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Montana Office of Community Service
The Montana Office of Community Service was created by the 1993 Legislature at the Request of the Governor (MCA 90-14-101ff), in an effort to support community-based volunteer programs focused on addressing critical community needs. The vision of the Commission is to cultivate service as a lifelong “habit of the heart” for all citizens, and in particular, instill an ethic of community service in young Montanans.
Goals and Objectives for the 2009 Biennium
- Goal #1: Expand service opportunities for all Montanans.
- Enroll 1,000 National Service Members who will serve Montana Communities annually.
- Engage 10,000 community volunteers who will serve over 100,000 hours over the course of the biennium.
- Engage more Montanans to become tissue and organ donors in order to save lives and improve the quality of life for others.
- Demonstrate over 200 partnerships with community, faith based, disability advocacy, disaster and emergency service and Tribal organizations.
- Increase the number of service members who have disclosed a disability by 20%.
- Goal #2: Provide training and technical assistance for community and national service programs in Montana to ensure they have the capacity to support volunteers.
- Assist over 40 community agencies and more than 500 individuals in achieving skills to be proficient in sustaining a viable organization annually.
- OCS delivers Community Building Institute; an on-going skill based training conference.
- Increase awareness of volunteer opportunities and Civic Engagement at the Governor’s Conference by networking with statewide non-profit agencies. In addition the conference will include training opportunities for volunteer sustainability.
- Assist over 40 community agencies and more than 500 individuals in achieving skills to be proficient in sustaining a viable organization annually.
- Goal #3: Maintain a solid portfolio of AmeriCorps programs to meet the needs of Montana communities and provide participants with financial resources to pursue higher education.
- Recruit, Administer and promote awareness of AmeriCorps Programs to meet critical community needs:
- Engage adults 30,000 times in parent-child learning
- Mentor/tutor 8,000 students
- Build or restore 2,000 miles of trail
- Build or restore 100 miles of fence
- Plant 60,000 trees
- Restore or conserve 4,000 acres of habitat on public lands
- Construct or restore 24 affordable housing units
- Weatherize more than 2,500 Montana homes
- Involve more than 200 high school students in community service to aid in the prevention of drop out rates.
- Increase the educational award only program to help Montana students in professional occupations decrease school loans through service in Americorps and increase economic self sufficiency.
- Increase the number of individuals on reservations to become national service members through AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps *Vista.
- Provide Educational Vouchers in excess of $1,600,000 to AmeriCorps participants serving Montana communities and reduce their financial burden and incorporate service as a life long habit.
- Recruit, Administer and promote awareness of AmeriCorps Programs to meet critical community needs:
- Goal #4: Provide training and technical assistance for Montana citizens to be prepared in disaster and emergency situations. Coordinate the FEMA Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTS), and the Montana Citizen Corps Program.
- Help revitalize and expand the registered CERTs/Citizen Corps in Montana and build capacity for additional partners.
- Identify CERT trained citizens across Montana and enter them in a central database in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services, and medical personnel
- Increase awareness across Montana of the urgency of disaster and emergency preparedness with media outreach, public meetings and web based strategies
- Help create a plan for special needs populations by working with existing partners and engaging new ones.
- Improve public safety through the Citizen Corps by providing opportunities for disaster and emergency preparedness.
Montana Office of Community Service Accomplishments
Montana Office of Community Service Website: http://www.mt.gov/mcsn/
