Tag Archives: oregon

Tweet thread from a city’s annual town meeting

Leave a reply

Since moving back to the USA in 2009, and before the pandemic, I attended a lot of public meetings by local, state and national officials, both elected and otherwise, and for some meetings, I live-tweeted what was happening. My goal was to try to generate some excitement for civic engagement and, in the cases of meetings that aren’t recorded and available later for public viewing, like town hall meetings with US Senators, to capture how certain things were being talked about / addressed. I also wanted to see if city, county, state and national officials were paying attention to Twitter, seeing if they responded when they were tagged or named in a post, etc. (for the most part, no, they aren’t paying attention).

The city of Forest Grove, Oregon held its 2021 annual town meeting online rather than in person because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And even though, I assume, the meeting was recorded and will be made available for viewing any time somehow, I decided to live-tweet the event, both to offer my commentary and to show as an example in workshops and classes I teach about what live-tweeting an event can look like. I also find it amusing to see how live-tweeting can affect search engine results.

I have the text of all the tweets below, with each tweet as a separate paragraph. Also here in this blog, I embedded the links that I attached to tweets. Sorry for misspellings and any confusion – live-tweeting requires fast typing and you cannot go back and correct tweets once they are out there:

Tweets began at 9:44 AM · Jan 30, 2021:

About to log in to the Forest Grove, Oregon annual town meeting, 1st-ever via the Interwebs. On the agenda: police. We’ve had some ugly incidents here & they still haven’t been addressed. If I decide to live-tweet it, it will be in the replies below.

Logged in & we’ve already had our first “does anyone know how to…” from a panelist. 

Mayor is warning not to be cute and make your Zoom name and title “Jake from State Farm.” He did that for a meeting and was kicked off because they didn’t know who he was. 

Lowell Greathouse of the Committee for Community Involvement is kicking off the meeting. He’s the MC of this meeting. I so wish the CCI was on Twitter and Facebook & Reddit.

Background: Here’s the 1st story from the local Forest Grove newspaper, the @FGNewsTimes, about the ouster of the police chief more than a year ago, which kicked off the growing distrust of the community regarding the police.

Now speaking is the city manager, Jesse VanderZanden. He’s introducing all the city officials & staff in attendance. VanderZanden played a key role in Forest Grove Police Chief Janie Schutz. 

VanderZanden is now addressing the departure of Chief Schutz. He is saying he is not anxious to discuss personnel matters. 

City manager is saying that the city has been transparent, having released emails between the chief and him, all official documents. He says all are available for the public and that they “tell the story.”

“We could have done a better job” regarding communication – city manager. Public disclosure procedures have been revised to make it easier for public to get info. 

“What I’d like to do is thank the former chief.” He’s now praising her transparency, how she built community connections, and what she did to promote the police facility. 

My opinion: THIS IS SO RIDICULOUSLY OVERDUE. Shame on the city for taking so long. Reprehensible. 

How Forest Grove, Oregon police are funded (from the slides now)

Forest Grove police funding levels. Along with this slide, the city manager when through the why costs increase (primarily salary and benefits, some additional staff).

Says interim Forest Grove police chief will get the option to stay another year. Here is how city will advertise for the chief’s position. Says city will have opportunities to participate in the hiring process.

Now talking about how they will create community panels for the hiring process, how they will try to make it a diverse representation from the community. 

If you have things you want the Forest Grove police chief job description to have regarding what kind of qualities the person should have, etc., the city manager says they want this feedback from residents. Here’s how to do that:

Apologies for not putting in alt text on the pics. I believe the slides will be available on the Forest Grove, Oregon’s city web site and I certainly hope all materials will be accessible for people with disabilities. 

He’s now reviewing why the city needs a new police station and the current design process. If you went to the police station open houses in 2019, or watch Chief Schutz’s excellent video on the subject, you know all this. 

City manager is now making a pitch for why the cost is cost-effective, the difficulty of passing a bond, the reluctance of residents regarding paying for this, etc. The presentation is now done.

Now Forest Grove, Oregon interim police chief Henry Reinmann is speaking. He’s touting that the station is more transparent, policies they have adopted, etc. 

Says these police policies have already been adopted in Forest Grove, Oregon. Now going through stats: type of calls, number of calls, etc. You can see these stats in the presentations that will be available on the Forest Grove city web site (or should be).

Now talking about mental health resources. Now talking about history. 

Now going through the history of policing. While he’s doing that, here’s one of the issues last year: Forest Grove Police Officer Steven Teets, off duty, terrorized a family in the middle of the night. & was NOT immediately arrested

Officer Teets is still employed, FYI, as are officers that initially covered for him. This incident, plus Chief Shutz’s firing, plus someone dying after being tased last year, & other things that haven’t made the news, have affected trust of police here.

Interim police chief is still doing his “history of policing” and very general presentation about approaches to policing. Has not made any reference to Black Lives Matter, to warrior training, white supremacy in police ranks, etc. Just very general stuff.

Now touting the relatively new Community Policing Advisory Commission, which replaced the citizen’s committee that was focused on BOTH police & fire (there is now no citizen’s committee regarding fire services). 

Forest Grove interim chief is still touching on very general things. No specifics about what the city of Forest Grove, Oregon is doing – just general things about what’s needed – “transparency” and “trust”, etc. This is all in his sides which will be available on FG web site. 

Finally is giving examples of specific changes. Says sergeant promotions interviews at Forest Grove, Oregon had no tactical questions – questions were about diversity, equity, etc. Says they will change how they train and who they hire. 

Forest Grove interim police chief reviewing state and national changes that will affect the Forest Grove police department. Says they will change what they test for. Will focus more on behavioral competencies. 

Is talking about systemic bias of society, in general, but has not acknowledged that police, specifically, have a problem with systemic racism. Is framing police problems as a reflection of all society’s problem. 

Now referencing Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A Changin’.” And returning floor to meeting chair. 

Now going to the questions submitted in advance. First question is regarding having a problem like “Cahoots” in Eugene in Forest Grove, Oregon, regarding unarmed mental health staff going to some calls. Interim chief says, instead, they are using the “Colorado model.” 

Mayor can’t get his video to turn on. But we can hear him. 

Mayor is reminding everyone that all of these changes will have financial costs and that there is no one big fix that can solve everything. 

Interim chief is now addressing what the subjects are covered in the police academy and who makes that determination. 

