Relocation Information

Learn about City Gospel Mission’s relocation and new, state-of-the-art facilities, including the latest news and important messages for our donors and volunteers. We appreciate the Greater Cincinnati community’s ongoing support during this exciting time of transition.

The Cincinnati Enquirer: 'Plan moving forward’

Soapbox Cincinnati: 'Project builds facility, new chances'

"This is an organization that I truly believe God has his hands on."
— Councilman Cecil Thomas

"I strongly support City Gospel Mission."
— Councilman Wayne Lippert

Volunteer

Volunteers constitute 96 percent of our total work force. We depend on the partnership and commitment of local churches as well as individuals. Our work to reach the hurting, homeless and lost would not be possible without the thousands of volunteers that donate their precious time. If you're interested in volunteering, please select one of the areas below to learn more.

Men & Women

Youth or Whiz Kids

Events

 

In the Spotlight: Sarah Taylor

Soon after becoming a Whiz Kids volunteer in January 2011, UC graduate student Sarah Taylor realized she needed to do more — a lot more.

Doing more is writing a 17-page proposal detailing the need to teach music to at-risk youth, then taking it to the dean of UC’s College-Conservatory of Music to ask him to invest in providing music education to Whiz Kids in schools that have cut music-education funding.

What more is there? Results, of course.

Sarah says that CCM Dean Peter Landgren is listening. This month, Landgren is scheduled to visit the John P. Parker Whiz Kids site in Madisonville, where Sarah and three other volunteers teach music and drama following the kids’ weekly tutoring session.

There is a good chance a Whiz Kids-CCM partnership will be established. Dean Landgren has said that CCM does not do enough in the community, and he acknowledged Sarah’s Whiz Kids work in his Fall 2011 forum, according to UC’s official website.

Sarah says it is "devastating" that so many Cincinnati Public Schools have cut full-time music teachers. "They’re at-risk kids, and music can be something to encourage them to stay in school and give them a sense of identity," Sarah says.

Sarah, 25, grew up in Wichita, Kan. Both of her parents are music educators. While searching for graduate schools, Sarah considered urban universities because of her desire to help at-risk youth through volunteering. Soon after arriving at UC in fall 2010, she knew she had to act on that desire.

"I had never really seen poverty like I had here in Cincinnati," says Sarah, scheduled to graduate in June with a master’s in bassoon. "It had a really large impact on me. Every day I walked to school (at UC), I saw people living on the streets. I knew I needed to do something about this. So I just ‘googled’ ‘Cincinnati’ and ‘volunteer’ and up came the City Gospel Mission and the Whiz Kids program."

Based on conversations with CCM friends, Sarah believes other students will develop a passion for helping Whiz Kids. She’s already helped establish music activities at the Chase Elementary Whiz Kids site in Northside, where two CCM students volunteer each Thursday.

"As a musician, it’s easy to sit in a practice room by yourself all the time," Sarah says. "This can be life-changing for the CCM students, too."

If the funding is approved, Sarah hopes the partnership can be expanded to two or three more Whiz Kids sites for 2012-13.

"This does not replace somebody who is certified in the schools to teach music," Sarah says. "But it can be a great way for the Conservatory and Whiz Kids to work together." And a great way to help change more lives through Whiz Kids.

For more information about volunteering, please contact us at volunteer@citygospelmission.org.