Volunteer
Opportunities
WMLA is 100% volunteer!
That means you can really make a difference.
Economic conditions in our area
Over 37,000 Berkshire County residents struggle to make ends meet, and more than 16,000 live below the government’s sub-survival poverty level. General Electric employed as many as 13,000 workers in the area, Sprague Electric, as many as 4000. None of those jobs remain. As unionized production jobs declined, service work became predominant. Typical jobs now are part-time, seasonal, and minimum wage.
Berkshire County ranks near the bottom of Massachusetts counties in per capita income and near the top in incidence of chronic health conditions. As of 2016, income had declined for 60% of Massachusetts residents over the previous 30 years. The result is increasing numbers of people unable to make ends met. Eversource, the electric utility company for about half the towns in Berkshire County, conducted 10,903 disconnections in Western Massachusetts in 2016 alone.
Workers, the unemployed and disabled and their families are urgently in need of change!
Outreach at Third Thursday in Pittsfield
Producing the WMLA newsletter
Legal Advice Session with a volunteer attorney
The annual Spring Brunch and Children’s Egg Hunt
Volunteer Opportunities
- WMLA is 100% volunteer!
- That means you can really make a difference.
- WMLA needs:
- • Canvassers: bring organization house to house, from towns to hill towns
- • Drivers
- • Lay advocates
- • Graphic designers
- • Phone callers
- • Letter writers
- • Maintenance staff
- • Event volunteers
- …and more! Everyone can do something!
Call today to find out more about how you can play a vital role in this effort: 413-443-9862
you can help: 413-443-9862.
Organizer Training
- WMLA offers free-of-charge, on-the-job organizer training to interested volunteers.
- You can learn
- • how to organize service workers into a unique form of association;
- • how to build mutual assistance benefit programs;
- • how to publish membership newspapers;
- • how to unite workers and supporters to stop harmful official policies;
- • and more!
Call WMLA today to schedule a time to come in for a volunteer orientation and activity: 413-443-9862
Spread the word
- Learn about grassroots publicity through:
- • Join the Speakers Bureau and learn public speaking
- • Invite a WMLA speaker to your group
- • Work with the publishing staff to produce Western Massachusetts Alliance News
- • Put up posters around your neighborhood: hand drawn and pre-printed
- • and more!
Call WMLA today to schedule a time to come in for a volunteer orientation and activity: 413-443-9862