FINAL STOP

Click here to read the full Road to the Gulf wrap-up report and to see the program's impact in communities around the nation.

The idea was conceived as our 2010 National Conference on Volunteering and Service drew to a close in New York City. As we prepared to announce New Orleans as our conference host city in 2011, we talked about the unique landscape of service in a region that has suffered its fair share of tragedy but continues to rebound and build an even stronger culture through volunteering and the passion of its citizens and neighbors. While some of the area’s issues are unique to manmade or natural disasters, the approach they’ve taken to solve these problems is one that communities across the globe are adopting and adapting. This approach calls on grassroots leaders to emerge and affect change in their own communities when government, corporate or other organizations cannot support their neighbors on their own.

The Road to the Gulf is HandsOn Network’s campaign to deepen the impact of community members by providing the tools, resources and training for them to become leaders while making improvements to their own communities and contributing to recovery efforts in the gulf region. As we took our annual conference from New York in 2010 to New Orleans in 2011, we trained thousands of new service leaders and activated volunteers along the Road to the Gulf.

With stops including Atlanta, Charlotte, San Francisco, Phoenix, DC, Chicago, Kansas City and New Orleans, we initiated a trend of developing leaders and building community infrastructure to support long-term success.

While the Road to the Gulf program ended in New Orleans, the road doesn’t stop there. The “road” is a civic pathway, a mindset towards self sufficiency and sustainable action in communities. Your road could include packing backpacks with books and healthy snacks for elementary school children in hard-hit gulf areas. Or, your civic path might start with service leader training and tools and resources to manage high-impact service projects in your own neighborhood.

As a matter of fact, the cities of New Orleans and Gulfport have diverted 10,000 food boxes packed during the Road to the Gulf’s tour stop in Kansas City to the central Alabama neighborhoods that were so devastated recently by tornadoes.

Whether you use your time, talent, voice or resources to create change, we hope you’ll hit the road with us to a stronger future.

Overview

Click here to read the full Road to the Gulf wrap-up report and to see the program's impact in communities around the nation.

Have you ever wanted to be a volunteer leader in order to plan and lead successful service projects in your own community? HandsOn Network is launching a unique program for people across the nation to get service leader training and find simple instructions for volunteer projects that can make a big impact.

Communities need service leadership now more than ever as we continue to face economic uncertainty and rely more on families and neighbors to solve civic issues, provide community support, and respond to disasters. HandsOn Network is committed to leveraging the power of volunteerism to help communities address these issues.

As we take our annual conference from New York in 2010, to New Orleans in 2011, along the “Road to the Gulf,” we are training and activating leaders, building nonprofit capacity and mobilizing volunteers across the country.

At strategic stops along the Road to the Gulf, we are conducting boot camps to train service leaders to organize and manage others, and develop projects that address community-specific needs, such as:

• Job re-training and job search clinics
• Restoring parks and open spaces
• Improving literacy in elementary school aged children
• Assisting small businesses in operations, marketing and finance to improve business sustainability

Attendees will start their day by participating in a service project, then move to a classroom setting to discuss their hands-on experience and learn more about how to manage their own projects.

The “road” is a civic pathway, a mindset towards self sufficiency and sustainable action in communities. Your road could include packing backpacks with books and healthy snacks for elementary school children in hard-hit gulf areas. Or, your civic path might start with service leader training and tools and resources to manage high-impact service projects in your own neighborhood.

Please click on the "Sign Up" tab at the top of this page to register your interest in service leader training and to receive more information on the program. The Road to the Gulf program will culminate in New Orleans in June.

Project Recaps

Click here to read the full Road to the Gulf wrap-up report and to see the program's impact in communities around the nation.

The Road to the Gulf program culminated in New Orleans, LA during the 2011 National Conference on Volunteering and Service (NCVS).  Before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005, the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD) managed more than 130 parks across the city. Five years later, only 24 of those parks were equipped for community enjoyment.

With the time, talent and resources of 700 NCVS participants, local volunteers, and the continued support of University of Phoenix, we revitalized 25 parks and recreation centers across the city of New Orleans signifying the conclusion of the Road to the Gulf Initiative. Included in the service activities were five complete park rehabilitations, five park clean ups, and 15 additional park enhancement and equipment projects.

Sam Bonart Park NCVS engaged 161 volunteers in the installation of all new playground equipment, built soccer fields (including nets and goals) and sideline benches for the baseball and soccer fields, repaired damaged concrete on the basketball courts, installed lighting and signage and painted murals with the help of volunteers from University of Phoenix, NCVS attendees, Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Saints mascot “Sir Saint,” local youth and many other special invited guests.

Bunny Friend Park This project engaged 70 volunteers in dugout renovations, building picnic benches, painting and installing signage, repairing fences and refurbishing basketball courts to benefit the more than 400 children and families that reside in the neighborhood.

Village de l’est Park In the Village de l'est public park, we engaged 40 volunteers in building soccer fields (including nets and goals), building sideline benches for the baseball and soccer fields, repairing damaged concrete on the basketball courts and installing lighting and signage.

Evans Park 150 volunteers built soccer fields and sideline benches for the baseball and soccer fields, repaired damaged concrete on the basketball courts and installed lighting and signage.

Recreational Equipment Drive To help deepen our impact in restoring safe places for New Orleans kids to play, the National Conference on Volunteering and Service conducted a recreational equipment drive to benefit the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD). Through the generous donations of NCVS attendees, staff, sponsors and vendors, we were able to donate more $800 in cash and gift cards, and hundreds of pieces of play equipment. Donations ranged from hula hoops to soccer balls, swim goggles to jump ropes, basketballs, footballs, golf clubs, board games, books, baseballs, bats and frisbees.

