At the end of this month, I jet west to attend the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, June 22-24, 2009 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. As a native Angeleno, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I’ve only visited the city twice: once when I was 5 years old (and yes, I think I was actually scared when my dad swerved down Lombard Street) and once in college when I drove up the coast during spring break, “pulled over” in San Fran to find dim sum, and then turned around and drove back down PCH towards home.
I’m thrilled to attend this conference because of the large number of topics addressed. As the communications dude for an organization that mobilizes youth, I will attend workshops that focus specifically on the youth service movement. However what I like about conferences is that I can attend workshops not specifically addressing youth and apply the newly gained information to YSA’s constituents.
I’ll of course attend the workshop by YSA’s own Steve Culbertson (“Semester of Service: A Solution to Strategic Problems”) which will be fascinating because 2009 was the first year we provided grants to organizations to incorporate Semester of Service into their programming. This workshop is part of the youth track, sponsored by Bank of America, who also happens to be our Semester of Service sponsor.
As a former arts administrator – and still an arts guy at heart – I look forward to attending the “Civic Energy and the Arts” forum. As YSA staff reads grants from the field, sometimes we moan at “another painted fence” project. How can we use the arts to make authentic change in communities and education? How can service experiences help strengthen arts programs?
Finally, the MLK Day workshop also intrigues me. YSA was an MLK Day partner this year. This holiday was momentously redefined as it captured the enthusiasm of young people around the world who wanted to effect change in their communities. How will this day “on” evolve? How will MLK Day 2010 build upon the excitement of 2009?
I’ll continue to blog about this conference throughout the month of June and I’ll twitter from @bgryde. If you’d like to learn more about NCVS, you can also read the official conference blog at ncvs.blogspot.com or visit the conference website at volunteeringandservice.org.
