Volunteer Impact

In 2022, 151 community member volunteers served on various boards and commissions, contributing over 2,078 hours of service.

In 2022, the Boulder Public Library had 653 volunteers who contributed 16,126 hours.

Impact:

• 2022 Preserved important pieces of local history. Volunteers cataloged 40 boxes of archival newspaper clippings and scanned over 2,000 archival photographs, making these materials more accessible to the public on the Carnegie Library website.

• Ensured access to library services to vulnerable community members. Over 75 Home Delivery volunteers gave 1600 hours providing library items directly to residences of those who are unable to leave their homes due to an age, illness, or disability reason.

• Provided welcoming spaces for adult learners in Conversations in English. Volunteer facilitators gave 1,038 hours leading online and in-person conversation sessions 6 days each week. In 2022, nearly 150 new participants joined the discussion groups to build fluency, confidence, and community. Over 350 adult English Language Learners have participated in our program since 2020.

• Delivered critical instruction in literacy and language to adult learners in the BoulderReads tutoring program. Tutors gave over 3,600 hours in training, preparation, and instruction. As a result, learners gained citizenship, improved employment, bought homes, read to their children, enrolled in college classes, received high school diplomas, voted, wrote poetry, and read their first books.

• Diverted from the landfill, made books available to community: approximately 70,000 used books were diverted from the landfill and made available to the community at a low cost through Paper & Spine Used Book Store

2022 Quotes:

• “I loved facilitating online zoom Conversations in English classes, due to the great variety and number of students we were able to involve, and how inclusive it was.” – Conversations in English Facilitator

• “I thoroughly enjoy the varied group of people I meet with every week for English conversation. I have gotten to know some of the individuals to a greater degree ... and it feels as though we genuinely enjoy each other's company and support. I greatly appreciate that this program is offered through the BPL. I feel it is a wonderful service ... greatly beneficial to those who participate.” - Conversations in English Facilitator

• “[Volunteering] feels like I'm making a difference in a single person's life...much more meaningful than a blind donation.”– Home Delivery Volunteer

• “My volunteer shift was something I looked forward to each week. It's a pleasure to give my time in such a calm and welcoming environment, and to support the library and the community in my own small way.” – Paper & Spine Used Bookstore Volunteer

• “I loved seeing the little kids all happy” – Summer of Discovery Volunteer

• “My favorite part of volunteering has been meeting the staff and other volunteers. The library helping builds community for Boulder; helping at the library builds community in my life.” - Summer of Discovery Volunteer

• “…once again you have matched me with a learner that I seem to have learned more from than she has learned from me. She moved into a new apartment in late December and she didn't have an internet connection for our first meeting in January, so we just chatted. So, she started telling me more about her life, it hasn't been easy, a series of challenging events have led her to where she is now. It would have been easy for her to give up, or blame her current circumstance on someone else, or be bitter, or negative, none of which she has. Amazingly, she has a wonderful positive attitude about life and an infectious laugh. Somehow, she is able to take all the difficult situations life has thrown at her and prosper. She hasn't or doesn't let it get her down. Amazing. I'm not sure I could have dealt with everything she has, and not let it get me down. So, once again I am learning from my learner.” – BoulderReads Tutor

• “My learner is Russian and Ukrainian so our recent conversations have dealt with the war in Ukraine, discussions of the build up to and consequences of the attack, and the safety of her family members. Very challenging times.” – BoulderReads Tutor

• “I wasn’t sure I’d be a good fit as a tutor, but then I had a feeling that I could be part of something larger. I’ve found literacy tutoring to be a way to connect, not only with words and language but with my inspiring learner and the BoulderReads Community!” – BoulderReads Tutor

In 2022, the City Manager's Office had 9 volunteers who contributed 1,620 hours of service.

Volunteers helped as Emergency Response Connectors and serving on the Police Oversight Task Force.

The city’s Housing and Human Services Department engaged 205 community members in volunteerism in 2022 and those volunteers donated a total of 2,353 hours of service to the department.

2022 Impacts:

Facilitators gave conflict resolution presentations at housing communities to help residents communicate more effectively and empower them to resolve their own disputes with neighbors, friends, and housing staff.

The Tenant Advisory Committee provided a forum for a largely unheard population to have a voice in local government and share input on landlord-tenant policy development in City of Boulder Department processes.

Volunteer Mediators assisted hundreds of parties in conflict to resolve their disputes amicably, avoiding potentially dangerous escalation of conflict and costly legal battles.

The city's Open Space and Mountain Parks had 1,630 volunteers in 2022 who contributed a total of 18,184 hours of service.

2022 OSMP Impacts:

Active On-going OSMP Volunteer Programs 2022

Raptor and Bat Monitors – Spent many field hours out on the land counting and reporting on animal presence and behavior for our staff ecologists to use while managing land for these species.

