The Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service (ICVS) has the responsibility of developing and communicating a statewide vision and ethic of service, and promoting that vision throughout the state. This includes promoting service and developing service programs and collaborative approaches in Iowa.

Accomplishments for the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service for FY ’09 include:

Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame — The following Iowa individuals and groups were inducted into the Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame by Lt. Governor Patty Judge during a special ceremony held in the State Capitol Building on February 25, 2009 as part of the 4th annual Volunteer Awareness Day:

Organization/Nonprofit category — The 10,000 Hours Show (statewide)
Family Category — Robert Mitchell and Janet Burch of West Des Moines
Individual Category — Andrew Allen of Huxley, Thomas Barbee of Coralville, Dr. Bobbretta Brewton of Des Moines, Dorothy Dykstra of Sioux Center, June Judge of Iowa City, Bill Leaver of Des Moines, Betty Nielsen of Fonda, Barbara Tomlinson of Lansing and Annie Wignall of Newton.

Governor’s Volunteer Awards — More than 680 volunteers were selected for Governor’s Volunteer Awards in FY 2009. This program was established in 1982 to honor and recognize volunteers for the commitment, service and time that they contribute to Iowa's government agencies and nonprofit organizations. Volunteers may be nominated for an award in one of three categories: Individual, Group, or Length of Service. A special category was added in 2009 to recognize disaster assistance and recovery volunteers.

Annual Conference — In October 6, 2008, more than 400 nonprofit leaders attended the ICVS nonprofit conference that took place in cooperation with the The Larned A. Waterman Iowa Non-profit Resource Center. Attendees had the opportunity to choose from 48 workshop slots on nonprofit management, volunteer management, and professional development. The keynote speakers, Cy Wakeman and Kris Meyer, gave inspirational and motivational presentations, and attendees also had the opportunity to participate in a service project, visit with exhibitors, and purchase resource material from the onsite library. The conference received positive feedback from more than 95 percent of post conference survey takers.

Volunteer Solutions — Work continues on the roll-out for the statewide Enterprise Edition of Volunteer Solutions, an online volunteer matching system that makes it extremely easy for individuals to locate volunteer opportunities in their communities. This system also enables the state to offer a one-stop Web portal, www.volunteeriowa.org, that can be utilized to coordinate state and national Days of Service, as well as managing response and recovery volunteers during times of disaster — not only volunteers from Iowa, but from across the country. In December, a Volunteer Solutions users’ network was launched to help provide technical assistance to administrators of local Volunteer Solutions systems throughout Iowa.

Training Events — Throughout FY 2009, ICVS staff coordinated or provided training for the commission’s primary constituent groups: AmeriCorps programs and certified Iowa Mentoring Partnership programs. Trainings were held that focused on:

AmeriCorps member recruitment / management
Grant writing
Disaster Preparedness
Diversity and Cross-Cultural Communication
Civic Engagement
“Good to Great”
Building Business Partnerships
Becoming a Mentoring Advocate

In addition, special trainings were held for the general public:

Disability Inclusion conference was held to help people with disabilities learn about self-empowerment, their rights and responsibilities, and opportunities available through national service.
Volunteer Reception Center training was held in order to make sure communities are prepared to handle the large number of volunteers that typically respond during and after disasters.

Learn & Serve — ICVS is one of only three commissions selected to receive a community-based service learning grant. The grant provides $500,000 in federal funds over a three-year period. Project goals include engagement of 6,900 young people in service learning projects in six communities: Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Waterloo, Humboldt, Marshalltown and Winterset. Community-Based Service Learning is a successful means of engaging students in key learning areas, such as leadership, teamwork, communication, and civic engagement. The Iowa project will be sub-granted to Iowa State University 4H Extension. As a leader in youth development in Iowa and with many connections throughout Iowa’s urban and rural communities, the commission looks forward to working with ISU on a successful project.

AmeriCorps — The Commission continues to expand its AmeriCorps program activities. This year, the Commission successfully received nearly $1.6 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding that was sub-granted to programs to increase their capacity and engage more volunteers in service. Only New York and California received more ARRA funds through the Corporation for National and Community Service, Americorp's federal funding agency. In addition, Americorps continued with its strong competitive portfolio of eight programs, receiving more than $1.3 million in federal funding. Including its four formula programs and one planning grant, ICVS was awarded more than $3.8 million for AmeriCorps program operations during 2009. In total, Iowa had more than 1,200 AmeriCorps members serving in Iowa.

National and State Days of Service — Throughout each year, there are many opportunities for ICVS to promote citizen volunteerism. ICVS designated several days in FY 2009 for special promotion. These days of service are spread throughout the year and each have a special emphasis and allow for unique partnerships. Numerous projects were held all over the state on these designated Days of Service:

Make a Difference Day (4^th Saturday of October)
Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service (January 19). Emphasis on civil rights and cultural understanding.
Aaron Eilerts Day of Service and Giving (February 24). Focus is school based projects.
National Volunteer Week (last full week of April)
Shelter Awareness Day (April 25). Focused on raising awareness of domestic violence and homeless youth shelters across Iowa.