The Cities of Service Coalition, an organization recently formed by the Rockefeller Foundation, announced that it would begin accepting applications for "Cities of Service Leadership Grants," which would be used to organize and promote volunteerism in 10 American cities. Available to any city of at least 100,000 residents and possessed of at least one college or university, the grants are intended to promote the impact and increase the amount of volunteerism and service in the winning communities.
The grants would be in the amount of $200,000 per city, and would be applied toward the cost of hiring a Chief Service Officer, who would serve as a liaison between the city’s mayor and volunteer groups. The CSO would be primarily responsible for drawing up a coordinated strategy to increase volunteerism in the grant-winning city.
Rockefeller Foundation president Judith Rodin said that "[d]uring difficult economic times, when it is important for communities to pull together, the Rockefeller Foundation is proud to help America’s mayors bring President Obama’s call to service to their own cities." The foundation characterized a related forthcoming federal program as the largest government investment in volunteerism since the Great Depression.
The first CSO in the nation was appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City in June of this year. Bloomberg praised the Rockefeller Foundation’s announcement, saying that that organization’s gifts "will enable ten cities to dramatically accelerate their local efforts to increase the amount and impact of service." Bloomberg stressed that, with more and more Americans in need of assistance, the potential positive impact of increased volunteerism was high.