Many city governments seek original ways to enlist their citizens as co-producers of solutions to their most pressing problems. Cities of Service works with those city halls and their leadership to create opportunities for citizen engagement, thereby making an impact on the specific issue while also strengthening the relationship between citizen and government.

Across the country, our coalition cities are implementing citizen engagement programs that use our signature Impact Volunteering strategy. These programs are designed with the city's local needs in mind and draw on national best practices that are shared across our network of more than 280 cities. Explore our programs to learn more about how we are helping to transform the way people get involved in their communities.

Guiding Opportunities

Guiding Opportunities is a Cities of Service program that helps city leaders engage residents to achieve positive economic and social outcomes with community-informed Opportunity Zone investments. In partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation, the two-year program will support newly created Chief Opportunity Zone Officers in six cities.

Experience Matters

Experience Matters is a Cities of Service program in partnership with AARP that draws upon the experience and expertise of adults aged 50+ to build stronger cities.

Love Your Block
2018-2020

Love Your Block enables local governments to engage communities in neighborhood revitalization efforts benefiting low-income communities. Our newest Love Your Block program, announced in July 2018, was specifically targeted to legacy cities – older, industrial cities that have faced substantial population loss.

Love Your Block
2021-2023

Love Your Block
2015-2018

In 2015, Cities of Service launched its first City Hall AmeriCorps VISTA Love Your Block program in six cities to help them work with residents to revitalize neighborhoods, one block at a time.

Resilience AmeriCorps

Through Resilience AmeriCorps, Cities of Service provided a $25,000 grant, two AmeriCorps VISTA members, and program consulting services and technical assistance to cities for a two-year period. Cities of Service recruited, trained, and deployed the AmeriCorps VISTA members to prepare vulnerable communities across the country for hardship and disaster. With increased capacity and support, these cities engaged citizens to make their cities more resilient in the face of challenges they may face.

Prepared Together

The Cities of Service Prepared Together helped seven cities engage citizen volunteers in initiatives that made cities more resilient to weather-related disasters. Beginning in 2017, Cities of Service provided a $25,000 grant and program consulting services, and placed two AmeriCorps VISTA members in each city for one year.

Bay Area Impact Volunteering

Through the Bay Area Impact Volunteering program, city leaders engaged citizen volunteers to create more resilient communities before, during, and after a disaster. Each of the participating cities received $25,000-$50,000 in grant funding along with program consulting services for one year.

Chief Service Officer Leadership Initiative

Through the Chief Service Officer Leadership Initiative, a senior-level administration staff member was installed in each participating city to plan, coordinate, and evaluate the implementation of a citywide service plan that engages citizen volunteers in solving public problems. Each of the grantee cities received up to $100,000 in grant funding along with program consulting services for one year.

Programs

Guiding Opportunities

Experience Matters

Love Your Block 2018-2020

Love Your Block 2021-2023

Love Your Block 2015-2018