Questions regarding diversity training, number of officers that identify as people “of color,” etc. Interim chief is noting that the force makeup does not reflect the community. One officer “of color”, three women. Says they will do better. 

Question about Chief Schutz’s departure. City manager says former chief never made a complaint “about gender or otherwise.” Me: this is in contrast to what she said in the previous articles I shared earlier in this tweet thread. 

City manager is now saying that the city’s policies cover gender discrimination and how the policies and work place culture aren’t at all discriminatory, that people are held accountable, etc. 

City manager is now reviewing stats and diversity. 

Questions in Q & A box is filling up. I just submitted this: “Is there a prohibition on Forest Grove police officers taking so-called ‘warrior’ training? Does the chief know which officers have had such training and what do they do to address that?”

They are now addressing a question I submitted previously regarding the Western Washington County Fire Department & relationship with the T V F & R. 

They are now clarifying titles and terms. Mayor says there is no effort nor interest in becoming a part of TVF&R. Noting (sudden!) retirement of former chief. Says interim chief hiring is not a precursor to joining TVF & R. 

Councilor Ewing says a team has been formed that is working through “facts.” Says she is still gathering facts. Says she can’t raise her hand for or against TVF& R until she has more info. 

Forest Grove Interim fire chief Patrick Fale, who is from TVF & R, says he knows of no interest by that agency to expand into Western Washington County, Oregon. Says there is a meeting in February about future of fire departments in this area. 

Now a question and suggestion about backyard burns from someone who suffers from lung issues. Mayor is clarifying current regulations. 

Mayor says the Forest Grove sustainability commission needs to look into a year-round burn, if that really needs to happen. Says advisory commissions need to advise. Council member Ewing is now weighing in. 

Council member Ewing is now talking about “equitable” issues regarding people who need their fireplaces for warmth, older people who cannot afford to get rid of yard debris any other way. 

And now the obligatory grocery store question. Paul Downey is answering, but I have no idea what he’s talking about. Sorry, folks. Something about a developer, a grocery store, affordable housing, etc. 

MC is now about to list all of the questions relating to the Officer Teets situation (see my earlier tweet with link to the story). Notes that, because of the legal nature of the outstanding issue, some things won’t be answered at this meeting. 

Interim chief is noting there are two different investigations – one regarding Officer Teets, one regarding the response by the other Forest Grove officers. Notes he can’t say much more because it’s a current investigation. 

Question regarding make-up of CPAC and why there’s not a member of the chamber or business. I think – I was typing and missed both the question and answer. Sorry. 

CPAC seems to not yet be meeting regularly. They haven’t set a regular meeting. It sounds like they’ve had only one meeting. 

Question someone has submitted, similar to what I have submitted, still not answered: “Do you know if any of your police officers are involved in domestic terrorist groups in their personal lives such as proud boys etc
And what are you doing to check this?” 

councilmembers are now lauding the CPAC & the interim chief instead of answering the questions submitted. This has gone on for several minutes, celebrating Forest Grove CPAC instead of addressing questions. 

Now again answering questions on diversity training. Interim chief is again talking about systemic bias in society but not systemic racism in police departments, specifically. No questions related to this have been addressed (I am making a list of them). 

Comment and discussion regarding hiring and diversity. No specifics, just general comments about turnover and recruitment. 

A question in regarding food banks and how the city is supporting them. I’m not going to tweet the response. Sorry, my fingers are getting tired. 

Reading through the Q & A. Someone, maybe more than one person, is posting racist comments, attacks on the “political left.” His/her comments are all anonymous, of course. So disturbing. But absolutely representative of some people in Forest Grove, Oregon. 

Someone asked how to volunteer during the pandemic. You have to freakin’ be kidding me. Did anyone reference me? No. Do they know about me? Yes. So, frustrating. What I posted on the Q & A “volunteering during the pandemic? If only there was someone in the community was an expert in volunteering, including virtual volunteering (sigh). Who writes and blogs extensively on this subject specifically. (sigh).”

They are asking my question – might be the last one. Here it is: “Research is showing that a lot of police departments have members that are white supremacists and/or identify as “sovereign citizens.” Does either (fire or police) department have screening, interview…” 

“… social media and supervision practices and policies in place that would help prevent such people from becoming a part of the ranks and would help identify such people who may already be a part of either department?” 

Interim chief says only that the they look at social media activity. Did not address the question at all. 

Mayor says the city has “taken a stand” regarding “hate.” Says they need to have that attitude all the time. Feels good that they’ve had conversations with groups. But still hasn’t answered the question regarding how white supremacists are identified in the ranks. 

Council woman Ewing is now making statements about these difficult times. 

Me speaking now: I encourage all of you who asked questions about identifying members of the proud boys, sovereign citizens, etc. in the police department to attend the next Forest Grove city council meeting and ask them AGAIN. & to write them directly, again, to the city. 

Chair is trying to get the participants to please address the questions regarding membership in proud boys, sovereign citizens, etc.

Interim chief says social media review & interviews of new hires addresses this. Interim chief is implying that social media monitoring of police officers is ongoing. Now Council Wenzel is celebrating how well the town meeting has gone, staff that helped, etc. 

Meeting over. Survey at the end. Hope lots took it. With all my problems with how some questions were not answered, I have to give kudos to Forest Grove, Oregon for doing this meeting. Lowell Greathouse was a terrific MC – WELL DONE, sir! & now, to walk my dog. 





Volunteering to help national public lands cleanup after shutdown

Leave a reply

Updated February 1, 2019, at the bottom of the blog entry:

The House and Senate have passed a bill to reopen the government until February 15, and the President is expected to sign it – it may be signed by the time this blog is published.

The impact of the shut down on US public lands – national parks, national forests, national monuments and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land – is still being assessed, but we already know, per numerous press reports and social media reports by visitors, that it’s been bad: trash, graffiti, plant destruction, trail destruction and more.

Official groups that volunteer on US public lands have all been somewhat or entirely inactive as well during the shutdown because they are under the auspices of official partnerships with federal offices, and their liaisons have all been out during the shutdown. Many have been making plans during the shutdown on what to do immediately when the shutdown ends, and many will be starting activities ASAP to address the damage that’s been done to national public lands.

If you want to help volunteer in the next two weeks in particular to address the damage on US public lands during the shutdown, look for “Friends of…” groups that support specific national parks, national forests, etc. You can find these using Google, Bing and Facebook. Check their social media accounts for updates on what their immediate volunteering activities will be and apply to volunteer via their web sites. If they don’t have a way to fill out an application on their web site, email them and ask how you can become a part of their efforts.

