Photo by Darken Wolf
Volunteering has been one of the most important things that happen in American Society. From the large number of people working to help those in need of jobs like firefighting, volunteering has been supplying America with much-needed labor that would not be feasible otherwise.
On October 28th, Professor Jessica Sowa from the Joseph Biden Junior School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware talked with students and faculty about the importance of volunteering in American society.
“Like what does affordable, healthy, livable communities look like for the next generation?” said Sowa, “What kind of future do you wan,t and how do you envision that on backward map, and then use the power of collective action to build the future you want to see down the road. And so maybe it’s a community with farmers markets and bike lanes and things like that. Maybe it’s really great online communities where you’re coming together to play games or other things like that. So, it can be anything. Civic values are really about respect, connection, understanding that we are all interdependent, and how we behave affects each other. So, the more that we can think about, understanding the landscape of the collective endeavor, I think we’re better off.”
During Sowa talk, she mentioned that 90% of firefighters in Wyoming are on a volunteer basis. Without these people taking this civic duty, Wyoming and the US would lose a critical number of safety personnel.
“I think what I would like to instill in students is the power we have in so many different ways to make a difference.” said Sowa, “And we can do it through our private life, through volunteering, we can do it through formal public service, but it’s really about the civic values that I hope we as Americans can demonstrate. And in my talk, I’m going to be talking about particular around volunteerism and what that means, but really thinking about how we identify problems and possibilities and come together to either address those or foster, you know, because not everything’s a problem. Sometimes it’s like we have something awesome in our community and how do we make sure we invest in that?”
Sowa also talked about how the Covid pandemic brought some issues of isolation to the forefront of volunteering.
“I would say is that studies have shown us that even if we’re someone who loves our alone time,” said Sowa, “I am one of those people. I know I probably don’t give off hardcore introverts, but I am, that we need social connections. We need to build social capital to be healthier, to be happier. You know, the COVID lockdown in 2020 showed us that isolation can really devastating to our well-being. So even if we’re not necessarily thinking about how do we change public policy or address a local problem or do something like that? How do we find people who have similar interests to us to come together and form that shared experience that actually enriches us across the board?”
During an interview, Sowa mentioned the duality of the internet in its ability to bring people together and its power to worsen division.
“It’s funny because it’s been sort of my year that two things can be true at the same time.” said Sowa, “You know, the internet can be, has brought, connected us with people across the world and shown us how similar we are to people in very different circumstances. But it’s also a place where division can be fostered and people can hurt each other in different ways. So for me, it’s really thinking about volunteerism and fostering civic values is recognize the world doesn’t have to be zero-sum. That doesn’t mean that if you get pie, I don’t get pie. It means I might get slightly more pie than me, but there’s a way for us folks to have pie. You’re recognizing that not everything is win-lose and how we work together, we can create more win-win scenarios for a better future.”
“I think what I would like to say is that, especially for college students, you all went through pretty radical disruption in the world when you were probably about maybe 16 years old, like at a time of really formative development.” said Sowa, “And the world, sometimes it feels like there’s a lot of really what we call wicked problems, things that we don’t know where to start. And the power of volunteerism for me is thinking about what are the small ways that I can make a difference that begins to build up and maybe it can become a movement, really can be. So for me, public service, broadly constructed, and civic engagement and civic virtue is really just recognizing that we’re all part of this shared endeavor. And so looking for those tiny moments of hope to see where you can make a difference, like with your individual agency, I think, I don’t know, never fails to get me excited. And to see the things that I see in my research and in my students. I mean, like training people that go to work in nonprofits or in government or even just to live what I call a life of purpose.”
Sowa finished the talk with a formal class of graduate political students on campus where they went into depth about what it means to have civic duties. The first part of the event was open to everyone, while the second part was for those students only.
