San Rafael, CA - The Marin County Board of Supervisors recently honored 170 volunteers and student interns who completed their service with the popular Marin County Civic Center Volunteers and Student Interns Program.
Lydia Kao of Novato (second from right) was one of dozens of volunteers and interns honored on January 5, 2016.
Honorees led library book clubs, patrolled parks, advocated for patients, counseled elders, organized documents for misdemeanor jury trials, provided social-media expertise, assisted at the law library, coordinated events, maintained trails in open space preserves, supported investigations, drove patients home from the hospital, performed clerical tasks, welcomed clients, and much more.
Anne Starr, Volunteer Coordinator for the Marin County Department of Human Resources, said this year’s honorees served in 15 departments and included project managers, mediators, editors, landscape designers, event coordinators, office aides, and attorneys. Their efforts, celebrated January 5 during the Board of Supervisors meeting, helped Civic Center Volunteers reach a record quarter-million service hours in 2014-15 fiscal year.
“Marin has a wealth of talented, civic-minded individuals, and we’re fortunate that many of them share their skills with local county government,” Starr said.
Student Internships Coordinator Joy Fossett said interns contributed excellent skills and added that she sees “more and more students wanting workplace experience that will help them define their future careers. They really want to know what a particular field is like, and internships allow them to test career paths so they can be ready for employment after graduation.”
One of the first centralized county volunteer programs in the United States, the Civic Center Volunteers program was launched by the Board of Supervisors in January 1979. The program was founded after implementation of California’s Proposition 13, which limited property tax revenues to counties and sparked a need for volunteers who supplement paid staff at every level, helping to maintain county services. Civic Center Volunteers allows the local government to experiment with new ideas and respond to resident needs.
Among the Civic Center Volunteers roles currently available are: English and Spanish tutors, clerical volunteers, photographer, trail maintenance team member, patient advocates, transcriptionists, web team aide, copy editor, theater usher, and administrative assistant. Assignments sometimes can be designed to meet the interests and skills of a prospective volunteer or intern.
To apply, visit the webpage or contact Anne Starr at 415-473-7167 and AStarr@marincounty.org for volunteering, and Joy Fossett at 415-473-7447 and JFossett@marincounty.org for student internships.