New National Civic Volunteer Award from CivicPlus Celebrates Local Heroes Nominations Accepted Through August 15

MANHATTAN, Kan., July 17, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Local government elected officials in small communities have one month remaining to nominate a civic volunteer or organization for recognition in the new Small Town America Civic Volunteer Award program. The initiative will recognize 100 entries, helping to shine a spotlight on the growing need for local engagement in critical civic roles. To date, the award competition has received a significant number of entries documenting critical work by local volunteers motivated by their love for their hometowns. The stories include:

• A volunteer fire chief in a rural community that receives 240 fire and emergency calls a year that fought to obtain a dedicated firehouse and equipment for their town
• A team of citizens who attracted $5.5 million in private investments to lead an initiative to revitalize a declining downtown corridor that threatened the economic vitality of their small southern community
• A town trustee who led an effort to elevate the community's health and safety capabilities to better respond to the COVID-19 crisis

The top three winning nominees will receive cash awards of $10,000, $7,500, and $5,000 for their respective communities. All 100 winning entries will receive a new CivicCMS community website, at no charge, that includes a volunteer module to aid in future recruitment efforts.

"Many towns, big and small, are facing significant challenges because of the uncertain times we are facing," said Rep. Jessica Fay, Maine House District 66. "Because of this, now is exactly the right time for a program that recognizes local civic volunteers and provides valuable resources—money and technology—to local governments, many of which are facing tough budget choices. I hope that every qualifying community will nominate one or two local public service volunteers for the Small Town America Civic Volunteer Award Program."

Local government representatives may nominate citizens or citizen organizations for the Small Town America Civic Volunteer Award using this online application. Nominators are asked to describe their candidate's compelling story of local volunteerism and its positive impact on their community. CivicPlus has retained the Barton Russell Group to administer the program and judge the nominations.

The award program is open to all communities of 5,000 people or less and will close on August 15. Winners will be announced on September 15.

The Small Town American Civic Volunteer Award is sponsored by the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), the National Association of Counties (NACo), the National Association of Towns and Townships (NATaT), Points of Light, and Main Street America.

To learn more, visit http://www.civic-volunteer.com or download our media kit.

About CivicPlus
CivicPlus is THE integrated technology platform for local government, working with over 4,000 local governments, including municipalities, counties, and municipal departments. CivicPlus has been selected by Inc. Magazine as "One of the Fastest-Growing Privately Held Companies in the U.S." since 2011. For more information, visit CivicPlus.com.

About the Barton Russell Group
The Barton Russell Group is the Nation's leading small town and rural America consultancy. BRG has built, launched, and managed major branding and community and government relations projects, programs and services for Fortune 500 companies and others seeking to do good, while doing well. BRG was founded by Bart Russell, a nationally recognized expert on "everything small town" (its 32,000 communities and 120 million people). One former U.S. President called him "the voice of small-town America."

SOURCE CivicPlus