Nacogdoches to create high impact service plan

The City of Nacogdoches and Mayor Roger Van Horn are proud to announce an upcoming Non-Profit Summit scheduled for Monday, February 21st, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers located at 202 E. Pilar Street. The summit is the starting point to gather information so that the City of Nacogdoches can create a high impact service plan as part of its Cities of Service initiative.

About Cities of Service
American cities face serious challenges and many mayors want to take advantage of every resource available to them- including the time and energy of public-spirited residents- to address those challenges. But in cities across America today, citizen service is often an underutilized or inefficiently utilized strategy by municipal governments. Founded in September 2009, Cities of Service supports mayors to leverage citizen service strategies, addressing local needs and making government more effective.

All coalition members have signed a “Declaration of Service,” committing to lead a multi-year effort to expand community service and volunteerism by:
• Developing a comprehensive service plan and a coordinated strategy focused on matching volunteers and established community partners to the areas of greatest local need;
• Working with other mayors and elected officials to advance strategies and best practices that accelerate the service movement and produce measurable goals
• Encouraging other mayors to join this national effort to engage our citizens; and
• Ensuring that the voice of cities is heard in policy and program discussions related to service, which will help the country achieve the ambitious goals of the Serve America Act

For more details you can visit www.citiesofservice.org.

"We are excited to launch the Cities of Service program in Nacogdoches, we are only one of 110 communities in the nation to begin this process,” O’Brien said. “We will begin by assessing our agency’s needs at the Non-Profit Summit so we can establish a service plan that will accomplish our goals.” Nacogdoches Mayor Roger Van Horn signed the declaration of service during the fall of 2010. You can view the declaration at: http://www.citiesofservice.org/about/declaration-of-service/.

The Non-Profit Summit is open to all organizations, agencies and individuals who are interested in utilizing service to achieve their mission and goals. Information gathered at the summit through open discussions and surveys will be utilized to create Nacogdoches’ high impact service plan. The City of Nacogdoches has partnered with the One Star Foundation, SFASU, and the United Way to work together to create the plan.”The Summit is the starting point for our Cities of Service Initiative, we will gather much needed information from our local non-profits and agencies about what their needs are, whether it be financial, volunteers, time, etc. so that we can successfully address those needs in our service plan,” O’Brien said.

Interested citizens need not make reservations to attend the summit. For more information or questions about the upcoming Non Profit Summit or the Cities of Service initiative please contact the Nacogdoches Main Street Office at 936-559-2573 or via email at obriens@ci.nacogdoches.tx.us.