These groups do not provide transportation to the public lands they support, nor do they provide accommodations – that means if, say, you want to help at the Grand Canyon, you have to get yourself to the Grand Canyon, find and pay for a hotel or motel room somewhere, etc., all paid for by you. If you decide you want to join in on these volunteering efforts, you need to be prepared to be self-funded and get to wherever the group wants you to be on your own.

You also need to apply to become an official volunteer with any volunteering group you want to help – don’t just show up at the gates of a national park, national forest, etc., and say, “Here I am!” These groups have information on their web sites on how they do this. You may want to apply to volunteer with more than one group – I have no idea if they are getting lots of applications or very few, nor any idea if you will get a quick response, or any response at all.

These groups could all be shut down again on Feb. 15, if no more permanent legislation is passed.

Also, remember that these groups need help year-round – when there’s not a shutdown happening. Many would welcome your support running their gift shops (which raise money for their efforts), building and restoring trails, leading groups and more.

Update: I curated tweets sent by various people and organizations about #volunteers helping on public lands – national parks, forests, monuments, BLM land, etc. – during the 2018-2019 US Federal government #shutdown. The tweets have a lot of links to news articles. I’ve posted this list of curated tweets to Wakelet.

One of the social messages that went viral during this shutdown was a video of a group of spontaneous, unaffiliated community volunteers being told they had to stop cleaning up in the Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee. Again: official groups that volunteer on US public lands had to be inactive during the shutdown because they are under the auspices of official partnerships with federal offices, and their liaisons were all out during the shutdown. The park worker or law enforcement person or whoever it is in the video did a very poor job of trying to say this in explaining why the people had to stop trying to clean up the park, and his explanation left these community members confused and angry. What he should have said was this:

Thank you. I know you all really care about this park and it’s bothering you to see trash and other debris laying around. These are public lands, your lands, and of course, you feel like you want to clean them up. However, even when the government isn’t shut down, even when there is staff in the parks, people cannot just show up at the park and “volunteer” here. We don’t allow people to spontaneously volunteer, without any formal affiliation with our park, because of liability risks and because of the risk, however small, that unsupervised volunteers will do damage. I so appreciate what you are doing, but park policy says you need to stop. Here is the name of the person you can call the day after the shutdown stops so that your group can volunteer.

Of course, if you’ve watched the video, based on the logic used by the worker, all those unaffiliated volunteers had to do was say, “Oh, we’re not volunteers. I’m an individual citizen enjoying the park and this is how I choose to enjoy it.”  They might have gotten away with it.

Sadly, there have been cases where even “official” volunteers on public lands have caused damage. For instance, 30 miles of dirt trails and primitive roads in Deschutes National Forest in Oregon were deliberately wrecked in 2014 by unsupervised volunteers who were supposed to be doing necessary, environmentally-appropriate trail maintenance. They caused more than $200,000 in damage.

Also see:

A letter to ODOT

Leave a reply

Today, February 25, 2018, I submitted a letter to a letter to the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) via the ODOT comment form.  I also submitted a copy to the city council of the town where I live, to my representative on the Portland Metro government, and to my state Senator and state Representative.

Here is what I wrote:

Like much of the Portland metro area, Forest Grove and Cornelius are going through rapid, massive development. Forest Grove alone is adding a significant number of apartment buildings, many along Highway 8. These new residents pouring into Forest Grove won’t drive everywhere they need to go: many will want to walk, to ride bicycles and to take mass transit to their destinations. Yet, to do those three activities on or across Highway 8 is treacherous, and with increased traffic, it is about to become even more so.

Highway 8, starting from Oak Street in Forest Grove to 26th Avenue in Cornelius, is NOT safe for pedestrians or bicyclists:
— speed limits go from 25 to 40 in different parts of this 2.3 mile stretch of road.
— several points along the road have no sidewalks at all.
— bicycle lanes are not protected
— there is no prominent signage reminding drivers of the very heavy pedestrian traffic crossing this street at the many intersections on this road

Making a road more appropriate and safer for bicyclists and pedestrians is often not a matter of more money but, rather a matter of spending priorities. I fear that, without ODOT making it a priority to drastically improve this stretch of road for pedestrians and bicyclists, there are going to be many tragedies in our future – beyond deaths that have already happened.

There is a plethora of free advice from a variety of organizations on how to make streets safer for people walking and riding bikes. Will ODOT make a commitment to the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists on this stretch of road, or will its priority continue to be getting as many cars as possible through the area as fast as possible?

Trusting teen volunteers with leadership – would you?

2 Replies

WA Co Oregon sheriff logoI love it when an organization’s representative says that the reason they involve volunteers for particular tasks is “because volunteers are the best people for those tasks.” Not because of the myth that volunteers are “free” and “save money.”

But it’s so rare that I hear anyone say that.

I had one of these rare moments recently at the Washington County, Oregon Sheriff’s citizens academy, when the topic of the Sheriff’s Office search and rescue team was discussed in detail. The positions on the sheriff’s primary search and rescue team are reserved for teen volunteers. You read that right: THESE POSITIONS ARE RESERVED FOR TEEN VOLUNTEERS. Not paid adults, not reserve deputies – TEEN VOLUNTEERS. This team is the PRIMARY search and rescue team for this area – not an auxiliary. The search and rescue team looks for (and finds!) lost people, downed aircraft, evidence in major crimes, and more. The members are highly trained and particularly-trained. They must be 14 to 19 years old, meet all of the minimum requirements, complete the intensive training academy, and make a minimum 2-year commitment.hey “age out” of the program in December following their 21st birthday.

So why is such an important, essential, life-saving, high-responsibility investigative program reserved for teen volunteers? I asked the organizer during the presentation. His reply, according to my notes, “Because they will do absolutely anything. They will get down on their hands and knees, side by side, and slowly crawl across a football field in cold weather, literally with their noses to the ground, looking for a bullet casing linked to a crime. They will thoroughly search an area with young, sharp eyes. They will come when called, even when it’s 3 a.m., and get right to work, and they will follow directions exactly – and in this work, they MUST follow their directions and training exactly. Because we can absolutely rely on them.”

Yes, of course there are older people that could be just as committed… I hear those “we shouldn’t make sweeping generalizations about different age groups!” thoughts out there, I do. And I’m sure there are other reasons that these teens make such great volunteers – because they don’t have family commitments, they don’t have job commitments, they have the flexibility and support to do these intensive activities, they aren’t plagued by the physical constraints that many of us older folks are (I can’t barely get up off the ground anymore, let alone crawl across such), and on and on.

