Immediate Volunteer Needs
Shovel-a-Spot
The City of Boulder is committed to multimodal transportation, including year-round access to bus transit. The city’s new Shovel-a-Stop Program is an effort to increase the number of bus stops cleared after each snow event. The current budget supports contractors hired by the city to clear approximately 40 high-ridership stops after snowfalls resulting in at least 2 inches of accumulation. This program aims to bolster that number with community volunteer support. Clearing bus stops helps prevent slips and falls and increases safety and accessibility for bus riders of all ages and abilities.
This program is a great opportunity for individuals, families, neighborhood groups or community organizations.
Ongoing Volunteer Programs
Adopt-A-Spot
You, or the organization you represent, can adopt a specific median, multi-use path, roadway, transit stop or pocket park for a period of one year (with the option to renew annually).
This option allows individuals and groups a volunteer opportunity to contribute to the beautifying of the public domain and overall community well-being. Volunteers can set their own schedule for this work. The City of Boulder will recognize participants for their contributions to keeping public property debris-free and enhancing the city’s overall aesthetics.
The city has a list of medians and right-of-ways that are eligible for adoption.
Sponsor’s Responsibilities:
- Commit to a one-year adoption period
- Visit the sponsored location at least monthly, or weekly for Transit Stops
- Pick up debris, weed, prune, trim and report observable problems
- Notify the Transportation Maintenance Division of planned cleanup dates for the arrangement of supplies and trash pick-ups
- Report back to staff the number of volunteers and the number of hours contributed for each visit through Count Me In site visit reports.
- For more information, see Policies, Procedures & Rules
- Review our City of Boulder Volunteer Handbook
Public Works Provides:
- A sign recognizing the individual or group as an Adopt-A-Spot sponsor (based on available funds, and location)
- Safety and procedures training
- Clean up supplies including bags, safety vests and work gloves
- Trash pick-up afterward (for Medians, Bikeways, Streets and Pocket Parks)
One-Day Volunteer Projects
Interested in volunteering to clean up an area, but don’t want to commit to a year?
One-day cleanups are a great way to organize a group team-building event and give back to the community. One day cleanups are available for:
- Multi-use paths
- Pocket parks
- Other right-of-ways maintained by the city
Please fill out the form below and a Public Works staff member will be in touch within a few days.
Request a Volunteer Project
Looking to give back in other ways? We value and encourage new ideas and innovative ways to keep Boulder beautiful. Submit your ideas to: VolunteerPW@bouldercolorado.gov and a Public Works staff member will get in touch to discuss.
Boulder's multi use path system is an expanding wonder of interconnections across the Boulder community. As such it is used by all the diverse groups who live, work and visit our city. Being a member of Shared Paths Boulder encourages me to do my part to keep the paths clear and friendly, and gives all users a sense that there is a shared community responsibility to do the same."
- Stephen Colby of Shared Paths, for the adoption program
Count Me In Boulder
The city recently launched Count Me In Boulder — a one-stop solution for citywide volunteer coordination and event management. The cloud-based system will save staff members, volunteers and patrons time and energy with intuitive features like automated hour tracking, self-reported site visits with impact-related measures, eLearning, activity registration, highly customizable reporting, world class training and support, and more.
Click on the tab below and take a minute to sign up and get started — all that's needed is your name and email address.
