This blog post has been written by Jillian Lopez, Volunteer Engagement Manager

As the Mayor’s Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service (MOCEVS) prepares for the year ahead, we want to take a moment and reflect on what we achieved in 2021. Our Annual Report highlights how our team focused on centering equity in our work and how we grew as we launched a new AmeriCorps program.

Over the past year, our team prioritized removing barriers and promoting active civic and volunteer participation among Philadelphians. 

We are proud to share a summary of our work in 2021: 

• Hired a Serve Philadelphia VISTA Program Equity Fellow to guide our program’s anti-racist practices into the program’s structure, systems, policy, procedures, and outcomes. Our Equity Fellow worked towards five Racial Equity Goals to improve hiring and onboarding practices, ongoing member development and training, equity among staff and City departments, and structure to building a community of support.
• MOCEVS was selected as a Service Year Alliance National Service Community Challenge Grant Recipient to support work towards making service years more accessible to those facing financial and social barriers.
• Expanded the Mayor’s Volunteer Corps portal, supporting over 2,000 Philadelphians connect with local volunteer opportunities.
• Trained over 200 community leaders through our Civic Engagement Academy program and over 150 volunteer managing staff through our Volunteer Support Program.
• Launched the Community Resource Corps AmeriCorps program, which connects residents to anti-poverty resources and serves as a workforce development program for its members.
• Helped create the Community Engagement Toolkit, a tool that outlines equitable community engagement definitions, guiding principles, processes, strategies, tools, resources, and evaluation templates. Once finalized, it will serve as the City’s standard of practice for engaging communities while centering equity, accessibility, and trauma-informed care.

In 2022, our team will continue to serve our communities to reduce barriers, center equity in our work, provide resources, and make it easier for every Philadelphian to be involved.