More than Just Volunteering: From Transaction to Community Transformation

As we prepare to honor and celebrate the 37th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we take an opportunity to reflect on ways our community can use volunteering as a way to transform a community.

Breauna Dorelus, Chief Cause Consultant of Connecting the Cause, will discuss how to strategically take a stereotypical volunteer opportunity (a transaction) and move it to one that can transform a volunteer and a community.

Convinced that in order to produce real transformational change, Ms. Dorelus asks to check our mindsets, intentions, language, attitudes, and perceptions of service to face acts of paternalism, misuse of power and other unhealthy volunteer/client dynamics. Let’s challenge the norms! Sometimes start with small, intentional changes, others strategize for broader, long-term scale goals.

And what’s the impact of being determined and intentional about making the volunteer experience better? Volunteers feel a deeper sense of connection to the cause. Volunteer leaders inspire a true partnership between volunteers and the community. And the community itself is also respected for their ideas, worth and wholeness.

Following this featured speaker, we will have a panel discussion with Briana Cleveland of Martha’s Table and Cheyenne Shelby-Peterson of Chicago Cares. The panelists have embraced these concepts of transformational volunteering. Let's hear about what are their success stories and lessons learned.