During COVID, volunteering became more difficult, as businesses and organizations could no longer mobilize in-person volunteers. At the Volunteer Center, we took this opportunity to develop our new platform, Skills Connect. Skills-based volunteering is an opportunity to work directly in support of a nonprofit using your individual skills virtually, and on your own schedule. 

Working with our web designer, we launched our Skills Connect platform and are continuing to work with our corporate partners on piloting the matching of a corporate volunteer to a nonprofit need. Over the past 6 months, we have piloted our program with Just Born and their employees, and have successfully connected volunteers in the areas of public speaking, marketing, policy development, social media and finance. 

At the Volunteer Center, we also leveraged skills-based volunteers for our own work, including website design, strategic consulting and Salesforce platform development.

A nonprofit recipient of skills based services said this...

"We engaged in this skills-based volunteering opportunity through the lens of a 'root cause analysis'...we identified something we wanted to improve and it was great to see exactly what we identified get improved upon."

Connecting is easy. Here's the link to our platform: https://www.volunteerlv.org/skillsconnect

Here's What Youth Can Do for Your Organization!

Over the last 12 months, we have been evaluating capacity building needs in the nonprofit sector. "We need more volunteers," is one of the needs that continues to be expressed. As we just wrapped up two weeks of engaging 20+ high school students who completed more than 460 hours of service, we want to encourage our nonprofits to think differently. 

Today's youth are the future, and to ensure that the future is full of strong, capable leaders, those kids need to get out into the community now to learn, grow, and understand the importance of giving back. So many young people want to get involved and volunteer, however, opportunities are not readily available based on their age. High school students have great energy, good ideas and are hard workers, and we want to encourage the nonprofits to expand the opportunities for youth to be involved. 

Many high schools require students to complete service hours, and many of them will continue their service with the nonprofits even after those requirements are met. There are also many clubs and programs, like our Youth Council here at the Volunteer Center, that will coordinate ongoing projects that are managed to provide resources and services to your organization.

Need help recruiting youth? We're here to help you!  

Hear the Impact!

Today's youth are tomorrow's leaders. Their efforts to volunteer and get involved now are proof of the extraordinary individuals they will become, and the impact they will have on the community.

So, where are they now? 

We talked with some of our past interns and youth volunteers to see how the youth programs that we offer have made a lasting impact. While attending Moravian University, TahLea Wright was the Civic Engagement Fellow for the Youth Council as well as the intern for goLEAD (now YLEAD) during her freshman year of college. She stayed with the programs for the next few years, and is now a special education teacher for 3rd through 5th graders at Fountain Hill Elementary. 

"I am always working with my students and trying my best to inspire them to become leaders in their school community." 

- TahLea Wright

We are in the midst of planning our programming for this year's Youth Council! The 2022-23 school year will have our Council back in full swing and ready to make a difference in the community. Our dedicated group of students from all across the Lehigh Valley will come together to develop critical leadership skills and learn more about what it means to participate in service. Each Council member gains impactful experiences every year by being a part of the Youth Council.

If your student is interested in getting more involved in their community, earning service hours for school, meeting new people or making new connections, have them join the Youth Council today! 

Interested in joining an Advisory Board? Or want to be a part of today's youth becoming leaders in the community? Our Youth Council Advisory Board is looking for new members! Join our Board and become actively involved in our Youth Council and everything they do! If interested, email Julie Huber at julie@volunteerlv.org

Fall comes with the change of season; back to school and back to regular routines. For us at the Volunteer Center, fall means outdoor projects, group volunteering and educational offerings. 

In September, we will host our annual Volunteer Engagement Training Program. This is a 4-week in-person program that engages volunteer leaders in both educational learnings and peer-to-peer connections. The program is updated annually and is a great foundation for managing a volunteer program at a nonprofit organization. If interested, register here.

Stay tuned as we build out our new programming, designed for nonprofit executive directors and board chairs. Sustainable leadership is at the core of a successful nonprofit, and ensuring sound leadership, governance, and relationships is crucial. More information on this training will be coming soon!

Meet Julie Huber!

Julie has been on staff with the Volunteer Center since 2016 and has been many things to our team!

Julie...

• created a robust social media platform
• helps to expand our nonprofit connections
• always jumps in to support our events and programs
• is the catalyst in the creation of our Youth Council and the further development of our YLEAD program. 

Thank you, Julie, for having the passion and the drive to bring our youth programming to where it is today!