Recruiting and Supporting Latino Volunteers

B. Hobbs, Extension specialist, 4-H youth development, Oregon State University.

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Conclusion

The participation of Latinos as volunteers in your organization will increase your understanding and sensitivity to the Latino culture. In turn, it will strengthen the programs and services you provide, expand the audience you are able to reach, and provide a personal growth experience for all your volunteers and staff. The community as a whole will benefit from the resulting increase in access to expanded programs and the leadership development of the volunteers. In essence, building a strong, diverse volunteer base is community development.

How successful you are in recruiting and retaining Latino adults as volunteers depends on your awareness of and sensitivity to the cultural differences between the majority society and Latinos. It also depends on how willing and able your organization is to accommodate those differences. Outreach to Latinos must be the mission of the organization as a whole, not the personal mission of one individual. Through it all, patience is key. Building relationships with the Latino community, developing trust, and learning how to work together all take time. Progress will be incremental. The outcomes, however, justify all the hard work.

Appendix

In the spring of 1997, the Oregon 4-H program identified outreach to Latino youth and families as a program priority. Subsequent outreach efforts resulted in greater participation by Latino youth but failed to achieve a corresponding increase in Latino adult volunteers. It was evident that 4-H had to redesign its approach to volunteer recruitment in light of the cultural context presented by Latinos.

As a first step to developing new strategies, a study was undertaken to increase understanding of the Latino culture as it relates to volunteerism and to identify practices that would encourage Latino adults to become volunteers in community-based organizations such as 4-H.

Three focus groups and a literature search composed the study. The majority of data gathered was in reference to Latinos who are relative newcomers or second generation and of Mexican origin, characteristics shared by most of Oregon’s Latinos. The three focus groups involved a total of 18 participants. Thirteen of the participants were Latino, two were Latino males. All had actively recruited and supported Latino volunteers for their organizations. The focus group discussions were audio-taped and subsequently transcribed. The transcriptions formed the primary data base for the qualitative study. The literature review yielded few related articles or publications. Those that were identified corroborated the findings derived from the focus groups.

References

Chambre, S. (1982). Recruiting Black and Hispanic volunteers: A qualitative study of organizations’ experiences. The Journal of Volunteer Administration, 1 (1), 3–9.

Hodgkinson, Harold. (1996). Bringing Tomorrow into Focus. Washington, DC: Institute for Educational Leadership.

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