A great Centennial "present" for the state of New Mexico is the gift of your time.

Whether you are a student or educator interested enhancing your educational experience through service learning, or an individual looking for volunteerism opportunities, there are many ways you can help your community, help our state, and enrich yourself through "We Serve/New Mexico: Centennial Volunteers," a signature program of the NM Centennial. Please visit the links below to discover ways you can get involved and share your volunteer experience.

Our partners at the NM Commission for Community Volunteerism and New Mexico Clean & Beautiful, in conjunction with The Corporation for National and Community Service, maintain a list of local volunteer opportunities throughout New Mexico. At the Commission's website, you can learn more about the impact of volunteering, find opportunities, and also register your event.

Participating in Community Service

Some New Mexicans have inquired about volunteering with the NM Centennial Office or Centennial-related events that will be taking place. The best way to stay informed about such opportunities is to sign up for our enewsletter, and to check the Centennial Events Calendar on this website. We anticipate there will be opportunities in this area later in 2010 and 2011, as we move closer to the NM Centennial in 2012.

Meanwhile, we encourage you to connect with local volunteer opportunities you will find through Serve.gov's partners at All for Good. Use the "blue widget" located just to the right of this text, click the "change settings" link and enter your ZIP code to find local volunteer opportunities.

Also, please consider dedicating your time to National Days of Service. The next National Day of Service is Cesar Chavez Days of Service and Learning, and the New Mexico event is sponsored by the Recuerda a Cesar Chavez Committee: a march and festival on Saturday March 27, 2010 in Albuquerque. Click here for more information.

Getting involved in a clean-up project in New Mexico

• If you are a school group or educator interested in service learning, click here.
• If you are an individual interested in clean-up projects in your community or county, click here.
• If you are interested in volunteering during a forthcoming National Day of Service, click here.
• If you are interested in finding out more about the AmeriCorps, SeniorCorps, or VISTA programs, click here.
• If you are looking for other volunteer information, click here.

Starting your own service project

Serve.gov has an excellent toolkit with service project ideas and tips for creating your own service project in English and Spanish. Please make sure you register your event with the NM Commisision for Community Volunteerism, and spread the word to ensure your event is a success.

When planning a service project for your community, the key steps are to:

1. Identify local partners -- you and your neighbors know your community and its needs better than anyone
2. Build a team -- Serve.gov says that to get 20 people to your meeting, you will need to invite 50. Invite friends, family, members of your faith group, colleagues, book club attendees, etc. Hold your meeting at your home, church, library, or other areas.
3. Set up goals and follow a meeting plan and an agenda, and create a leadership team worksheet so everyone knows what their role will be.
4. Track your progress, to keep everyone excited
5. Serve your community. Serve.gov has useful tips for keeping your project going!
6. Celebrate your success! Take photos, video, and get testimonials from your day, with perspectives from the volunteers and if appropriate from those who were served. Take note of what you can do to improve future projects. And post your photos, videos, and interviews to the NM Centennial Facebook Page or Flickr stream, so others can know how you made a difference!
   

More tools to assist you

America's National Service-Learning Clearinghouse has a wealth of information that can help your project success including fact sheets, lesson plans, and toolkits for volunteers from elementary school through seniors on topics like partnerships, discipline, using social media, and more.

Click here to let us know if you want to volunteer, or are looking for volunteers.