Making Volunteers

Civic Life after Welfare's End

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Politics, Social Services & Welfare, Social Science, Sociology
Cover of the book Making Volunteers by Nina Eliasoph, Princeton University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Nina Eliasoph ISBN: 9781400838820
Publisher: Princeton University Press Publication: February 28, 2011
Imprint: Princeton University Press Language: English
Author: Nina Eliasoph
ISBN: 9781400838820
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication: February 28, 2011
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Language: English

Volunteering improves inner character, builds community, cures poverty, and prevents crime. We've all heard this kind of empowerment talk from nonprofit and government-sponsored civic programs. But what do these programs really accomplish? In Making Volunteers, Nina Eliasoph offers an in-depth, humorous, wrenching, and at times uplifting look inside youth and adult civic programs. She reveals an urgent need for policy reforms in order to improve these organizations and shows that while volunteers learn important lessons, they are not always the lessons that empowerment programs aim to teach.

With short-term funding and a dizzy mix of mandates from multiple sponsors, community programs develop a complex web of intimacy, governance, and civic life. Eliasoph describes the at-risk youth served by such programs, the college-bound volunteers who hope to feel selfless inspiration and plump up their resumés, and what happens when the two groups are expected to bond instantly through short-term projects. She looks at adult "plug-in" volunteers who, working in after-school programs and limited by time, hope to become like beloved aunties to youth. Eliasoph indicates that adult volunteers can provide grassroots support but they can also undermine the family-like warmth created by paid organizers. Exploring contradictions between the democratic rhetoric of empowerment programs and the bureaucratic hurdles that volunteers learn to navigate, the book demonstrates that empowerment projects work best with less precarious funding, more careful planning, and mandatory training, reflection, and long-term commitments from volunteers.

Based on participant research inside civic and community organizations, Making Volunteers illustrates what these programs can and cannot achieve, and how to make them more effective.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Volunteering improves inner character, builds community, cures poverty, and prevents crime. We've all heard this kind of empowerment talk from nonprofit and government-sponsored civic programs. But what do these programs really accomplish? In Making Volunteers, Nina Eliasoph offers an in-depth, humorous, wrenching, and at times uplifting look inside youth and adult civic programs. She reveals an urgent need for policy reforms in order to improve these organizations and shows that while volunteers learn important lessons, they are not always the lessons that empowerment programs aim to teach.

With short-term funding and a dizzy mix of mandates from multiple sponsors, community programs develop a complex web of intimacy, governance, and civic life. Eliasoph describes the at-risk youth served by such programs, the college-bound volunteers who hope to feel selfless inspiration and plump up their resumés, and what happens when the two groups are expected to bond instantly through short-term projects. She looks at adult "plug-in" volunteers who, working in after-school programs and limited by time, hope to become like beloved aunties to youth. Eliasoph indicates that adult volunteers can provide grassroots support but they can also undermine the family-like warmth created by paid organizers. Exploring contradictions between the democratic rhetoric of empowerment programs and the bureaucratic hurdles that volunteers learn to navigate, the book demonstrates that empowerment projects work best with less precarious funding, more careful planning, and mandatory training, reflection, and long-term commitments from volunteers.

Based on participant research inside civic and community organizations, Making Volunteers illustrates what these programs can and cannot achieve, and how to make them more effective.

More books from Princeton University Press

Cover of the book Nature by Nina Eliasoph
Cover of the book The Subject of Liberty by Nina Eliasoph
Cover of the book The Power and Independence of the Federal Reserve by Nina Eliasoph
Cover of the book Terrified by Nina Eliasoph
Cover of the book The Constrained Court by Nina Eliasoph
Cover of the book Traditional Chinese Architecture by Nina Eliasoph
Cover of the book The Reasons of Love by Nina Eliasoph
Cover of the book The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking by Nina Eliasoph
Cover of the book Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future by Nina Eliasoph
Cover of the book The New Global Rulers by Nina Eliasoph
Cover of the book Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization by Nina Eliasoph
Cover of the book How to Grow Old by Nina Eliasoph
Cover of the book Disjointed Pluralism by Nina Eliasoph
Cover of the book How to Win an Argument by Nina Eliasoph
Cover of the book Fugitive Democracy by Nina Eliasoph
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy