The Volunteer Center of Grant County, located in Silver City, New Mexico, began as an idea in 2001, opened it's doors in 2002 with a RWJ Foundation “Faith in Action” grant and became a 501 (c) 3 in 2004.
Our mission
“To mobilize the volunteer human resources in Grant County to meet the needs of the community.”
Our vision
To be the number one resource for information, referrals and solutions to any community need that can be addressed with volunteerism, to understand the interconnectedness between poverty, educational attainment, civic responsibility, civic engagement and volunteerism and to be a catalyst for conversation, collaboration, connectedness and community sustainability.
Our purpose
Is to recruit volunteers and match them with recipients, which may be individuals or agencies and organizations that utilize volunteers.
The Volunteer Center administers the Partners for Seniors program, which matches volunteers with homebound seniors, and the Hermanas Program, which matches mentors with women recovering from substance abuse.
As an organization, we strive to create community partnerships. Examples of collaboration include partnering with the U.S. Forest Service and the Gila Conservation Education Center for an EPA grant which brings conservation education to Grant County schools, serving as fiscal agent for the Alimentos Para el Niņos program which provides food for school children who do not have enough to eat and the Silver City Food Co-Op Gift Card Program which serves low-income households. TVC also administers an emergency small grant program for single, female, head of households.
Additionally, in collaboration with the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) and Corre Caminos Transit, we received a grant to start a new bus route to serve underserved seniors and low-income housing areas. The new route started in November of 2006 and is already averaging 20 rides per day.
We are also working with The Wellness Coalition and Western New Mexico University on a Community Wide Service Learning Initiative to coordinate local service learning programs reaching K-HE students. In partnership with the Community Enhancement Fund (CEF), TVC sponsored the “Building Bridges Out of Poverty” workshop in summer 2006 and we have recently received 2007 funding to repeat “Building Bridges Out of Poverty” as well as to bring “A Framework for Understanding Poverty” to Grant County service providers, educators and citizens. These programs are a significant part of our vision to understand and educate around the interconnectedness of the issues that affect our community.
In the relatively short time The Volunteer Center has been in business, we have been the catalyst for over 12,000 hours of volunteer service by 500 volunteers, serving 100+ seniors, 1700 youth and more than 25 local agencies and community and/or faith-based organizations.
The Volunteer Center is managed by a part-time Executive Director with oversight by an eight-member board of directors, and employs a part-time Volunteer Coordinator and two part-time AmeriCorps members. The Center is located in Silver City in an office donated by the First United Methodist Church and shared with Habitat for Humanity and Red Cross.