Volunteering 61 Million Strong; Need and Momentum Grow

New web site gives most detailed information ever on how and where Americans volunteer in over 160 cities

The most comprehensive research on U.S. volunteering ever assembled shows volunteering in America is strong and poised for growth. As momentum for service grows across the sectors, the need for volunteers is heightened by the economic downturn.

Nearly 61 million Americans volunteered in their communities last year, giving 8.1 billion hours of service worth more than $158 billion to America’s communities, according to the Volunteering in America report released today by the The report reveals an increase of one million volunteers over five years, as Americans answer President Bush’s 2002 national call to service.

The Volunteering in America report contains six years of data on volunteering, rankings of states and cities, and volunteer trends and demographic information for every state and 162 large and mid-sized cities at a new interactive website www.VolunteeringInAmerica.gov.

The research comes at a time of growing economic pressures and unprecedented opportunity for America’s volunteer sector. Cross-sector support for service has never been stronger, as corporations expand social responsibility programs, colleges adopt service-learning, and political leaders from both parties embrace citizen service.

Read more at LifeAfter50.com