choose to work on a variety of issues, you may want to send a letter to all community-based organizations in the area and work with those who respond favorably. If you prefer to focus on particular issues, try a more targeted approach, working with organizations that deal with the issues of concern to you.

Project Size

Sometimes it is simpler to coordinate a few large projects rather than many small projects at different sites. Transportation and team leader orientations can be consolidated in this way. A disadvantage to large sites is that sometimes there are too many people and not enough meaningful work for everyone.

Most agencies can comfortably accommodate a team of ten to fifteen volunteers, depending on the project. Regardless of how many sites you have, count on one team leader for every ten to fifteen volunteers. However, if the team has students under twelve years old, you may need more leaders. In many cases, team co-captains consisting of a young person and an adult are very effective.

Often, the best option is to choose a combination of large and small sites to accommodate a larger number of volunteers. If more volunteers show up than expected, you will need to find ways to assign them to meaningful work and some of the larger sites should be able to handle this. Plan your supplies accordingly and for maximum flexibility.

Type of Service

Although stuffing envelopes is often a much needed project for a community-based organization, it is not likely to provide a meaningful experience for participants on a one-day project. Choose sites where the volunteers can see and experience their impact. When volunteers finish painting a railing, wall, or classroom; building a playground; or designing and painting a mural, they can see the results of their work. This is true of most clean-up, construction and rehabilitation projects. Volunteers also enjoy working "people to people" if possible. This can be anything from helping with a kids carnival or working with the residents of a senior home. The service should be of significant benefit to the community and the organization, as well as a learning experience for the volunteer. Build in time for reflection on service and problem-solving.

Communication and Expectations

Work with agencies that have realistic expectations about what can be accomplished in the allotted time and that have experience working with volunteers. Find out what equipment is needed to complete the project and who will acquire it. Do the volunteers need to bring their own paint brushes or rakes, or will the agency provide them? Will lunch and snacks be provided, or are volunteers expected to provide their own? Will staff be on hand to help with orientation and to provide needed support at the site? Even with simple things, paying attention to details is important in making sure the day runs smoothly. If an agency is very difficult to contact or does not return calls promptly, consider choosing another site.

Logistics

Check to see if the project site is near other project sites or on public transportation routes. Does the agency have its own van or bus to help transport volunteers? Is there a place for volunteers to have lunch and to use washrooms? How far is the site from the morning kick-off site? Is the site wheelchair-accessible? If the project is outdoors, what happens if it rains? Have a first aid kit on hand and make plans for emergency care. Know where the nearest hospital is. Do you need security?

3. CHOOSE AND TRAIN TEAM LEADERS

Before the day of your service project, team leaders may be expected to be the primary communicators between the agency and the overall Martin Luther King Service Day activities. Team leaders keep the agency informed about the goals of the day, how many volunteers to expect, and what the volunteers will expect of the agency. The more communication between the agency and the team leaders, the more likely things will run smoothly on Martin Luther King Day. The volunteers' experience will be better if the team leaders are attuned to the mission and services provided by the agency.

The person designated as the overall service coordinator should be responsible for providing advance training for team leaders. If there are a large number of team leaders and project sites, you may consider assigning issue coordinators to oversee multiple sites. For example, the issue coordinator for homelessness might oversee team captains at the shelters and soup kitchens, and the education coordinator would oversee projects at the schools and day care programs. A detailed training for team leaders is very important. After the team leaders are trained, they will train their volunteers on the day of the project. Training for team leaders should take place a week before the project so there's still time to work through last-minute questions or details. Team leaders should meet again the day before the project or in the morning before the kick-off to touch base and run through the activities for the day.

Reflection and "On-Site" Learning

For MLK Day, you may want to design reflection questions that emphasize Dr. King's teachings and beliefs. Reflection can be as simple as a single question that helps participants of all ages to process their experience, such as:

• What surprised you most about the day?
• What did you learn from this experience?
• How can you use what you learned today in your everyday life?
• Did your perception of (relevant issue) change as a result of this service project?

The best way to facilitate reflection is to simply ask your team to sit down at the end of the day for a few minutes and share their thoughts about the day and what they learned from the experience.

On-site learning is learning that occurs through the experiences of the day. This can be facilitated by asking volunteers a question to answer at the end of the day. These questions could be about service, the holiday, the agency, the issue, clients, or personal ideas and attitudes.

Evaluation

Team leaders must understand the importance of evaluation. Walk through the questions from both volunteer and team leader evaluations and discuss why certain questions are asked and how the information will be used. Make sure team leaders know how and when to pick up the evaluation forms and where to drop them off at the end of the day. Will pencils be provided? Be very specific about this process, including a ballpark figure on how much time it will take to complete the forms on site. Evaluations with agencies should be done the week following Martin Luther King Day. Set a time to meet in a relaxed environment to discuss how the day went and to complete any unresolved issues.

