Agenda - 03-04-1991 - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORANGE COUNTY RSVP ADVISORY COUNCIL EVALUATION SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT Eighteenth Year (1991 -1992) The Volunteer Communit Orange County is home to over 11,000 people over the age of 60 (about 12.4% of the total population). It continues to be a popular retire- ment area with many retires remaining active and contributing to the community through volunteerism. There are great contrasts in the county with pockets of poverty as well as very affluent areas. There is a concentration of University scho- lars, "high tech" professionals, and executives, many who are retired. RSVP's challenge is to involve these highly qualified retirees in more complex volunteer jobs. There is hope that RSVP, as a county wide pro- gram, can bring retirees together to benefit the entire county. The RSVP Evaluation Committee conducted a second extensive evaluation of the program. Questionnaires were sent to volunteer station mana- gers, and active and inactive (exiting) volunteers. Twenty five percent of the questionnaires were sent to volunteers who were enrolled in the program for less than one year. A 75% response rate was achieved. The results are categorized and reported below. In our attempt to evaluate the RSVP program objectively, we sent ques- tionnaires to (1) first year volunteers, (2) veteran volunteers, ('�) volunteers leaving the program, and (4) participants in the second annual agency director training program. The returns of the question- naires was most gratifying - -in some rases seventy -five per cent. '"he exception was in the ease of the training program for agency directors. A differing method of securing opinion will have to be devised. Not only were the rates of return gratifying, but also were the com- ments on the questionnaires. At least 95% of the responses were pos- itive. Only two minor problems surfaced. There appears to be a need for better coordination between the volunteers in the RASTAT program and the agency directors. In addition, some of the VITA volunteers expressed concern about having to deal with persons who could obviously afford commercial tax preparation assistance. We found that there were three reasons for persons leaving the RSVP program - -(1) poor health, (2) moving out of town, and (3) securing employment. None of the volun- teers left because of dissatisfaction with the program. RSVP Pro rammin RSVP is responsive to community needs and publicizes through ratio, newspapers, and newsletters. The Director is serving on a committee that is establishing a volunteer action center (VAC) in Orange County. It is hoped that a relationship between the new VAC and RSVP can be • established for cross referrals of volunteers over and under age 60. Because RSVP is perceived as the major source of volunteers, there are a large number of requests. Perhaps with the new VAC, many more of 14-A