But consider how refreshing it is to hear someone talk this way about teenagers. In all of my time working in volunteer management research and consulting – two decades – I have never heard anyone say that teenagers were the best people for a particular volunteering role. I’ve just heard over and over why teens cannot do this or that, or shouldn’t do this or that, why older volunteers don’t want to work with them, how they don’t take their commitment seriously, and on and on and on.

If the Washington County Sheriff’s Department thinks so highly of teen volunteers, and you don’t… if they are having such great success with teen volunteers in such high responsibility roles and you aren’t… what is it that they might be doing that you aren’t?

Citizens academy – intensive community engagement

Leave a reply

WA Co Oregon sheriff logoLast year, I wrote a blog in defense of police departments involving volunteers while also affirming that many police departments need drastic overhauls to be more transparent, better serve their communities and to cultivate trust with the communities they serve.

Since moving back to the USA in 2009, I’ve seen several notices from various police agencies offering a citizens academy. These aren’t mere open houses, where members of the public come in to meet a few officers, take a tour of a station, have some snacks and take a selfie with a uniformed officer. These academies take place over several weeks, with citizens receiving detailed presentations about individual programs within the department – tactical teams, narcotics investigation teams, crisis response teams, patrol, robotics, incarceration, arrests processing, etc. – and these presentations aren’t by interns or admin assistants but the officers running those programs and working on the front lines. Attendees ask questions, sometimes contentious questions (yeah, me, as usual), and officers are on-the-spot to respond.

I signed up for such a citizen’s academy by the Washington County, Oregon sheriff’s department. It’s 14 sessions, over more than two months – every Tuesday night, and also all day on three Saturdays. There are almost 30 people in the academy; by my estimation, about a third in my academy are young people wanting to be police officers, more than half are retired people interested in how the police work and who have lots of time on their hands, and the rest of us, probably just six or so people, are what I would characterize as people who want to learn more because of both or professional work and our personal politics: a mental health professional, an advocate for the mentally ill, an employee at a school, a counselor in training and… me! We’re more than halfway through the academy.

I’m taking the academy for two specific reasons: first, as a consultant and researcher regarding volunteer engagement and communications, I’m talking to organizations about community engagement. While these academies are not volunteer engagement, they are most certainly community engagement, and I wanted to see such a model up close, first hand, to see how it works and to think about ways the idea might be exported to other, non-law enforcement agencies and even overseas. I think this model of community engagement forces a level of transparency across an agency, something in which many programs are great need. It’s not something that could be instituted overnight – it would require a cultural change at most agencies to institute something like this. I also would like to see police departments in transitional countries in particular, with reputations for police corruption and abuses, instituting their own citizen academies, jail tours, job shadows and ridealongs, but I can’t advocate for that in my work overseas if I haven’t experienced it myself.

Secondly, I’m a human rights advocate, and when I look at what happened in Ferguson, Missouri in particular, I am outraged. And I think about, and sometimes see, police abuses worldwide – corruption in police departments, under the guise of fees, fines, and law enforcement (like forfeiture), happens in many places globally. Reflecting a theme I said in a blog earlier, I would love to see Black Lives Matter advocates and police reform advocates signing up for these citizen academies at police and sheriff’s departments across the USA, as well signing up for jail tours and job shadows and ride alongs with patrol officers – I think it could create more understanding and change for both the police and the community.

I am really enjoying this academy, but there are two things missing: first, there should have been a survey of participants at the very first session about their perceptions of both the sheriff’s department and police and jails in general. Then, at our last class, they should give us that survey again. It would be fascinating to see if perceptions are changed. Secondly, the problems with the sheriff’s department regarding its own officers and other staff, such as this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or this or this, or this – all happening in the last three years – have not been mentioned – just a comment about “We’ve taken a beating in the media.” We really should have heard from someone in charge of internal investigations and about efforts to create a culture of respect within the department for women, teens, immigrants, etc.

Presenters should also keep in mind that they are talking to a diverse group in terms of feelings about the police and government. For instance, a few people in the class have had incarcerated family members and others on the other side of the criminal justice system; jokes about people in the throes of a drug aren’t always appreciated by such. Presenters are certainly entitled to share their opinions – I really like knowing where they stand – but they might not want to assume the silence of some people in the room means agreement.

I’d also like to see a similar academy for officers and jail staff themselves, done by various nonprofit and government agencies that serve crime victims (and those frequently targeted by criminals), such as domestic violence shelters, mental health providers, rape counseling centers, nonprofits working with immigrants, etc., that serve those that have been arrested and incarcerated, such as nonprofits working with gang members, programs serving people with alcohol and drug abuse problems, etc., and those that are engaged in local human rights and racial justice issues  That would force a level of face-to-face detail and discussion and even debate that’s very much needed in many communities.

All that said – HUGE kudos to the Washington County, Oregon’s Sheriff’s Department for doing this academy. It’s very well done, it’s a model for other police departments looking to do something like this, I’ve really enjoyed it so far, I’m really looking forward to the rest of the presentations and experiences, and I highly recommend it.

In case you are wondering, yes, I did a ride along with a deputy. I went on a shift from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. It was fascinating. I hope I wasn’t too annoying with my many, many questions.

Update April 10, 2016: The Oregonian today published a profile of the death in 2014 of an inmate in the Washington County jail.

Update August 10, 2016: The first known citizen’s police academy held in the USA was established in Orlando in 1985, according to a report from the Criminal Justice Institute. Last year, the International Association for Chiefs of Police listed such academies as an integral way to improve community relations. Establishing these courses was also named as an action item in the final report from the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The National Citizens Police Academy Association explains the importance of the courses on its website.

Also see this info and resources regarding police corruption in other countries:

Handbook on police accountability, oversight and integrity from United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Policy Briefing Paper: Gender Sensitive Police Reform in Post Conflict Societies from United Nations Women.

Ukraine replaces entire police force to beat corruption

Corrupt Mexico Police Concentrated in 10 States

Bulgaria Launches Ambitious Plan to Curb Police Corruption

Nigeria Police Extortion: Buhari Warns Against Corruption In National Force

OPB & Congress Think Volunteers are Free

Leave a reply

It’s bad enough that more than 30 miles of dirt trails and primitive roads in Deschutes National Forest in Oregon were deliberately wrecked in 2014 by unsupervised volunteers who were supposed to be doing necessary, environmentally-appropriate trail maintenance, causing more than $200,000 in damage and who, according to this story on OPB News, are still being allowed to do trail maintenance.

But the comments in the OPB story by politicians and others about the role of volunteers has my blood boiling, not to mention that OPB did not call any volunteer management experts, such as those that are a part of the Northwest Oregon Volunteer Administrators Association , to find an Oregon-based professional manager of volunteers to talk to, to find out about the vast amount of volunteer management resources and expertise that could help make things better and about the very high standards of various volunteer engagement programs. Or call Susan Ellis, the world’s foremost trainer and publisher regarding the management and support of volunteers. Or ME, right here in Oregon and registered on the OPB Public Insight Network to offer commentary regarding volunteer engagement!

The National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act, sponsored by Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, has been proposed recently in the USA Congress. It would strongly encourage government agencies to increase volunteer involvement in trail maintenance, but it doesn’t include funding for agency oversight of volunteers – it doesn’t include any money for volunteer management, for recruiting volunteers, screening them, supervising them, etc. Why does it lack such funding? Well, U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon, a co-sponsor of the act, in his comment to OPB, shows exactly why:

“We don’t have the resources at the federal level to maintain these trails. And yet there’s a group of volunteers out there willing to do the work.”

Could you hear the unspoken “for free” at the end of Walden’s sentence? I could! In short: We have all this work to do. Let’s get some people to work for free to do it. That is a great summation of the National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act. And as any seasoned manager of volunteers or trainer knows, that’s a JOKE we frequently tell at conferences and workshops when trying to show what bad volunteer management looks like. Because NO ONE volunteers for that reason, and because of the implication that volunteers are free – and we know volunteers are NEVER free. Someone has to pay for the volunteers to be appropriately recruited, screened, trained, supervised and supported – otherwise, you end up with tragic consequences similar to what happened in Deschutes National Forest- or worse.

That’s the crux of all these stories from OPB about what happened in Oregon and about this pending bill: volunteers save money! That’s why they are involved!

Here’s a proposal for those managing public lands, and something OPB should consider in future stories about any volunteer engagement, good or bad, at any agency: maybe volunteers are actually the best people to undertake certain activities, like running campgrounds, teaching about Leave No Trace principles and staffing the front desks of ranger stations, not because they are unpaid, but because such involvement allows members of the public to experience first-hand how public lands are administered and how to support the public in experiencing them. Or because of the particular passion or approach volunteers bring to the task that paid employees might not. Or because members of the public might like interacting with a volunteer, rather than someone paid to be there. Or because volunteer involvement is per an organization’s commitment to create opportunities for the community to participate in the org’s work and offer feedback that isn’t financially-based (they aren’t being paid) and endorse the importance of public lands through their investment of time. Say volunteer involvement is part of an organization’s commitment to both transparency and in creating opportunities for community investment in its work. Involve volunteers because it allows people to be involved in the administration and enjoyment of public lands without having to give up whatever they do professionally. Those are reasons that INSPIRE people to volunteer – not, “we have all this work to do, please come do it.”

Emphasizing the money saved in involving unpaid staff also tends to create hostilities with paid staff, who are often angry at the idea of volunteers being involved in order to eliminate paid positions (and they SHOULD be angry at such comments!). The links at the end of this blog explore this and other dangers in emphasizing that the primary reason to involve volunteers is because they aren’t paid.

Instead, organizations that administer public lands should create a mission statement for your volunteer engagement that has NOTHING to do with saving money. And learn to talk about the value of volunteer engagement. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t involve dollar figures.

Oh, but wait, there’s more…. there’s the comments in the story from Andy Stahl, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, a national watchdog organization. First up from him:

“Relying on volunteers, as well-intentioned as they are, doesn’t always yield good results.”

The implication, of course, is that volunteers are unreliable, can’t be trusted, are incompetent, etc., and that paychecks are magical and make people better workers – thus, only paid employees can do such work properly! Here’s what the quote SHOULD say, to be accurate:

Relying on untrained, unsupervised volunteers, as well-intentioned as they are, doesn’t always yield good results.

And we could substitute the phrase “paid employees” for “volunteers,” and the new sentence would be accurate as well.

Mr. Stahl also made my head explode with his outrageous statement:

“it would be nice if we could hold volunteers to high standards, for even acceptable ones, but you get what you pay for.”

What an insult to every volunteer firefighter, every volunteer emergency rescue person, every Peace Corps member, and every other volunteer out there that goes through hours and hours and hours of training, over many weeks, even months, often right alongside professionals, to master the skills necessary to do their very serious, even dangerous work. These volunteers are held to high standards – and volunteers who can’t meet those standards are FIRED. They are removed from service, just like a paid employee. That loud “bam” you heard if you were listening to the OPB story in Oregon? It was me, hitting the table in front of me out of outrage over this shameful, insulting statement. My dog is still terrified of me over that.

Kevin Larkin, district ranger for the Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District in the Deschutes National Forest, had to learn of the vital importance of the basics of volunteer management the hard way. He says now, “It’s not as simple as welcoming a volunteer through the door, handing that person a shovel and saying, ‘Go do good work. There’s direction, guidance and attention that’s needed.”

Oh, Mr. Larkin, there are vasts amounts of resources that could have helped you manage and support these volunteers right from the get go. Some resources are free. Many aren’t, but they cost much, much less than $200,000. I wish you had known about them, and I wish you had the funding to tap into them – the books, the workshops, the conferences… even university-level certificate programs on managing volunteers.

Congress must realize volunteers aren’t free, and that there will be financial costs in involving volunteers in trail maintenance on US public lands – and that they are going to have to fund those costs. Otherwise, we’re going to have much bigger bills in terms of trail damage – and worse. I’ve created this petition at Change.org, calling on the bill’s co-sponsors to amend the act so that it provides the resources necessary for this increased volunteer engagement on public lands to be successful. If you are in the USA, or you are a USA citizen abroad, please read over the petition, consider signing it, and share it with your network!

And OPB: next time you are doing a story about volunteers, please call me, or the Northwest Oregon Volunteer Administrators Association, to find a volunteerism expert to comment on your story, give you guidance, etc.

Also see Volunteers trying to help on their own, a blog about how DIY “trail improvements” by unsanctioned, unsupervised volunteers are causing serious damage to a nature preserve, and what to do if you discover that an official volunteer of your organization is doing activities in the name of your organization but outside of the approval of your program.

For more on the subject of the value of volunteer or community engagement:

Using volunteerism to build clients’ skills

Leave a reply

graphic by Jayne Cravens representing volunteersPerhaps your organization has volunteers that help your employees or that help clients. But have you thought about volunteer engagement as a central part of your initiative’s program delivery? Have you thought about your clients in volunteering activities, as volunteers themselves, as a way to meet your organization’s mission?

Here’s an example: Adelante Mujeres is a nonprofit in Western Washington County, Oregon, about 30 minutes west of Portland. It provides education and empowerment opportunities to low-income Latina women and their families, in order to ensure their full participation and active leadership in the community. Its Chicas Youth Development works with more than 400 Latina students, grades three through 12, with the goal of instilling the importance of community leadership and civic engagement, and cultivating their skills for school, for future studies, for careers, and for life. The students, as volunteers, provide tech help at public libraries, pick up trash, plant trees and engage in other activities around the area. The participants in this program are role models for younger girls in the community, encouraging those younger girls to become volunteers, and leaders, themselves. The Chicas program has been selected as a 2015 Oregon Governor’s Volunteer Award Winner.

Here’s a theoretical example: a nonprofit serving people who are homeless could invite those clients to volunteer with the organization, or could work to help them volunteer at other organizations, so that they can build their skills, accomplish things that can be put on a résumé, and meet people that could be potential references for jobs.

Here’s anoter: a nonprofit that helps combat veterans re-integrate into society could help organize group volunteering activities so these clients can engage in a social activity together and have a positive result at the end of the day.

Too often, volunteerism is talked about only as something to supplement the work of paid staff, or as outsiders helping clients. By contrast, this other type of volunteering is integrated into a nonprofit’s program, into its mission-based activities. Volunteering is offered as an activity for clients to undertake themselves, as a part of accomplishing whatever it is a nonprofit wants to accomplish.

Congrats to Adelante Mujeres for this recognition of its outstanding program. And if you have other examples, please share them in the comments!

Also see

List of resources related to volunteering as a contributor to employability, compiled as a part of Internet-mediated volunteering – the impact for Europe, a paper and wiki I researched and compiled as part of the The ICT4EMPL Future Work project, a European Union initiative that aimed to inform policy of new forms of work and pathways to employability mediated by ICTs. The overall ICT4EMPL project produced a series of reports on the state of play of novel forms of internet-mediated work activity: crowd-sourced labour, crowdfunding, internet-mediated volunteering and internet-mediated work exchange (timebanks and complementary currency).

Ideas for Leadership Volunteering Activities – A long list of ideas to create or lead a sustainable, lasting benefit to a community, recruiting others to help and to have a leadership role as a volunteer. These can also be activities for a Capstone project, the Girl Scouts Gold Award, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (U.K.), a mitzvah project, or even scholarship consideration.

Volunteering in pursuit of a medical, veterinary or social work degree / career – a guide to volunteering activities that will help build your skills and give you experience applying skills to work in these fields.

Nov. 11, 2015 update: Team Rubicon “seeks to provide our veterans with three things they lose after leaving the military: a purpose, gained through disaster relief; community, built by serving with others; and self-worth, from recognizing the impact one individual can make.” It does this through volunteering, uniting the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams.

June 26, 2016 update: The Washington County, Oregon Sheriff’s Department has a search and rescue team and membership is reserved for teen volunteers. Participants learn leadership skills, basic First Aid, some first responder skills, the basics of police investigations and more, and become eligible for college  scholarships. 

Oct. 23, 2019 update: High school students in New  York state studying building trades and construction participated in state and federal parks systems historic preservation projects as volunteers via HistoriCorps, a nonprofit organization who organizes volunteers to save and sustain historic places for public benefit. The students are helping to preserve the history of the nation’s public lands while also receiving an important real-world, hands-on education. Also see: Volunteering on public lands in the USA (national parks, national forests, national monuments, federally-managed historic sites, Bureau of Land Management land, state parks, wetlands, etc.)

Yes, I love court-ordered community service folks

2 Replies

graphic by Jayne Cravens representing volunteersThe Oregon Volunteers Commission for Voluntary Action and Service recently hosted meetings all over the state of Oregon with representatives from nonprofits, religious organizations and government agencies that involve volunteers, and volunteers themselves, to gather information to use in the 2016-18 Oregon State Service Plan and prepare a report for the Oregon Legislature on how to strengthen volunteerism and engagement.

I attended the Washington County meeting. Not many people attended, unfortunately, but the attendees that were there were enthusiastic and ready to work. The second best part of the meeting, for me, was watching one of the commission board members begin to realize just what a pain in the neck requests to nonprofits from corporations for group volunteering activities can be.

The best part of the meeting, for me, was when Sarah Delphine of Hillsboro Parks & Recreation said she loved working with court-ordered community service folks, and I immediately demanded a high-five. Because, for the most part, I love them too. I’ve had good experiences with them as online volunteers.

Oh how that point of view puts me on the outs with so many managers of volunteers! There are regularly rants on various online groups from people that hate working with court-ordered community service folks – or anyone being required to provide community service, including students volunteering as part of a class assignment. “They aren’t really volunteers! I shouldn’t have to work with them!” Gnashing of teeth, pulling of hair…

I approach management of volunteers as community engagement. I’m not just trying to get work done; I’m trying to build relationships and engage with the community, however I might define the community. Organizations I work for often want to engage a diversity of community members – and if they don’t, it’s something I push very hard for. And that includes engaging with community members who are far from perfect.

Let me be clear: I’m not going to involve anyone as a volunteer, online or onsite, that I don’t think is appropriate for the organization, court-ordered or not. I’m not going to create a volunteering assignment just to involve a particular kind of person or a particular group if I don’t think that assignment has real value to the organization where I’m working. I will tell a volunteer – or a group of volunteers, even from a very well-known Fortune 500 corporation – “No, I don’t think we can accommodate you as a volunteer. You might try looking on VolunteerMatch for something else.” My goal is to serve the mission of the organization, and that often means saying no to someone who wants to volunteer. I won’t lower the standards of the organization for anyone.

That said, I’ve worked with about half a dozen online volunteers that were ordered to perform community service by the court, and all have been terrific. And all were VOLUNTEERS, and I treated them as such.

