There’s still time left to submit nominations for the Small Town America Civic Volunteer Award, an initiative from CivicCMS and parent company CivicPlus, which aims to recognize small-town civic volunteers and volunteer organizations that are making a difference in their community.
Local government representatives may nominate citizens or citizen organizations.
The initiative will recognize 100 entries, helping to shine a spotlight on the growing need for local engagement in critical roles like board and committee members, volunteer firefighters, election volunteers, recreation assistants, and others.
The top three winning honorees will receive community cash awards of $10,000, $7,500 and $5,000 for their respective communities. A new CivicPlus community website will also be awarded, at no charge, in the name of all 100 winning entries, including a volunteer module to aid in future recruitment efforts.
According to Brian Rempe, CivicPlus chief executive officer, the Small Town America Civic Volunteer Award was designed to address a significant issue impacting the nation’s 32,000 small communities and rural counties: the severe decline in the availability of volunteers to fill critical community service positions.
“Over the past 20 plus years working with local governments, we have seen first-hand that the most successful communities are powered by passionate people who want to make a difference in the place they call home,” he said.
“We are hoping to accomplish two critical goals with this initiative,” Rempe continued. “Bring attention to the need for more civic volunteerism and recognize those who have found solutions to declining participation and are building powerful community networks focused on civic engagement.”
Nominators are asked to describe their candidate’s compelling story of local volunteerism and its
positive impact on their community. Access the online application here.
The award program is open to all communities of 5,000 people or less, and applications are due no later than August 15. Winners will be announced on September 15.
To further inspire small communities to leverage the best practices identified by the Small Town America Civic Volunteer Award, CivicCMS will share inspirational stories and best practices on its Volunteer Portal.
The Small Town American Civic Volunteer Award is sponsored by the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), the National Association of Counties (NACo), the National Association of Towns and Townships (NATaT), Points of Light, and Main Street America.
To learn more, visit civic-volunteer.com.
About CivicPlus
CivicPlus is THE integrated technology platform for local government, working with over 4,000 local governments, including municipalities, counties, and municipal departments. CivicPlus has been selected by Inc. Magazine as “One of the Fastest-Growing Privately Held Companies in the U.S.” since 2011. For more information, visit CivicPlus.com.