Corporate Volunteer Opportunities
Good Shepherd provides opportunities for corporate groups to volunteer in various capacities throughout the agency. There are a variety of ways in which corporate volunteers can contribute to our work by serving as positive role models for our young people.
Corporate Projects
Below are a few ideas for how your corporate group could work with Good Shepherd. We are also open to working with you to create unique events that would meet our needs and your corporate volunteer interests.
Building and Neighborhood Improvement
- Painting
- Gardening
- Park cleanups
Career Exploration and Exposure
- Mentoring
- Job readiness workshops
- Job shadow days
- Internships
Educational Enrichment
- Financial literacy workshops
- Literacy projects (e.g. book clubs)
- College prep seminars
- Tutoring/homework help
Gift Drives and Parties
- Back-to-school supplies drive and parties
- Holiday gift drive and parties
- School year holiday parties and events (e.g. Halloween, Thanksgiving dinner, Valentine's Day)
Recreational and Cultural Enrichment
- Arts & crafts
- Theater
- Cooking
Sponsorship of Events and Trips
- Carnivals
- Day trips
- Weekend retreats
Current Needs
Career Exploration and Exposure
Mentoring
So many of our young people are lacking the consistent and caring relationships with adults that mentoring provides. Workplace mentoring is an especially effective form of mentoring as youth not only benefit from having that relationship with an adult, but they are also exposed to the world-of-work, which enables them to broaden their career horizons.
Good Shepherd Services, in partnership with the New York City Department of Education, already runs a highly successful mentoring program at Ernst & Young with students from Adlai E. Stevenson High School in the Bronx. We would like to duplicate this program by matching a company with one of our school-based programs so that a greater number of our youth can experience the power of mentoring.
Job-Readiness Workshops
Career guidance is critical to our young people's growth and success as many of them have not had positive professional role models at home. You can help by hosting a one-day job-readiness and professional skills building workshop or conduct shorter, weekly sessions over a 4-6 week period. In the past, companies such as Credit Suisse and Macy's Merchandising Group have hosted workshops at their offices that covered such topics as: resume writing; networking; time and stress management; and interviewing skills.
Job Shadow Days
Either in combination with a workshop or alone, hosting a job shadow day for our youth wherein they would be matched one-to-one or two-to one with employees from different departments, would give them the opportunity to learn about different fields and reflect upon their own career interests, goals and training needs.
Internships
In addition to one-to-one workplace mentoring relationships, we are also seeking professional summer or school year internships for our young people as they provide valuable work experience, build skills and raise confidence levels.
Recreational and Cultural Enrichment
We look for recreational and cultural enrichment projects that will help our young people broaden their horizons and introduce them to new activities, people and places. You can help by:
Working on a multi-cultural quilt together
Knitting with our youth and helping them to either donate or sell their creations
Creating autobiographical or biographical books or videos together
Baking with youth and helping them to either donate or sell those baked goods - help them create an on-site bakery and brand!
Making a dish for or helping to set-up a cultural information table at our International Food Festival in June
Sponsorship of Events and Trips
In the warmer months, we try to run outdoor carnivals to bring our young people together. Face painting, jump rope, pie-throwing and horseshoe-throwing contests, fortune telling, and dunking machines are activities enjoyed by all regardless of age. Corporate groups could help by sponsoring carnivals and volunteering the day of to judge contests and run activities.
It is often surprising to find out how many of the youth we serve have never been out of their boroughs. Corporate groups could be of assistance by sponsoring and accompanying youth on these trips to museums, parks and landmarks so that they may have a chance to explore New York City and surrounding areas.
In some cases, such as youth weekend retreats upstate, accompanying youth on these trips is not always an option. However, we would still be grateful to receive funding for these trips so that our young people may experience a respite from city life.
Become a Corporate Volunteer!
For more information or to become a corporate volunteer, please contact our Corporate Relations Coordinator:
Mary Beth Zurat
T 212-243-7070
E MaryBeth_Zurat@goodshepherds.org