Leading up to the events in New Orleans, the Road to the Gulf stopped at seven special locations to bring both local relief as well as to train new service leaders and provide support for gulf coast organizations.

HandsOn Atlanta The first stop on our road trip was Atlanta, during HandsOn Atlanta’sMartin Luther King Jr., Day of Service event.

Volunteers from Target, CBeyond, Aaron Rents Inc., and LexisNexis packed 750 school supply kits for kids in New Orleans, and we trained 450 new service leaders.

The school supplies then hit the road to HandsOn New Orleans where they were distributed to 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at the Intercultural Charter School in New Orleans East. Check out our Facebook page to see the photos!

HandsOn Charlotte During HandsOn Charlotte’s MLK Day projects, and the kick-off of their 20th anniversary year, Road to the Gulf volunteers helped out with two special events.

At Turning Point Academy, volunteers built an outdoor classroom, performed landscaping on their large campus and refurbished the gymnasium. The school  was established to provide alternative types of curriculum in order to re‐engage the student and create that “turning point” that will allow them to matriculate back into a traditional classroom after 180 days.

During HandsOn Charlotte’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Forum, participants could participate in onsite volunteering activities such as packing energy efficiency kits. They could also attend service leader training, or visit the volunteer fair to learn about area nonprofit organizations. The service forum was made up of many facets of service.

We are happy to report that Road to the Gulf volunteers packed 200 school supply kits for kids in Mississippi along the gulf coast. Thanks HandsOn Charlotte for hitting the road with us!

HandsOn Bay Area This signature Road to the Gulf project addressed Burton High and El Dorado Elementary schools’ commitments to their students’ success by improving their learning environments and embedding the notion of higher education. University of Phoenix, HandsOn Bay Area and community volunteers picked up 20 cubic feet of trash and spread 15 cubic yards of mulch; organized the back stage and dressing rooms, and painted an entire hallway.

As the city of New Orleans is battling their own issues with school conditions and education gaps, San Francisco volunteers assembled 630 ecology kits (Nature Circles) for the Recovery School District in New Orleans.

As we addressed local conditions, paved the way for future leaders, and contributed to gulf recovery, we built capacity and the infrastructure for more volunteer projects by training service leaders in volunteer and project management. According to the HandsOn Bay Are project manager Tyson Durm, “It was a truly transformational day!”

HandsOn Greater Phoenix In 18 years of HandsOn Greater Phoenix’s Serve-A-Thon for Schools, it has never rained. At least not until Road to the Gulf came to town this year. But despite the wet day, hundreds of volunteers came out in full force to refurbish schools across the city.

At Orangedale Junior High, University of Phoenix volunteers, parents, students and community members painted, cleaned, organized and transformed the school. As one volunteer stated, “schools look institutional without the help of companies like University of Phoenix who give their time and resources to give kids a more inspiring place to learn.”

From Phoenix, more than 600 welcome kits will hit the Road to the Gulf to kids who are entering shelters and foster homes in the gulf region.

Greater DC Cares DC Cares knows how to throw a Serve-A-Thon! At over 100 facilities, thousands of residents and community members made a huge impact across the city, Then, they joined up in Dupont Circle to celebrate the volunteer spirit and catch up with other change-makers on the day’s activities.

At Living Wages, an adult education facility in southeast D.C., University of Phoenix volunteers and community members painted the entire interior and landscaped outside, transforming the building for its community of adult learners, educators, tutors, volunteers and supporters. Said one volunteer, “If not us, then who? If you’ve got the time and skills, then you should share. We are the solution we’ve been waiting for!”

Volunteers were joined by Clifford the Big Red Dog who was accepting book donations for kids across the city, New Orleans and Gulfport, Mississippi.

Chicago Cares On a beautiful Tuesday in Chicago, more than 100 University of Phoenix volunteers, community members, parents and students of Sayre Language Academy to help the school further its mission of creating a positive, safe and nurturing experience for all students in an inclusive, respectful environment.

Volunteers rehabbed a science room, created colorful canvas murals and brightened the hallways with fresh paint. In partnership with HandsOn Network’s Get HandsOn! campaign, volunteers packed 500 emergency preparedness kits for their sister HandsOn Action Center, HandsOn Gulf Coast in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Sayre Language Academy Principle said, “I’m speechless. University of Phoenix and Road to the Gulf have transformed our school!”

Kansas City, Missouri with theNational Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) Conference The last stop on our road trip before our big finale in New Orleans was Kansas City, Missouri during the annual conference of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD).

NVOAD member organizations and conference attendees packed more than 10,000 meal kits for families in disaster-struck areas. These supplies immediately hit the road and have brought significant relief in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and other areas that have recently been affected by tornados and flooding.

Training

In addition to the tour, HandsOn University has developed an online service leader training workshop to support the Road to the Gulf and the training of additional service leaders across the country. During this course, participants learned and explored essential areas of building a solid infrastructure for managing volunteers and projects, including orientation, project management, setting volunteer expectations, project data and tracking, evaluation, reflection and recognition.

HandsOn University is taking innovative steps into the online training arena, By providing the latest in best practice resources in a virtual environment, we are creating an infrastructure to help people self organize and create change in their communities

Along the Road to the Gulf, the program stimulated the population of service leaders to build capacity of local nonprofits. The accompanying service leader training taught leaders how to develop sustainable, repeatable projects to meet community-specific needs. Participants' “road to the gulf” is the start of their service leader journey with a commitment to improving their neighborhoods through sustained actions.

For this and other volunteer management training and workshops, visit the tools and resources library. and check out HandsOn University's online courses.