Donating your time to support organizations working towards Environmental Equity is one way to be a part of the solution. You can also identify areas for improvement in your own community and consider organizing your own volunteer event. Explore this page to learn more about volunteering and ways to contribute to the Environmental Equity Project at EarthShare NJ.
Get in contact with the nonprofits in your community and ask how you can volunteer to help out. Your town may also host events that you can participate in, email your local environmental department or environmental commission and inquire about upcoming events.
Identify organizations working towards Environmental Equity and consider donating your time. You can refer to the list of nonprofits here for some ideas.
You may be inspired to host a volunteer event if you notice something in your town that could use some extra assistance. Some examples of volunteer events that work to better the living conditions in your town can be:
While each type of volunteer event may require different tasks. Here’s a rough guideline of consideration when organizing a volunteer event.
Depending on the type of event you are hosting you will likely need to get approval to host the project or event. For example, a clean-up at a public beach requires you to get approval or even a permit from your town beforehand. Refer to this page for information on contacting town officials. Most events require approval from your town, but if you plan on hosting an event at a school, church, community center, you will need approval from the place you are hosting the event at.
Reach out to your town, local businesses, nonprofits, churches, or schools to see if they are interested in co-hosting or sponsoring your volunteer event. Most events require supplies and planning so it’s helpful to have a partner on board to ensure you have everything in order.
Once you have all the necessary approvals and permits, you want to make sure people show up to the event. The most effective way to spread the word is getting the message out to as many people as possible across multiple platforms.
Make a flyer (both digital and hardcopy) and share it with community centers, churches, and schools. There are free tools available such as Canva where you can create an eye-catching flyer. Share information with sports leagues or other community groups as well. Social media is a highly effective tool for getting the word out. Consider sharing your flyer on sites like Instagram and Facebook. Here are some free flyer templates you can easily customize for your event.
Consider including a QR code on your flyer that links to a Google Form to share more information about the event and encourage registration so you can keep track of the number of volunteers expected. Having an estimate of how many people will be there is important in terms of making sure there are supplies for everyone and enough work so volunteers feel their time has made a valuable impact on the project. Try this easy tool to create a QR code in Canva.
This list is a general guideline. Supplies are very specific to the type of volunteer project you are hosting.
Make sure there is adequate parking and notify volunteers ahead of time where to park. Also, share information about mass transit drop offs near your project site. You may want to include that information on the Google Form or directly on the flyer.
Make sure restrooms are available for volunteers in close proximity to the event you are hosting. If there is nothing at the site, reach out to a local business to see if they would be willing to allow your volunteers to use their facility while working at the project. Notify participants the location of restrooms when they arrive.
Make sure you coordinate how trash will be handled at the end of the project. Likewise , make sure you have a lab to test and samples (air or water) being collected. Care should also be taken to ensure plantings will be cared for following the project whether that is through public works, volunteers, or staff near where the project occurs.
If you find these pages and resources helpful and want to help us continue providing this free resource to individuals and communities, consider donating to support the Environmental Equity Project. These pages are just the beginning of the project. In the future we hope to host a community conference for people across New Jersey to come together to share and learn about Environmental Equity.
