WHO:   St. Charles Mayor Patti York has announced a partnership with Volunteers Impact Prosperity (VIP) along with two other communities in the metropolitan area…an effort designed to produce the nation’s first Community E-Network.  “The purpose of a Community E-Network is to better connect community resources and opportunities to the serving, earning, learning and leading needs of our citizens,” said Mayor York.  “We didn’t even know what a Social E-Network was until 2002, but according to the Pew Foundation, 75 percent of the young people in my community – 18 to 25 – are current members.  We envision the Community E-Network as a social e-network with a local mission.”

WHAT:   Mayor York indicated she’s been working with VIP in tandem with St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay and Wentzville Mayor Paul Lambi.  “It is our hope that we’re well on our way to developing what we feel will be the E-Network of the future…a Community E-Network that will better connect the needs and interests of our citizens with existing resources and new opportunities,” she said.

This initiative has been driven in large part by Mayors York, Lambi and Slay since leaders of 200 area groups and companies commissioned two first-ever surveys in 2007 to determine the level of dependency that communities have on their local volunteers as shown below:

                          Volunteer Time         Volunteer Goods            Total Giving
                          (service giving)            (monetary giving)          (time and money)

  Wentzville          $15,678,000                  $26,000,000                 $41,678,000
  St. Louis            $213,462,000                $354,000,000               $567,462,000
  St. Charles          $38,000,000                  $63,000,000               $101,000,000

WHERE      St. Charles Convention Center – St. Charles Community E-Network kick-off.
& WHEN:   Thursday, July 16 – Meeting Room 105 – 4-6 p.m. 
      
ALSO:   VIP officials will be on hand to identify the various on-line products that will be a part of the network initiative, including:
  
Serving – Each Community E-Network will provide every community member with a free ‘volunteer count’ lifetime account that allows them to count, verify, record and report their volunteer service hours.  The account also allows the volunteers to keep a lifetime continuous record of their tax deductable volunteer mileage as well as a place to keep record of all tax deductable monetary contributions.

Earning – Each E-Network will provide every community member with free access to a community-based Employment E-Center.

Learning – Each E-network will provide every community member with free access to America’s Scholarship K-12 (ASK) program demonstrating to every member of the community that there is absolutely no financial reason for them not to secure a postsecondary degree. 

“We are excited about working with VIP to develop the Community E-Network of the future,” concluded Mayor York.  “It is our pleasure to involve the city of St. Charles in the process for we know we’re organizing our community to maximize the technology advantages we currently enjoy to better serve our citizens.”