The Youth Commission is a fantastic way for youth to get involved within their city; however, the opportunity is not accessible to all. Luckily, there are a variety of different opportunities presented by local organizations and individuals which allow most (if not all) to get more involved and familiar with their community.
The Walnut Creek Community Service Day is a multi-day event hosted by the City of Walnut Creek. This year, the City gathered volunteers to pass out door hangers promoting their food drive for the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. Volunteers from a vast range of ages stepped up to help the community during these troubling times and with their help, raised over $38,000 and 15,000 pounds of food! Community Service Day usually occurs sometime in the fall, and host a bunch of projects that better the community for volunteers to take on. Some examples of previous projects include: painting fences, picking up trash, and local gardening.
The Monument Crisis Center is a very notable non-profit organization that serves the greater Contra Costa County; specifically, Concord, Walnut Creek, and Pleasant Hill. Located on Monument Blvd, the Monument Crisis Center is a nonprofit that provides food, education, referrals, and other forms of assistance to low-income families in the area. The Monument Crisis Center has an “After School Café” program in which high school students peer mentor elementary school children in various different subjects. Because of the pandemic, the program was brought to a halt, but is expected to return in the Fall of 2021. A few local student-led programs like the Learning Enrichment and Assistance Program (LEAP), provide a similar program which gives an opportunity to all high school students to step-up and be changemakers in their community by providing one-on-one academic assistance to homeless and foster youth students.
Within the Walnut Creek area, there are many volunteer opportunities which allow you to get more involved in the community. Being a part of the collaborative efforts of your neighbors with the ultimate goal of bringing change is what makes Walnut Creek and the surrounding areas so special. For a list of more opportunities provided by the City of Walnut Creek, please find this link.
Organizations/Opportunities Mentioned:
Community Service Day: https://www.walnut-creek.org/about-us/community-resources-programs/community-service-day/planning-tools
Monument Crisis Center: https://monumentcrisiscenter.org/youth-enrichment
Learning Enrichment and Assistance Program (LEAP): https://www.leapmdusd.org/
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