Clean up your local community center

Want to help out young people in your area? Fixing up your local community center is a great way to make sure kids have a safe place to hang out.

First things first

• Call or visit your local community center and ask what you can do to help out to make the space more inviting for young people. Maybe you can repaint walls, bring in new furniture, or collect books and movies for a library. Will they let you paint a mural celebrating the diversity of your community? (link to paint a mural action guide from Parks & Rec docs)
• Recruit people. Ask all your friends, post fliers around school, take it to Facebook, make an announcement at school – the more hands you have, the more good you can do.

Getting started

• Ask local businesses and companies for donations.
  • Get a toy store to donate board games
  • A hardware store to donate paint and painting supplies
  • A local office to donate those chairs they don’t want anymore
  • Check with the community center if you can display signs acknowledging and thanking whomever gave you donations.
• Make a plan of action so you can decide what you’ll do in what order.
• Delegate tasks, or break up in to teams with team leaders to each tackle your own job.

Keep it up

• Organize a party at the community center once you’re done. You can celebrate your success with all the other volunteers while also raising awareness about the center.
• Check back regularly to see if there’s more you can do or any upkeep you can help out with.

Find more awesome ways to get involved with action guides, volunteer opportunities, and causes at DoSomething.org