Steve Wiegand: Volunteer revival is envisioned

Ignore that grinding sound. It's just me gritting my teeth, as I get ready to write something nice about the governor. Sort of.

The occasion is what he did Tuesday, in making California the first state in the nation with a Cabinet-level office for organizing and coordinating volunteer efforts.

Of course he did it the Arnold Schwarzenegger way, with a big pep rally at Cal State Northridge, complete with – so help me – a brass band.

"We want to create a California of the heart, with muscle, that allows us to make a real difference for the people in California," he said.

There's no questioning the guv's good intentions on this issue. After all, he married into America's pre-eminent volunteer family. His father-in-law, Sargent Shriver, is a true American hero, the founding director of the Peace Corps, the guy who ran Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty and had a hand in most of the federal government's social programs in the 1960s. Schwarzenegger's mother-in-law, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics.

Moreover, his wife, Maria, is chairwoman of the California Volunteers program, which was mandated by the feds in the early '90s and coordinates the state's current volunteer efforts.

The program, whose mission is to get more folks involved in volunteer work, funnels money from federal volunteer programs to local groups and causes, and helps make volunteering more efficient, will still form the bulk of the state's new approach.

But if Schwarzenegger and Karen Baker, the ebullient 46-year-old Democrat who currently heads California Volunteers, have their way, the program will take on some new dimensions.

The guv hopes that elevating the effort to Cabinet status will gain it more public attention, and result in more public participation.

Tuesday, he said he was struck during the Southern California wildfires last October and the San Francisco Bay oil tanker spill last November by the huge numbers of Californians who stepped up to help, and by the need for better coordination of volunteers during a disaster. That, too, will be part of Baker's job.

In addition, Baker said during a conference call with reporters that her agency will seek contributions of cash, materials and pro bono services from the state's corporate community.

"I'm talking about corporations that have never invested in a volunteers or service arena," she said.

It makes dollars and sense. According to stats compiled by the federal Corporation for National & Community Service, Californians contributed 858 million volunteer hours in 2006 to various programs. The CNCS figures that was worth $17.4 billion to the state's economy.

Despite Schwarzenegger's cheery memories from the voluntary efforts at the fires and oil spill, however, it appears the Golden State's pitch-in spirit is actually on the wane.

According to numbers compiled by the CNCS, California ranks 38th among states and the District of Columbia when it comes to volunteer rates. It ranks 35th in number of hours per volunteer, 41st in the length of time people continue to volunteer and 45th in the level of "civic engagement." Baker clearly has a tough task ahead.

Before he became a politician, actor Schwarzenegger was an active volunteer with causes like the Special Olympics and the President's Council on Physical Fitness.

But as governor, he has had a discouraging habit of trotting out pet causes with great fanfare, then appearing to lose interest.

Given his in-laws' pedigree and his wife's interest, this effort should – and deserves to – fare better.

Meanwhile, you can find out more at www.californiavolunteers.org. Unless your name is Shriver. Then you already know about this stuff.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Steve Wiegand, (916) 321-1076. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/wiegand.