Make a Difference: America's Guide to Volunteering and Community Service

by Arthur I. Blaustein

Do you want to become a volunteer but feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of organizations to choose from? Look no further than this revised edition of the bestselling book Make a Difference ! Complied and written by Arthur Blaustein, adjunct professor of social and urban policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and faculty advisor for its Americorps program, this guide offers valuable information for everyone inspired to give back to their communities. Make a Difference will help you find innumerable opportunities to put your expertise and talents to good use. This revised and expanded guide includes more than 185 national, nonprofit organizations that use volunteers of all ages to make a difference where it counts. Make a Difference also lists 30 organizations that give up-to-date information on critical issues and policies. Whether you want to tutor a child or an adult, promote a cause you care about, or get hands-on experience at an organization's headquarters, Make a Difference will inspire you to get out there and make a difference in your community--and your life.

Genres: Nonfiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 2003

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice overview of a variety of organizations in need of volunteers in an attempt to match individuals' interests with organizations that can help them fulfill their desire to help the world around them locally, nationally and globally.

The book is fairly old, so I'm not sure how up to date the information is, but a web-search should be sufficient to find a lot of these groups and begin the process of finding information and signing up to help out.

There was a great section at the beginning on how we have fallen from our duty to help others / qualitative goals of society and are, instead, pursuing more quantitative goals such as consumerism, "making it" and giving priority to sensationalism in journalism, not meaningful public discourse.

A solid read (the parts that weren't just lists of organizations) and a good jumping off point to find an outlet for volunteerism.