Volunteer: Client Services Committee Member

The Coalition provides a number of services for people, including children, experiencing homelessness. We are a volunteer led and operated organization. Everyone you meet here will probably be a volunteer, many of them serving many hours a month. This is not a one and done. We find that our best volunteers are those who care deeply about helping people experiencing homelessness. Those not passionate about the cause tend to move along at some point or get easily overwhelmed by other thing in life. Most people are attracted to our "Pay the Rent First" Program which provides first, last, and security to homeless families. All our family mentors are volunteers who are able to help mostly single mothers and young children get settled. Other priorities are assistance with fundraising, so we can house more families, education programs for specific groups and for members of the public, collaboration with other like-minded groups, advocacy, and volunteer training and development. Whatever your skill set, if you have time to help us, we can find work for you to do that will make a meaningful difference. We were incorporated in 1989 and received our 501(c)3 in 1992. Over the years our work has changed and will continue to be responsive to community needs. I will end by telling you that we desperately need volunteers for many different positions (except feeding the homeless on Thanksgiving or Christmas or any other day). Whatever your skills, if you have time to contribute and care about the cause, we can use you.

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We are first of all looking for people who care deeply about homelessness and poverty and are willing to put time and energy into doing something about this issue. We feel strongly that housing should be a human right and that the number of individuals and families without housing is a tragedy. We support the Homeless Bill of Rights and the Right to Rest. We do not believe in criminalizing homelessness. If you agree with us, then we could use your volunteer service as a member of our Client Services Committee.

This committee plans and carries out programs that benefit the homeless. Committee members are expected to do more than go to meetings. They are expected to volunteer for tasks discussed at the meeting. This committee meets the second Wednesday of every month at 6 00 p.m.. We have two Teams meetings and then an in-person meeting so over the course of a year that is 8 online/virtual meetings and 4 in-person meetings. Committee members must attend 2/3 of all meetings and volunteer for tasks in order to remain on the committee. Based on your skills and interest you may be assigned tasks from stuffing envelopes, to family mentoring, to designing program metrics, to writing news releases. There is so much to do it is incredible.

Sadly, volunteers often contact us and fail to show up or show up to one virtual meeting. We don't have time for that. Just learning about what we do will take you several meetings, getting to know the other members and the tasks will also take several meetings. We will invest time in training you and getting to know you. If you are not passionate about helping the homeless or if you really do not have the time but think it would be great if you did, then you probably are not right for this committee. We are a volunteer organization. Everything we do is done by incredible volunteers who are in this with their whole heart. About one in ten volunteers who email us actually show up and work hard. Those volunteers who do serve on this committee and work hard are often moved up to the Board and other positions.

You should expect this to take you 3-4 hours a month. You will need a computer and the ability to attend virtual meetings which usually means a microphone and camera as well. Ideally you will be located near central Broward County, FL as many of our in-person meetings are held at the West Broward Regional Library on Broward Blvd between University and Pine Island.

The main qualification for the Client Services Committee is strong desire to help individuals, children and families who are experiencing homelessness, familiarity with attending virtual meetings, and availability the second Wednesday of each month at 6 00 p.m. The right person for this task is someone who is able to work independently, able to create SMART plans, able to reach out to others when more help is needed and attend additional meetings as well. For example, if you sign up to become a family mentor to homeless families that need to be placed in housing, that group may have additional meetings and you would be required to all the family weekly and meet them in their home a minimum of monthly. The first week of being a Family mentor may be a full time job as you have to help the family find affordable housing, furniture, and many more tasks. If you volunteer to work on advocacy issues you will need to collaborate with other organizations and attend their meetings. If you sign up to help with the annual planning of community education you will need to devote time at home to preparing the plan. If all you can do is attend meetings, your efforts will not substantially benefit homeless families. Committee members are asked to volunteer for more than just meeting attendance. You are, of course, welcome to pick and choose which other commitments you make but we do expect you to make other co

This is a volunteer opportunity provided by VolunteerMatch, in partnership with LinkedIn for Good.