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Volunteer Involvement in Local Government after September 11: The Continuing Question of Capacity
Author(s) -
Gazley Beth,
Brudney Jeffrey L.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2005.00439.x
Subject(s) - volunteer , promotion (chess) , local government , public administration , government (linguistics) , politics , state (computer science) , political science , public relations , business , economic growth , economics , law , linguistics , philosophy , agronomy , biology , algorithm , computer science
The 1990s witnessed extensive promotion of volunteerism and the creation of a federal and state infrastructure to support government voluntary activities. What has been the impact on local governments? This article reports on a 2003 survey of volunteer involvement in Georgia local government, which followed a similar 1990 study and provides a rare opportunity to examine long‐term trends in public volunteerism. Volunteerism in Georgia cities and counties has increased during the past decade, with 81 percent of all jurisdictions now reporting some volunteer engagement. The events of September 11, 2001, have had a small but generally positive effect on volunteer utilization. However, political and labor resistance to government volunteers has not been resolved. And the increase in public managers' concerns that they lack the funding or staff to utilize volunteers suggests that governmental capacity remains the principal obstacle to greater volunteer involvement in local governments.