Opp-Guide to Community Service Opportunities

The Opp-Guide is a community service guide designed to educate and inspire middle and high schoolers. Written by teens for teens, the teens "rate" various community service opportunities in the community. We have devised an objective assessment in which the teens provide their honest opinions about their volunteer experience. Modeled after the "Zagat Guide" which critiques restaurants, the Guide is a resource for teens who may not know of a volunteer opportunity or may not know at which non-for-profit is "fun" to volunteer. The Guide's objective is to enable teens and tweens to enjoy volunteering and giving back to the community as opposed to merely performing community service "required" by their high schools for graduation. Thus, the Opp-Guide is trying to do the following: to make the community service requirement not seem like an obligation but rather become a fun and fulfilling as as well as engaging and enlightening experience. This way young people will continue to volunteer as adults, helping and giving back to the community. The Guide has been selling for $10.00, the proceeds of which have been donated to charity. The initial money raised (which was approximately $5,000.00) was sent to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Wilma. We are now in the process of going "on-line" with the Opp-Guide so we can service even more young people (www.opp-guide.com). We are in the process of securing grant monies to sustain the Guide. To that end, we have secured a small grant of $1,000.00 seed grant from Youth Service America to assist in defraying some of those costs.