People powered: How 1,000 volunteers showed up to help governments at all levels
Three years and 1,000 volunteers deployed, Kristen Eberlin, U.S. Digital Response’s Volunteers Team Lead, reflects on what it means to harness the power of people wanting to help.
By: Kristen Eberlin
At the dawn of the pandemic, everything aptly felt like an early morning alarm clock dragging us out of bed. I remember groggily staring at the news reports, watching the world shut down at an alarming pace. While many of us were instructed to “stay home,” many were also called into the front lines and were essential in making sure our society kept functioning.
Many of us also felt an awakening to help.
In those early days, a Slack message was sent out asking who could provide assistance to hundreds of governments and nonprofits looking to respond at the speed of need. This was the very start of U.S. Digital Response (USDR). As a volunteer in 2020, I can say with confidence we weren’t sure how long this would go on — but we knew we’d be around as long as our partners needed help. Within months, thousands of people signed up interested in helping, we now affectionately call them “handraisers,” and hundreds have been deployed to collaborate with government teams over the last three years.
Today, we’re honoring our 1,000th deployed volunteer — just over three years after USDR began.
I formally joined USDR two years ago as a staff member, and I now help manage our volunteer machine. I have a front-row seat to the inspiring talent that raises their hand to help every day, and though the pandemic crisis has lessened, I’m encouraged to see people still stepping up. USDR has expanded beyond crisis response to resilience building, and our volunteer model helps us deploy technical capacity wherever needed. Our experienced volunteers come from an impressive range of backgrounds and skill sets, helping our partners launch services and resources such as a collective and central COVID-19 vaccine appointment system to a Spanish plain language glossary of common Unemployment Insurance terms.
Our volunteers help provide critical tools, resources, and support to governments. Every day, our volunteers are assisting leaders to make the right decision for their communities. This inspired approach is evident in tools like the Poll Worker Management solution developed by our volunteers alongside election officials. Thanks to our volunteers, USDR’s work has evolved to provide sustainable solutions that address long-term challenges and build digital resilience within our communities.
Below, we’re showcasing some of the human beings that have provided their skills to our partners, adding to the “special sauce” that makes USDR a truly impactful place. Because of these people, and thousands of others like them, our communities are more resilient today for whatever tomorrow may bring.
Here’s to the next 1,000 deployed volunteers, the next 8,000 handraisers, and beyond!
1. Designing Workflows that Serve Everyone with Andrew Hsieh
Andrew volunteered with USDR before making the leap from working at Meta to the General Services Administration. Check out Andrew’s story exploring what inspired his career change.
2. USDR Volunteer Stories: Nilofer Rajpurkar
Nilofer joined USDR as part of the U.S. Digital Response NYC[x] Innovation Fellowship. As a product manager for the project, Nilofer talks about “dipping her toes” into working with government, and the excitement about helping our partners solve their problems to help make lives better.
3. On volunteering as the “second mountain” with Mike Foreman
Mike was inspired by his grandmother — who was a programmer for the United States Army Corps of Engineers — to choose his career path. After working for decades in leading roles as a VP of engineering with corporations and the government, he retired a few years ago. That’s when he discovered his new career path, his “second mountain,” volunteering with USDR.
4. “It Really Is All About People”: On UX Research and Volunteering with Anna Hoffman
As a UXR volunteer, Anna works on various projects helping partner organizations conduct interviews, creating artifacts — like journey maps — and overall, helping make their services more user-friendly. As a scoper, she guides research volunteers to figure out what skillsets they will need to complete the projects and how much time it might take.
5. USDR Volunteer Stories: Jia Liu
Jia joined USDR as part of the U.S. Digital Response NYC[x] Innovation Fellowship. As a designer, Jia had been looking for an opportunity to use his skills to help solve real problems on behalf of governments in a “high impact” way. Hear why Jia thinks volunteering with USDR is a way for all designers can get involved.
6. Why volunteer for USDR? Community Manager
Ending this list with an inspired message from one of our long-term volunteers, Leonardo Rocchiccioli. Leo talks about his passion for using his unique skills for community management with USDR — something he wasn’t aware he could volunteer for in the past.
Interested in using your skills to help people in your community?
From UX researchers to content strategists and more, there’s an opportunity for technologists to volunteer with USDR. Learn more about USDR or sign up to volunteer your time at www.usdigitalresponse.org/volunteers.
Have more questions? Watch a recording of a past Volunteer Info Session or register to attend an upcoming session.
