A year on around equity, community, and partnership

PHILADELPHIA – The Mayor’s Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service (MOCEVS) recently published its 2022 Annual Report to highlight major achievements across its programs and initiatives. In 2022, MOCEVS put an emphasis on a few areas including connecting with Philadelphia’s communities, engaging and serving AmeriCorps members, and training partners.

The MOCEVS team also focused on centering equity in its work and continued to prioritize removing barriers and promoting active civic and volunteer participation among Philadelphians. 

“I am extremely proud of all of the work that happened across the office. As a team, we experienced a lot of change, but were also able to effect change in our programs, communities, and coalitions. This year we deepened our focus on creating a more efficient and effective City government,” said Amanda Gamble, Chief Service Officer for the Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service.

A summary of MOCEVS’ achievements in 2022: 

• 70 Serve Philadelphia VISTA Corps members worked across 30 City departments on capacity-building projects focused on food security, workforce development, access to healthcare, education, access to housing, and access to benefits.
• Community Resource Corps AmeriCorps members completed their first cohort, in which they served 22,767 hours total and engaged over 3,000 residents across Philadelphia.
• MOCEVS helped create the Equitable Community Engagement Toolkit, a tool that used community input to create a standard of practice for engaging communities while centering equity, accessibility, and trauma-informed care.
• MOCEVS launched the AmeriCorps Financial Empowerment Services designed to provide long-term member support to all Philadelphia-based AmeriCorps members, including the Americorps Financial Assistance Fund, which was created to ensure that members experiencing unexpected challenges have the ability to remain in service.
• The Mayor’s Volunteer portal engaged more partnering organizations and residents, helping over 2,000 Philadelphians connect with local volunteer opportunities.
• MOCEVS trained over 240 community leaders through the Civic Engagement Academy program and over 250 volunteer managing staff through the Volunteer Support Program.
• MOCEVS supported 33 City departments and over 540 City staff with data and outreach topics training.

“This term of service has been an incredible experience. I’ve learned so much more about my city, community, and myself,” said Bria Lee, member of the Community Resource Corps. “It brings me pleasure to serve and provide people with insightful and beneficial information and resources that can help them advance in life. There’s still so much more work to do but knowing I’ve made an impact on people’s lives brings me joy and drives me to continue to do the work.”

In 2023, MOCEVS will continue to expand capacity internally for all City departments working in engaging communities and embed equitable engagement practices in its work. 

The 2022 Annual Report can be read in full online.