Youth Development

VISTA Member: Nick Dantzer
Year of Service: November 2007-2008

Project Overview: Youth Count and the Youth Volunteer Corps recognized the need in the Tri-City community (Prescott, Prescott Valley, and Chino Valley) for a single, readily available resource where volunteer and service-learning opportunities for youth could be found. The VISTA member’s primary goal is to develop a one-stop, web-based volunteer management and recruitment system to link local service agencies and organizations to fulfill this common need.

Supporting Organization: Youth Count

Project Goals: exploring new partnerships with community organizations, businesses and schools that provide volunteer and service-learning opportunities; designing and implementing a web-based youth volunteer system that connects youth with volunteer and service-learning opportunities; and designing and implementing a sustainability plan which focuses on technical assistance, system trainings, and engaging new partners.

Accomplishments 

Since November, Nick has researched local organizations, agencies, and existing volunteer recruitment and management systems to better understand and appreciate the need in the community. From there, he determined that it would be best to incorporate the sponsoring agency, Youth Count, in this process by implementing the local volunteer and service-learning system into the existing structure of YouthCount.org, thereby increasing Youth Count’s modest web-presence and capitalizing on its good reputation in the community.

Nick designed and recently deployed a new YouthCount.org which includes a member-based configuration that is reserved for Tri-City organizations, businesses, governments, schools, and others who are requesting volunteers. This website eliminates the “middle man” by members posting opportunities directly when a need is recognized, is kept current and up-to-date and, most importantly, links youth directly to volunteer and service-learning opportunities in the Tri-City area.

What's Happening Now 

Nick has recently entered the promotional phase of the project and is actively recruiting local organizations and service-providers to “sign-up” on the new YouthCount.org, and has scheduled presentations in the community to schools and local non-profits. He believes that this process will begin to fill the void of youth not knowing where to go when they want to help in their communities.

www.YouthCount.org  “online, anytime”