Jim Ward on patrol in his neighborhood in Detroit. Ward is the kind of community organizer that AARP hopes can help resurrect the ailing city, one volunteer at a time. Photo by Michael Nemeth

Summary:
• Build networks of volunteers to make Detroit a better place.
• Detroit ranks 16th among U.S. cities in volunteering.
• Attend Nov. 12 AARP event to get started.

As soon as Jim Ward receives an e-mail update from AARP on health care legislation, he blasts it to several hundred friends and neighbors. No pay. No reward. Just duty, he says—a duty to distribute solid, balanced information.

“Why do I do this? I’m addressing the misinformation. I’m helping people sort the difference between facts and myths. Health care is an issue near and dear to my heart,” said Ward, 71, a retired Ford human resources manager.

A Detroit booster in thought and deed, Ward coordinates more than 100 neighborhood watch volunteers in his Greenacres neighborhood and pledges time for his service fraternity. He considers civic engagement his full-time job.

A new initiative to get AARP members involved in their communities is focusing on people like Ward—the neighborhood leaders, retired citizens with a yen for volunteerism, as well as community organizers and professors.

Jacqueline Morrison, AARP Michigan senior manager of state operations, says that “Circles of Engagement,” as the program is called, is designed to help build networks of volunteers. She hopes they, in turn, will mobilize others to help improve the health, safety, culture and economic well-being of the community.

“Detroit is ground zero for problems in urban America,” said Luther Keith, executive director of Arise Detroit, a group that has grown to 400 block clubs, businesses and civic groups thanks to community organizing. Keith helps people identify their neighborhood’s particular priorities, which makes them more likely to volunteer and become actively engaged.

Morrison expects Ward and others like him to serve as mentors. “We want to tap their strength, their know-how,” she said.

Her aim is to match people with time on their hands to causes that require human ingenuity, compassion and social networking skills.

With unemployment near 30 percent in the city, the needs are urgent.

So this fall, Morrison sent 25,000 invitations to AARP members ages 50 to 64 to participate in seminars with college professors, arts and culture experts, fitness buffs, neighborhood leaders and health practitioners. The goal: to energize boomers to do more to better themselves and Detroit.

On Nov. 12, invited presenters include Keith; Oliver Ragsdale, president of the Arts League; and Florise Neville-Ewell, a Thomas M. Cooley Law School professor who lectures on financial responsibility for home­owners [see box at left].

Detroit is already a city of volunteers. Despite its problems, the city ranks 16th among the 51 largest cities for volunteering, according to the Corporation for National & Community Service. Thirty percent of boomers volunteer, the best showing of all age groups in the metropolitan area.

“This age group is already on the bandwagon,” Keith said.

In turn, Morrison hopes people will be energized to help others. Some examples: providing rides for isolated adults to big-band concerts at the new Arts League of Michigan downtown; helping older people prepare their taxes; or organizing group exercises at the Northwest Activities Center. Morrison envisions in-depth workshops on volunteerism and financial security.

“People in Detroit are resilient, strong. They have faith the city will rise up and be vital again,” she said.

Maureen McDonald is a freelance writer in Detroit.