Prevention Works!

Volunteer Opportunities Exist Right in the Workplace

Through its Your Time--Their Future campaign, SAMHSA/CSAP is partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the Points of Light Foundation, and the National Mentoring Partnership to encourage more adults to volunteer their time to work with young people. Adults wishing to volunteer need look no further than the workplace to find a broad range of opportunities.

In ever-increasing numbers, corporations and small businesses are reaching out to young people--their future workforce--through tutoring programs, school partnerships, career mentoring, and other efforts. Many corporations allow employees "released time" to participate in volunteer outreach programs, making it easy for even the busiest executive to get involved with youth in a community. Many local businesses sponsor volunteer programs that bring youth and adults together to participate in community and group activities. Such efforts benefit everyone concerned--including employers. A 1992 Points of Light Foundation survey found that most executives agree: Volunteerism increases productivity, builds teamwork skills, and improves public images.

Prevention professionals and community organizers should view corporations and businesses as resources for volunteers, volunteers who can engage in the kinds of positive activities that will help prevent youth substance abuse. The best way to get both large and small businesses involved is to show them existing, successful business-based volunteer programs. Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest home mortgage provider, provides one such example. Through its We Are Volunteer Employees (WAVE) program, Fannie Mae matches interested employees with volunteer opportunities, encourages employee team participation in community activities, and salutes volunteers through corporate awards. Fannie Mae grants 10 hours paid leave per month for volunteer work.

Other successful, business-based volunteer programs include:

• Hewlett Packard’s E-mail Mentoring Program, which matches 1,500 students and 146 schoolteachers with 1,646 employees in a nationwide program to explore mentoring via the Internet.
• Nationwide Insurance’s Prom-Promise Campaign, which increases awareness of the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse by offering alternative activities during prom season.
• The Goldman Sachs’ Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York partnership, which matches interested Goldman Sachs employees with mentoring opportunities and provides ongoing support.

For further information about business-based volunteerism, contact SAMHSA’s National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI). Call 1-800-729-6686 (TDD: 1-800-487-4889) or visit the NCADI Web site at http://ncadi.samhsa.gov. NCADI also offers a broad range of printed information about volunteering, such as the SAMHSA/CSAP pamphlet Your Time--Their Future: Positive Activities Promote a Productive Workforce. Further resources include the Points of Light Foundation (http://pointsoflight.org) and the National Mentoring Partnership (http://www.mentoring.org). These are just a few of the many organizations that facilitate business-based volunteerism by helping develop and maintain employee outreach programs.

To receive a complimentary copy of this PreventionAlert, call SAMSHA's National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) @ 1-800-729-6686, TDD 1-800-487-4889 (for the hearing impaired.) PREVENTIONAlert is supported by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and may be copied without permission with appropriate citation. For information about PREVENTIONAlert, please contact CSAP by phone (301) 443-0581 or e-mail gensley@samhsa.gov

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