Not everyone who has contacted me to volunteer online to fulfill a court order has ended up volunteering with me. Most disappear after I write them back – just as most people that inquire about volunteering in general disappear. Why do most folks disappear? Because it’s so easy to say “I want to volunteer with you!” So easy to send that email, send that text, make that call. But it’s much harder to actually do it, court-ordered or not – it dawns on folks that, oh, volunteering, online or onsite, really does take time and effort, and they fade away, off to look at some other shiny something they read about online.

My first communication with every person that wants to volunteer notes, among other things, that they have to get permission from the court or their probation officer BEFORE they start volunteering with me if they are wanting to volunteer to fulfill such an obligation. Many times, they don’t get the permission – the court or probation officer says no. So that’s another factor that’s kept the numbers of court-ordered folks I’ve worked with quite low. But for the half a dozen folks who did get permission to volunteer online with me: they were terrific volunteers. They got the assignment done, they did the assignment correctly, they did it on time, they stayed in touch – and, in addition, they volunteered more hours than they had to by the court. One guy stuck around for a few months doing small online assignments for me, going far beyond anything the court had asked for. And I thanked them, just like I did with any volunteer: they got listed on a web page that named them and what they did, along with all other volunteers, they got an email thank you from me, they got invited to focus groups, and on and on.

I really want to help people doing court-ordered service to volunteer. That’s why I created a web page specifically to help guide them. And that’s why I created a web page of where to find virtual volunteering & home-based volunteering with established nonprofits – because there are so many companies out there claiming to give court-ordered community service folks the hours they need for a small fee (please do NOT pay a company for online community service!).

You can involve court-ordered community service volunteers without lowering your standards for volunteers. But don’t say no to someone who needs volunteering time for a court or probation just because its mandatory service, because it’s not pure volunteering – whatever that is. Put the person through all the same screening and orienting you do for any volunteer candidate. If they make the cut, bring them on board. If you see volunteer management as community engagement, as something so much more than just getting work done, there’s no reason not to.

vvbooklittleWant to know more about the realities of engaging volunteers online? Hey, there’s a book for that! The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook is available for purchase, as a hardback book or an e-book. You will not find a more detailed guide for using the Internet to support and involve volunteers! It includes extensive information on safety and confidentiality, for those wanting to use such as an excuse for not involving online volunteers, court-ordered or not – and has specific advice regarding working with court-ordered volunteers.

why you can’t find/keep volunteer firefighters

16 Replies

I’m one of the few – and maybe the only – consultants regarding volunteer engagement that regularly delves into the subject of volunteer firefighters. I’m not sure why most DOVIAs and other associations of managers of volunteers avoid the subject. Surely the fundamentals we volunteer management experts believe are essential to success in involving volunteers also apply to involving volunteer firefighters? Yet, go to a conference on volunteer engagement and you will find few, if any, workshops related to engaging and supporting volunteer firefighters. Go to a web site with resources about volunteer engagement, and you may not find any information about the particular environment of volunteer firefighting. Likewise, walk into a fire station which is staffed fully or partly by volunteer firefighters, and you probably won’t see any books related to volunteer management, in general, and few managers of volunteer firefighters attend DOVIA-related meetings or conferences.

This gap really bothers me.

I’ve been interested in the reasons fire stations involve volunteer firefighters, and the challenges faced in recruiting and retaining such volunteers, since 2001, when I started dating a volunteer firefighter in Germany. He’s now my husband (and now a volunteer firefighter in the USA). It’s been fascinating to compare Germany – with the highest number of volunteer firefighters, per capita, in the world – with the USA. Both are facing similar challenges regarding volunteer firefighters – and both have far more people complaining about “the way things used to be,” rather than addressing the realities of the day and leveraging our times many strengths to recruit, involve and support volunteer firefighters. Earlier this year, I compiled research and case studies regarding recruitment and retainment of volunteer firefighters & justifications for involving volunteer firefighters that do NOT relate to “money saved”. It was my tiny effort to get stations that are staffed wholly or partly by volunteers to quit complaining and start changing so they can flourish in the world we live in now.

I also try to track issues related specifically to volunteer firefighters that are talked about in the news. Recently, a colleague passed on two articles to me:

Without volunteers, rural fire districts wouldn’t exist, laments the lack of volunteers in several rural areas of Oregon, and blames the problem on the attitude of young people, with comments like:

  • Young people don’t believe in an expectation that they will volunteer for their community
  • “Most of the younger folks say, ‘We don’t have time,” or ‘We’re too busy with class,'”
  • “It’s hard to get the volunteers to show up (to calls)…It seems like on training night they have something else better to do. If it’s in the middle of the night, the younger guys would rather sleep, so it’s just two or three of us that show up on a regular basis.”
  • “They want to be firemen and (then) they see something they don’t like. Like a wreck.”

The article never interviews any current or former volunteers, to find out why they have volunteered, challenges to their volunteering, why they left, etc. It never interviews young people to find out their attitudes about volunteerism and community service – it just takes the word of a couple of guys that do not represent that demographic. And those comments wouldn’t make me want to volunteer there if I were in my 20s or 30s, as they obviously don’t like people from that generation – they say so! 

And in the same publication is this: Coos Bay trying to buck trend of declining volunteer firefighters. It attributes lack of volunteers to:

  • the community’s aging population
  • economic problems
  • stricter standards for volunteers regarding their training
  • lack of monetary compensation
  • busier lives
  • lack of social interactions – it’s just work to do, no fun aspects, like there used to be when you could drink alcohol in the stations

Again, no current or former volunteers are interviewed.

