Center Global Volunteer Opportunities

Benefits of Sharing Your Expertise

Sharing your talents with Center Global and our program participants/asylum seekers is a chance to learn about your LGBTQI peers from areas including: Africa, Latin America, West Indies, the MENA Region, Eastern Europe, Russia and Southeast Asia. You’ll experience a diversity of cultures and customs while gaining life-altering experiences and meeting new Center Global folks.

There are multiple ways and time commitments for which you can volunteer – share your skills in as much or little time as you prefer.

Volunteering Categories:

• Volunteer Coordination/Committee
• Administrative Support
• Fundraising
• Media/Marketing/Communication
• Programming
• Legal Consultation
• Housing Support
• Community Outreach and Education

Each role includes coordinating with a Center Global leader to plan and execute each area.

Areas starting below in rank order of priority:

Volunteer Coordinator/Committee

Seeking an individual or committee to follow up with volunteer “leads,” track them in a volunteer database and ultimately match them to Center Global projects. We get one-five volunteer requests per month via our website and community outreach efforts. We can rely on the volunteer database to provide support during events, e.g., the monthly support dinner, annual reception/fundraising events and ad-hoc community outreach activities.

Administrative Support

Provide administrative support and liaison between the Center Global leadership and the DC Center staff in maintaining program participants’ files, scheduling meetings/events and support to program participants. This position requires working some regular hours at the DC Center.

Community Outreach and Education

Center Global’s mission also includes engaging the local community to raise awareness of international human rights transgressions for the LGBTQ asylum community.

We receive invitations to speak to community/faith groups and business organizations about Center Global’s work. We also conduct an Asylum 101 session to give volunteers an overview of the asylum-seekers’ process and challenges; plus we coordinate and sponsor a panel discussions to address the broader social issues impacting our asylum seekers – these are open to the larger DC community, not just volunteers.

There are opportunities to help organize, coordinate and lead both the Asylum 101 and the Panel Discussion/Town Hall format.

Fundraising

Center Global is funded by individuals’, community organizations’/faith communities’ and private businesses’ contributions. You can assist in building support for Center Global via:

• A planning committee for the May 2019 Annual Reception at Room & Board on May 9^th. We need an individual to lead this planning effort.
• Working with our Grants Team to identify potential grant making organizations and prepare appropriate proposals
• Design and implement a program for individual gift solicitation throughout the year.
• Coordinate with Center Global partners to plan and execute marketing or fund-raising activities (i.e., a book-signing event).

Programming

Our Center Global community of LGBTQ asylum seekers is a hallmark of our organization. We help our participants to socialize, meet and work with one another in their new DC home.

We need volunteers who can:

• Liaise with community, corporate sponsors, and faith leaders to plan topics and execute topics for the monthly Program Meeting that informs and educates our volunteer pool.
• Develop community resource materials that help to educate program participants about their adjustment to life in America and living in the region.
• Create a mentoring program to work one-on-one with individuals as they assimilate to their new life in the United States.

Media/Marketing/Communication

Coordinate with Center Global leadership to reach out to DC-regional and LGBTQ-focused media contacts to raise awareness of Center Global and the issues faced by LGBTQ asylum seekers.

• Write or co-author articles for the media
• Craft marketing content for the CG website
• Develop content for our social-media channels – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

For More Information

For more information about these volunteer opportunities, please e-mail centerglobal@thedccenter.org.