Volunteer with CLASH

If you are intersted in volunteering, you can begin by signing up for the CLASH weekly Stay in Touch e-news or reach out to clevelandleadsafe@gmail.com

Volunteer opportunities

• • Social Media manager. CLASH is looking for a person who can place CLASH news on to various social media. Work on your own schedule. Coordinate with CLASH Communications and other CLASHers who are active on social media

  • Community Event coordinator: Help recruit volunteers who will  participate in community events, provide tabling assistance, and make brief presentations to community groups. Having a pick up or SUV can be helpful in moving tables, chairs, tent and displays to locations where they are needed.

  • Tabling at community events: From March thru October, CLASH provide lead safe information at community events. Most of these are one-off events sponsored by other community groups.  Tablers need a little basic info about Lead Safety and some techniques for working with residents who stop to talk. 

  • Community Display maintainer. CLASH is seeking a person who can identify and recruit locations where CLASH can place a lead safe display. Once set up, displays need to be checked weekly to replenish literature that has been picked up and check against vandalism. Locations may include grocery stores, community centers or medical facility lobbies. The maintainer needs to have persuasive skills and patience to make weekly rounds.

  • Resident surveys follow ups: Make phone, email, personal contacts with residents who have questions about lead safety in their homes. Good interpersonal skills are a must!

  • Public Records Research. CLASH is looking for volunteers who can do online research. One example is to become fluent in the City of Cleveland Data on Rental Registration data page. Another involves learning more about the Cleveland Water Department's plans to replace lead pipes.

  • Legal and legislative analysis: What are the recommendations and duties for school water testing under the new Lead and Copper rule? 

  • You may have other ideas about how to bring your individual skills to an existing CLASH projects. Serendipity is the mother of invention.

Primers on Public Records Research

Sharing skills outside the newsroom: How “🔎 Public Records Are Power 💪” opened journalists’ knowledge to audiences. A local news collaborative in Northeast Ohio met a need for audiences by offering a free text-message course on how to access public records.

July 1, 2018 OSBA Law & Media Committee How To Make a Public Records Request. "A model public records request letter has been developed for your use. Before you start drafting your letter, here are a few steps you should consider first."