Mayor in Coalition to Boost Volunteerism

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is back in town from New York City, where he was making efforts to boost volunteerism locally and across the country. He met with 16 other mayors, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, to form a coalition called Cities of Service. Ravenstahl says this is a response to President Obama and Congress’ call to service. Ravenstahl says they each signed a declaration of service stating that they will work with coordinating strategies to encourage more citizens to volunteer and working with one another to do that. He says there are many regional organizations that do a great job, but volunteerism can still be greatly improved.

“One thing that we need to do is develop an infrastructure, and a mechanism to funnel it, to channel it,” Ravenstahl says. “We know that there are others out there who are interested in serving, but may not know where to sign up.”

He adds that in the near future, hopefully, the coalition of mayors plan to create a competition between one another, to see which city can generate the most volunteers and the most service.