NYC Service
Mayor Michael Bloomberg & Caroline Kennedy at the NYC Service launch event.
Photo Credit: Spencer T Tucker
Site: NYC Service
Client: The City of New York
The Project
NYC Service is a new initiative launched by the City in April 2009 to promote volunteerism in New York City. Instead of providing an open-ended search feature as most volunteer websites do, the website channels users to address the city’s most pressing needs. Utilizing Ajax, the interface has been streamlined and simplified to make it easy to find volunteer opportunities. We had (1) month to get it done.
Our solution
We created a website that makes it easy to find a volunteer opportunity based on your skills and interests. The website asks New Yorkers to identify what they are good at, then offers opportunities that match those skills and interests. We created an interface that prioritizes certain volunteer opportunities over others. Let’s face it…mentoring a high school student is more important than knitting sweaters for Central Park penguins (although penguins are, in fact, exceptionally cute).
We finished the website for the public launch attended by hundreds of excited volunteers. Held in Washington Heights, this event rallied volunteers to make a difference in the city we all love. Mayor Bloomberg, Caroline Kennedy, and Valerie Jarrett—a senior advisor and assistant to President Obama—launched the initiative.
In a subsequent phase of the project, we extended the website as a Facebook application where anyone can search based on interest and location. A “Service Wall” proudly announces who plans on volunteering.
NYC Service Wall
The response
The website has increased volunteerism throughout the five boroughs substantially with over 100,000+ new volunteers signing up through the website. NYC Service has retained our services for subsequent additions to the website, including an extensive back-end database re-modification and enhancement.
The Huffington Post wrote about the website. Communication Arts named it a website of the week.
Watch the NYC Service launch event on ABC News 7:
