Planning Your Day of Action:
Day of Action Event Essentials
** Click here Download the Day of Action event planing timeline ***
Day of Action Event Essentials
Want to host a Day of Action event, but unsure of where to begin? Here are the basics to help you organize it all from start to finish.
1. Identity Community Concerns. First, think about issues in your community that have already been or could be addressed by service. Whether it is unmet needs in education, environment, hunger and homelessness, service addresses these unmet needs in a variety of ways.
2. Choose an Action & Location. What kind of event will you host to raise awareness about your communities unmet needs and the important role service plays in addressing that need? You may want to visit our list of event ideas to help get you thinking, which can be used as a jumping-off point for you to come up with your own project idea.
3. Register your event and information on our website . Invite your family and friends to get involved to help out. The more helpers you have organizing the event with you, the more you can all accomplish!
4. Figure Out Logistics. Iron out the details of your event—location, directions, carpools, permits, refreshments, bathrooms, and anything else you can think of to help September 27th go as smoothly as possible.
5. Get the word out! Write a small blurb about your event and submit to your local media—community print publications, college newspapers, radio stations, corporate newsletters, or church bulletins. Post flyers around your local supermarkets, restaurants, and businesses. Reach out through email and social networking sites. You may want to contact your local elected representatives and let them know about it as well. Also check out our customizable flyers, postcards, stickers, and more. Talk to as many people as you can about your September 27 event; you never know who is interested!
6. Declaration of Service. This is a document you can send to your elected officials and the presidential candidates to tell them that you care about volunteering and citizenship. We’ll provide a template as the day gets closer, but you can edit the Declaration as much as you like. Have a discussion at your event, and people can weigh in and customize it. Make the document yours!
7. Publicity. Get people interested in your event not only ahead of time (so that they can join in and participate), but afterwards as well so they can learn about the ServiceNation movement and the impact you and others made on the Day of Action! Invite local media to cover your event as a special interest story, and make sure to take photos throughout the day to mark your progress and commemorate the event!
8. Act! September 27th is finally here! Have your attendees fill out your sign-in sheet so you can stay in touch after the event. Don’t forget to have everyone discuss and sign the Declaration of Service.
9. Follow up. Once your event is over and all cleaned up, go back to the ServiceNation website, and under “Manage Your Event” there’s a form where you can send us videos for YouTube and pictures for Flickr, to share with us how your day went. Make sure to send out thank-yous to all friends, family, volunteers, and all others that helped make your event a success!
What If . . . 1 Million by 2020
The goal of events on the Day of Action is to demonstrate the importance of service and to tell stories about the impact that service has, and the potential service could have if built to scale. The theme of the Day of Action is “What If….”
The theme paints a picture of a world where service is brought to scale: What if every child had a mentor? What if every child graduated from high school? What if our parks, rivers, and open spaces were void of pollution and trash? What if service became a right of passage and not a punishment or chore?
The theme is also about creating a sense of urgency to take action. It is also about telling the story if service is not brought to scale. What if the high school dropout crisis increases? What if children have no place to go after school? What if our public lands continued to become polluted? What if college becomes too expensive for most our country’s children?
The Day of Action is about telling the story of impact of service, the possibility of a country where 1 million people are serving full time or part time annually and 100 million people are volunteering throughout the year.
Examples of events that you might organize for the Day of Action include:
- Host an awareness-raising concert featuring local bands. Provide a time for participants to share stories of personal service-related experience, or to discuss what service means to them.
- Organize a letter-writing campaign or a phone bank to your elected representatives that involves sharing service success stories and reminding them that the time to implement a universal national service policy is now.
- Host a talk by someone who has volunteered full-time, such as a PeaceCorps, AmeriCorps or Teach for America volunteer, or a CityYear alumnus. ServiceNation can help connect you with someone in your community who has worked in one of these programs.
- Organize a local citizen hearing or a town meeting with members of your community who can testify to the impact of service and what it has achieved in your community. Make sure to engage local media outlets to cover the event.
- Organize a rally in front of the State House or walk from office to office of your elected officials in a demonstration.
- Hold a service fair, where representatives from different organizations come to talk about the service work they do and the impact their service work has in their community.
- Host a house party or smaller gathering to share stories of service and its importance.
- Film a documentary or ake a public art display involving a variety of community members’ stories about service and testimony on why they believe in universal voluntary national service.
- Create a photo gallery with pictures of service along with people’s stories written up beside them.
- Paint a mural with inspirational quotes and images of service.
- Researching for and hosting a teach-in about service, the different programs that are out there and how they have impacted various communities.
Make sure to make your event fun, creative and tailored to your community. At each event, make sure to have people sign the Declaration of Service as well as sign postcards to or call their representatives to remind them of the immediate importance of universal voluntary national service.
Logistics Checklist
As you’re planning out your Day of Action event, you’ll have many things to keep in mind. To help you stay on track, here’s a checklist about some logistical details you might need to consider.
- Secure a location for the event, and getting the necessary permissions.
- Ensure there is a way to get to the event by public transportation or that there is nearby parking.
- Ensure that participants know how to find the event and have directions.
- Arrange for rides or carpools to the event.
- Prepare and purchase refreshments for the event.
- Get all the materials you need: paper, pens/pencils, camera, video camera, postcards for elected officials, copies of the Declaration of Service, stickers, banners, decorations, etc.
- If there are reporters, appoint someone to greet the media, and make sure there are participants to speak with them.
- If there are speakers, arrange to introduce them and get their biographies. Also, make sure they’ll be around to talk to the press. Some of the most powerful speakers are the ones that have been impacted by service—whether through serving or by being served.