These articles also leave out some other factors that are, no doubt, affecting the numbers of volunteer firefighters:

  • Firefighters don’t fight fires all that much. They don’t even do rescues all that much. The vast majority of their calls are medical calls. They do far more ambulatory/paramedic work than they do true firefighting work. Ask your volunteer firefighters, current and former, which calls they find most appealing – most will tell you fire fighting. Perhaps it’s time for the USA to look into the German model, where a separate, dedicated agency handles emergency medical calls? That greatly reduces training costs for firefighters – as well as equipment costs – and means firefighters get to be, mostly, firefighters.
  • The national union for career firefighters has stated it is against volunteer firefighters and would like to see all volunteers eliminated and replaced with paid people. A career firefighter in a big city is not allowed to be a volunteer firefighter in the small rural area where he or she lives, because of union rules as well. Volunteers feel this animosity from some career firefighters, and it creates a very unwelcoming environment in many stations. Unless this animosity is addressed, and statements about volunteers being valued because they save money stop, the number of volunteer firefighters is going to continue to drop.
  • Firefighters haven’t changed how they recruit. AT ALL. A sign out in front of a station that says “Volunteers needed” just isn’t going to cut it anymore. If there are young people in your community, there are potential volunteer firefighters, and you have to go where THEY are. You also have to have an ONLINE volunteering application. You have to be posting videos on Facebook and YouTube and Twitter of your firefighters in action, and reminding people via social media what volunteers do, how to do be one, and WHY to be one. And you have to reach out to people that speak languages in addition to English to make sure they know about volunteering opportunities and how to qualify.
  • Many stations do a substandard job of responding to inquiries aboutvolunteering, and applications from potential volunteers. Are you sure that EVERY person that calls or emails the city, the county, or your station about volunteering as a firefighter is getting a prompt, courteous, encouraging response? And are you sure every application is being responded to rapidly? Read Volunteers needed, but are they wanted? and Fire station turns away volunteers – & how it could be different for more on this subject.

As for the lack of a social aspect among firefighters today, that is HUGELY important for volunteer firefighters, particularly those that are not volunteering as a part of career exploration/advancement. Those volunteers hear all about all the work that needs to be done – but without some kind of social aspect, they aren’t going to last long. Also, social gatherings help to build cohesion among firefighters that can have benefits later during crisis situations. Could your station have a regular, unofficial meetup at a favorite pub once a month for all off-duty firefighters to play some darts, shoot some pool and just hang out socially? Would leaders at your station organize firefighter-only gatherings in their homes, such as potlucks or lawn games, even just twice a year? Would someone organize a rafting trip or a day trip to do bungee jumping for any firefighters interested in such? Creating a social aspect for your firefighters is tricky: activities have to be entirely unofficial, entirely voluntary, and regularly done in order to cultivate the kind of brother and sisterhood you want among all of your firefighters, volunteer and career. But without making a consistent effort, your volunteers will most certainly drift away, tired of being asked only to provide labor, and receiving no real value in return.

There ARE potential volunteer firefighters out there, even in your small town. You might be hearing a lot about how people are preferring microvolunteering, where they volunteer for only a few minutes or hours once, and have no requirement to ever volunteer again, but the reality is that there are also a LOT of people who are hungry to connect, hungry for a deeper, more substantial activity that connects them with the community and causes they believe in. Volunteer firefighting can have a great deal of appeal to today’s young people. But if you don’t have a welcoming environment, if you aren’t trying to reach them where they are, if you aren’t using social media, and if you are just talking about all the work that has to be done and the obligations to be fulfilled, those young people are going to go elsewhere. And that’s a shame, because they have a lot of energy, talent, ideas and strengths from which your fire station could benefit. Are you ready to evolve to involve them?

Of course, the only way to know for sure about the challenges for volunteers in any one fire department or association is to survey both current and departed volunteer firefighters – and perhaps those that applied to volunteer but never completed the process. And this kind of survey should be done at least every other year. Make a list of questions you want to ask these current and former volunteers, and then have journalism students from the local high school or management students from the local college or university ask the questions of the current and former volunteers – volunteers are much more likely to speak freely if it isn’t to the fire chief. Have the students compile all of the answers, and share it freely, openly, and welcome comments from everyone on what is offered. That’s your starting point.

Also see:

If you have benefited from this blog or other parts of my web site or my YouTube videos and would like to support the time that went into researching information, developing material, preparing articles, updating pages, etc. (I receive no funding for this work), here is how you can help. 

My dream to create &/or teach an entire university course

Leave a reply

Me at Discover e-volunteering even in Warsaw, Poland 2014This year, or next year, I would love to create or co-create, and/or to deliver, an entire, semester-long course as a part-time or full-time instructor at a university or college, within any program that trains current or aspiring nonprofit managers, social workers, public sector workers, aid and humanitarian workers, etc. I would most like to do this onsite here in the greater Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, but I would welcome the opportunity to create and/or deliver an online course as well.

I have guest lectured many times at the university level, you can see my academic / research work at my profile on academia.edu, most of the academic articles that have cited my work regarding virtual volunteering are listed at my Google Scholar account., and I have done intensive trainings for thousands of people over the years. I think all of that qualifies me to create and/or deliver an intensive, practical, semester-long course at a university.

The courses I dream of creating and teaching:

  • communications for mission-based initiatives (nonprofit organizations, public sector initiatives, etc.): basic public relations functions, press relations, outreach to particular audiences, strategic communications (systematic planning and utilization of a variety of information flows, internal and external to an organization or program, to deliver a message and build credibility or a brand), using traditional print, synchronous and asynchronous online / digital communications and emerging digital technologies effectively, integrating the use of all information flows, addressing socially or religiously-conservative audiences, crisis communications, how to address misinformation / misunderstandings, how to deal with public criticism, measuring success in communications, etc.
  • community engagement / volunteer management for mission-based initiatives (nonprofit organizations, public sector initiatives, etc.): involving people from various local demographics as volunteers, from program supporters to advisers, and creating ways for the community to see the work of an organization firsthand. This would be beyond just a basic volunteer management 101 course that covers recruitment, data management, risk management, and other aspects of operational management.; it would also explore ethics, emerging innovations in volunteer engagement, building the capacity of the entire organization to involve volunteers, internal advocacy for volunteer engagement, volunteer engagement to directly support the organization’s mission, creating non-traditional opportunities for volunteers, etc.

How much do I want to do this? I’ve already written early drafts of those courses, with lesson plans and required reading outlined. Yes, that’s what I do in my spare time.

I enjoy teaching, and my goal in any training is to give participants tools that they can use immediately in their work, and to give students a base on which to further build and improve long after the class is over. Capacity-building is always central to any training or consulting work I do. Capacity-building means giving people the skills, information and other resources to most effectively and efficiently address an organization’s mission, and to help the organization be attractive to new and continuing support from donors, volunteers, community leaders and the general public.

I enjoy teaching, and I try to give my classes, online or onsite, a lively, participatory feel.

I have a profile at LinkedIn, as well as details on my own web site about my professional activities. I’m also happy to share my CV with you; email me with your request. If you have any specific questions about my profile, feel free to contact me as well. References available upon request as well.

And, of course, I’m still open to consulting. My consulting services are detailed here. I can deliver both onsite and online services. Also, I love to travel (especially internationally!).

Looking forward to hearing from any universities who might be interested! Questions welcomed!