Visitor Ambassador, Trail Ambassadors and Bike Ambassadors –135 volunteers shared with the public advice and safety recommendations for trail use and Natural Resource protection. As well as reported problems to staff such as down trees and fencing.

Natural Resource Stewardship groups doing invasive weed pulling work and dog poop pickups to protect our ecosystems and for native species resiliency.

Education Naturalists – leading school and community programs on specific topics while sharing their passion of OSMP.

Wellness Volunteers – including one yoga volunteer, accessible bike helpers and a new partnership working with Pathways program at Boulder Community Health where 3 of our volunteers worked to share nature as a healing environment for the community.

OSMP One-Day Volunteer Projects (ODVP) 2022

In 2022 our program offered Climate Action Projects which had an introduction to how certain restoration projects are directly linked to Climate Action and carbon sequestration. This effort was a direct implementation of the Master Plan. Climate Action ODVP were developed with workgroups and recruited outwardly on our OSMP webpage and in Count Me In Boulder, and will be reported to OSBT and in the OSMP 2022 Volunteer Report.

Trails offers community One-Day Volunteer Trail Projects, serving corporations and organizations, and 12 “Trail work Tuesdays” were a new offering and popular this season. This team also focused on closing undesignated trails system-wide with volunteer groups. Trails works closely with local special user groups ranging from BMA, FCC, VOC and BCC to name a couple. The Watershed School (Teens) joined trails for 4 days on climbing access trail restoration and learned a great deal on the importance of stewardship through service learning.

Requests for One-Day Volunteer Projects (ODVP) from businesses and organizations increased both from requests as well as from OSMP generated community-based public projects such as litter cleanups, seed collections. (Now also on agriculture lands, wetlands, and riparian areas.) In addition, several individuals made longer-term commitments to steward the land. Check out the most recent OSMP Volunteer Spotlight that features an exemplary OSMP volunteer quarterly.

OSMP Testimonials:

• “I enjoy how grateful visitors are when you can provide them guidance on trails. It makes their experience more memorable and enjoyable. I feel they appreciate knowing there are knowledgeable and friendly "locals" ensuring everyone feels welcome on the OSMP trails.”

• “Favorite moments were when we entered into rich dialog on interpretation programs and people expressed how excited they were to see the natural world (or some aspect of it) in a new and inspiring way.”

• “I started volunteering with OSMP on the Bear team in 2007, because I love wildlife and I had seen many bears while hiking that year, and felt the need to educate to keep bears safe and give the public knowledge. OSMP staff has always been so supportive, so with their support and my love of educating kids, I became a volunteer naturalist in 2008 and my goal has always been to connect kids to nature. I feel at peace when I volunteer and I am appreciated by the children, teachers, families and OSMP. My love of hiking and nature led me to volunteer as a trail guide so that I could give back to the land that I appreciate so much. I like the connection with the community, and I could not do any of this without the amazing staff that have supported me for 15 years.”

Parks and Recreation engaged 1,198 volunteers in 2022, and volunteers contributed a total of 10,591 hours of service in 2022.

Impacts:

• Volunteers helped parks and recreation staff plant 16,000 tulip bulbs on the Pearl Street Mall.

• Volunteers supported the City of Boulder’s sustainability goals for water conservation by mulching and hand weeding flower beds throughout our parks system.

• Over 20 local businesses and organizations gave back to the community through company organized volunteer projects.

• Each volunteer at the Flatirons Golf Course contributed an average of 27 hours to help maintain the community course they love playing at.

• The Boulder swim community dove into volunteering this year at the spring opening and fall closing of Scott Carpenter Park Pool.

• 63 Park Champs volunteered independently, contributing over 1000 hours to the parks closest to their homes.

• Cyclists, disc golfers, and gardeners helped maintain recreation features throughout Valmont Park.

• Nature enthusiasts got involved in Boulder Park and Recreation’s natural lands through outreach education, bird watching, and prairie dog monitoring.

Testimonials:

• “Great group of people, satisfaction from doing something tangible for the community.”

• “I was weeding at the playground this summer when a young girl, perhaps 6 years old, insisted on helping me. Her mom was very supportive, so I weeded and the child picked up the weeds and put them in the garbage bag. She was actually a big help.”

• “I've enjoyed meeting the people involved! The onboarding system is very good!”

• “I strongly believe in volunteering and giving back to my community. I spend a lot of time outside, cycling, walking and hiking and am very sensitive to our impact on the outdoors environment. I like doing my part to preserve it.”

• “I wanted to be outside and contribute to the beauty of public spaces.”

• “A way to give back when pandemic affected budget, time outside with friends, knowing we would be making a noticeable difference and the environment around boulder res would look better.”

• “The staff is amazing!!! Some of the people were just very nice.”

• “I want to give back. I've been on the trails most every day for the past 22 years. A trail literally is behind my house. Meeting people and making new friends is so very important to me.”

In 2022, the Boulder Police Department had 47 volunteers who contributed 1,848 hours.