Orientation for Volunteers

Orientation should be no longer than thirty minutes. Team leaders can break the orientation into three major parts:

Introduction to the Martin Luther King Day of Service. Team leaders should know the history and objectives of the service day and why it is important on both the national and community level. They should also understand why their particular service project is important in the broader context of the local celebrations and service projects. A scripted outline can help make sure team leaders have this information and can communicate it to the volunteers.

Background information on the agency or site and related issues. Ask your contact at the agency to do this part of the orientation. Give him or her a specific time limit and ask for background on the organization, as well as insights into the broader issues they deal with on a daily basis. It is also useful to discuss volunteer needs the agency has on an ongoing basis. This lets King Day volunteers know that they could possibly make an ongoing commitment to this site or organization.

A "walk-through" of the day and specific instructions on the project. Let volunteers know what time to break for lunch, who to contact if they have a question, concern, or emergency, where to find restrooms and water, and specific information on the projects that need to be done and how to do them and where or how to get supplies.

Liability and Safety Issues

Team leaders should be informed of emergency procedures and any relevant liability issues. Team leaders should know what to do on site if there is an accident, who to contact, how to transport a volunteer to the nearest hospital or medical center, and where to locate a first aid kit on site.

4. GET READY FOR THE DAY OF THE EVENT

After all your planning and hard work, you want your service day to run smoothly. There are many details that will need attention and a lot of people will have plenty of questions. The key to success and sanity on this day is good management and good planning. The more people who know what is going on, the more likely it is that things will run smoothly. Make a list of who will manage what areas on that day:

• Who will manage registration?
• Who will manage the kick-off presentations?
• Who will make sure transportation is set and in motion?
• Who will manage the distribution of supplies?
• Who will be a trouble-shooter?
• Who will greet the media?

It is important to talk through everyone's roles on the day of the event, so there will be efficient communication, even when things are chaotic. Organizers should wear special T-shirts, hats or some identifier that make them easy to find in a crowd. If your event is very large and complex, consider renting or borrowing walkie-talkies or cell phones to facilitate communication.

Checklists and written instructions are also a must for the day of the event. Organizers will have lots of details to remember, and written checklists can save the day. Written instructions for registration, transportation, supplies, and other areas will help free organizers from having to explain things again and again. Written instructions are also an alternative way of communicating with those who may be hearing impaired.

Make sure everyone is as prepped as possible for the day so there are few surprises. Try to get lots of rest in advance so that you will be clear-headed and have a great time!

5. KICK OFF YOUR EVENT

The kick-off event is an opportunity to create the spirit of the Martin Luther King Day of Service. The kick-off should take place in the morning before volunteers leave for their sites, and all transportation to sites should be coordinated from the kick-off. At the end of the day, all transportation can return to the kick-off site for a celebration with food, friends, and music. This gives people an opportunity to share experiences with volunteers who worked on other sites, relax, and have fun.

Both the kick-off and after-service celebration are excellent opportunities for local media to interview volunteers and learn more about your projects and the national Martin Luther King Day of Service. Make sure to have media kits ready and a special check-in area for media. The kick-off site should have the "look" of excitement. Decorate with banners, balloons, posters, and streamers. Invite local officials and personalities (athletes, well-known TV news broadcasters, etc.) to draw more media attention.

There are many ways to organize these events. Generally, the kick-off should be short -- no more than twenty minutes. It is important to get people to their sites promptly to focus on the service that needs to get done. Don't start the kick-off late and don't let it run long. Ask people to come a half hour early to sign in and eat breakfast, so when the kick-off ends they will be ready to go. It is also useful to let people know what time transportation will leave the kick-off site.

Transportation can be a logistical challenge. A detail-oriented and responsible person must be in charge of transportation. This person must make sure drivers have detailed instructions and directions. Determining transportation for participants will depend on your budget, where volunteers are coming from and going to, and the resources in your community. You might use school buses, public transportation, vans (borrowed from churches, nonprofits, or friends), carpools, or chartered buses. Make sure transport is ADA compliant.

6. FOLLOW UP AFTER THE EVENT

Hold a meeting for organizers to discuss wrap-up details and to share experiences from the project. Bring pictures, give certificates, thank-you gifts, or whatever is appropriate for your group. Make a list of all wrap-up activities and delegate assignments. Make sure to include:

• service site evaluations
• reviewing volunteer evaluations
• writing a final report
• sending thank-you letters to team leaders, donors, media, volunteers, speakers, and others
• cleaning and returning equipment