People Trust People: Centering Relationships in Volunteer Engagement
By Niila Hebert and Lisa Joyslin
This is the second in a series of MAVA blog posts reflecting on the mutual aid and neighboring happening in Minnesota in response to Operation Metro Surge. Read the first post: “Volunteerism is Alive and Well: A View from Minnesota.”
As communities across our nation are experiencing an attack on our neighbors, friends, family and colleagues, many are asking the questions, “What can I do? Where do I start to help?”
The service movement in this moment may not look or feel like traditional volunteering. It involves a great deal more care, discretion, and community connectivity. But isn’t this what our volunteer systems should be striving for?
The mutual aid impact on Minnesotans has been profound. How can we take what we are learning and weave that into a new volunteerism tapestry?
To do so, we must first recognize that much of this “help” is happening outside of formally coordinated volunteering.
It’s teachers helping students, with support from their schools.
It’s faith leaders helping parishioners, with support from their places of worship.
It’s neighbors helping neighbors, with support from their communities.
For some, this begs the question: Why isn’t this aid happening through more formal channels? Why isn’t it happening through existing organizations instead of grassroots efforts?
The answer to this question boils down to one word: Trust.
Whether you are in Minnesota, Illinois, Oregon or Louisiana, people are not only worried about their livelihoods - they are fearful for their lives. In these delicate circumstances, people are only going to reveal their needs and vulnerabilities to those they know they can trust deeply.
And let’s be real, the bottom line is that people do not trust organizations or institutions. People trust people.
When our community experienced armed agents coming into our state and arresting people based upon racial profiling, those in fear did not turn to national nonprofits or state government. In most cases they did not even turn to their local food shelves. They turned to their friends and neighbors.
The thing about trust is that it’s not earned overnight. It’s developed over the course of a long-standing relationship. It’s proven over time as both parties show up and stand up for one another through cheers and tears.
This type of relationship doesn’t often exist between organizations and the communities they serve. It often doesn’t even exist between the staff and volunteers at an organization and the individuals receiving services. But it should.
Relationships are powerful, and that’s something we can’t afford to forget as volunteer engagement leaders. Developing relationships with community members will allow us to work together with communities to meet the most pressing needs. It will allow us to partner with volunteers from the communities being served. And, most importantly, it will allow us to better serve these communities as we offer culturally-relevant, relationship-based programs.
If your volunteer program doesn’t reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the community your organization serves, you’re not alone. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Reach out to local community groups, faith based organizations , and schools. Meet with leaders – both those with formal positions and those who serve as informal leaders. Begin building relationships now, with the understanding that it is only the first step in developing trust and ensuring the programs you support are truly community-led, community- inspired, and community-centered.
It takes time, energy, and vulnerability to build trust. But – as we’ve seen in Minnesota these past few months – building trust is absolutely essential to supporting one another. Let’s make sure our organizations and volunteer programs prioritize relationships so we can best serve our communities when the need is greatest.
Want to learn more about co-creating volunteer programs that work for everyone? Join MAVA for our upcoming race equity training on March 31:
No One Right Way: Imagining New Systems for Volunteer Engagement