On 28th January 2019, Serve the City International had its first All City Call of 2019. This call, attended by cities across Europe and the United States, discussed humility and looked back at the reason why we serve. We started with a discussion of leading with why and asking ourselves why we do what we do, what motivates us and what impact we can make through our actions.
Serve the City Bremen provides a good example of serving with humility with their project of cleaning Stolpersteine laid out in the streets of their city. Stolpersteine, or stumbling stones, commemorate the names and fate of people who were persecuted by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945.
The call then examined what an active city looks like as “an active city has a regular rhythm of serving in their city throughout the year.” We also highlighted the Dublin Resolution – 5 key points Serve the City is committed to in 2019 in order to achieve its 2020 vision. These consisted of;
- To deepen our understanding of, and commitment to our values. We will do this by constantly communicating the ‘why behind the what’ in our volunteering and developing more values-based resources, for our use, and to share with others.
- To be global advocates for people in need in the urban context by, as an example, sharing impact stories.
- To form cross-city networks of leaders who are addressing similar social needs. One of our current and particular focus revolves around working against human trafficking.
- To measure our global outputs, outcomes, and impact.
- To use our best understanding of the process by which new cities enter the movement and grow to maturity so we can equip, assist, and encourage them and increase the number of active cities.
The call ended by dividing into breakout groups that looked at (a) the regular rhythm of serving in active cities, (b) the help or input needed to become active and (c) setting a goal for this year that will help cities develop or sustain a regular rhythm of serving.
