Email Archive - Northwest Neighbors Network

Date: 1/19/2020
Subject: Report from All Hands Workshop January 17th
From: Northwest Neighbors Network

The weather smiled on us and we were able to gather for the NNN Winter All Hands workshop on Friday, January 17, 2020. It was energizing to have so many of us in one room, exchanging ideas and fostering the NNN culture of mutual support and engagement.

Here are the slides and handouts from the meeting. Looking at the numbers from 2019 was affirming. We logged a good number of services and social activities in our first year! And we are firming up our processes, policies, guidelines, and documentation to make it possible to continue to grow in size and depth in 2020.

Most of the discussion was about service requests. There were good suggestions for creating better service requests and for documenting how to handle certain types of requests.

Service requests should:

Make it clear if transportation must be round trip and wait time is expected, or if can be split between two volunteers
Provide good information on what a volunteer needs to know before accepting a service and while performing the service (physical challenges for the volunteer, member's contact info and whether or not they use text and email, NNN support contact information)
Provide the member with full contact information for the volunteer
Attempt to estimate time and tools need

The Volunteer Handbook documentation on service requests should be expanded in the areas of:

What to consider when asked to do home repair
Clarification of when a volunteer needs prior approval for expenditures
How to deal with member passwords and confidential information
How to handle services requiring more than one visit for the specific task
When to consider writing up instructions or other follow-up
Reminder that NNN liability insurance and volunteer accident insurance require scheduling all visits through the NNN duty manager
Instructions on how to report time spent on a service
In the emergency instructions note that the volunteer should follow the 911 operator's instructions

Ideas for new types of service requests included:

Tour of member's home to assess potential needs and issues such as fall prevention
Research something for a member
Search on neighborhood websites for free/low cost items for a member
Advice to a member about a potential work project, such as getting rid of cable
Call for people to help set up a new recurring social activity