Learning As We Go - ResourcesUnite!

We started ResourcesUnite a couple of years ago with a vision of connecting the community to resources and to one another. That vision remains the same, but how we get there has changed dramatically. Time and time again, we found that individuals didn’t know of the services offered in our community. Our thought was to create an online directory of all community resources that is provider generated and allows the user to find exactly what they are looking for depending on their specific needs. We were sure that by building this tool, we would effectively connect the community.

Our directory is a great tool, but we quickly learned that it was not “the” tool. We learned that in order to connect people to one another in any given community, multiple tools need to be provided. We spent hours upon hours on Jon’s deck brainstorming with our white board. As the weeks and months passed, we learned a lot from our community. Through a number of meetings with individuals, organizations, companies, and community leaders, it was clear that people wanted to connect; they wanted to get involved in our community, but didn’t know how.

Fast forward two short years and we are on the verge of creating something amazing. Our vision of connecting the community has led us to the plan of creating a volunteer center for the city of Dubuque. This volunteer center is going to be so much more though. This space is going to bring people together for work and play. It’s going to be a haven for connection and inspiration. I envision people leaving their traditional work space to work inside of RU because they long for the community connection. People will go to this place because they want to learn about volunteer opportunities and they will be given all of the information and skills needed to effectively connect to the right opportunity.

I see people sitting in RU, drinking coffee with friends, and talking with great excitement about what they are doing in the community. They will inspire one another. Goals that were once thought unattainable, will be realized. More people will begin to believe that they can make a difference.

And what’s most exciting about this vision is that we recognize that we don’t know it all. This realization has led us to some amazing partnerships. We’ve been meeting with the City of Dubuque, the Greater Dubuque Community Foundation, Loras College, AmeriCorps, RSVP, St. Mark’s, the Multicultural Center, Hillcrest, Clarke University, the Greater Dubuque Development Corporation, and so many other organizations/companies in the hopes of not only gaining invaluable insight, but to also create a team that will help sustain this important effort. I must say, we have assembled an all star team.

We’re incredibly excited for this next step and we are hopeful that if you are reading this, you are too.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *