By Angus Abercrombie
One of the greatest assets of our community is the many residents who take time out of their busy schedules to work on bettering our town. Some choose to serve on public bodies, some coach youth sports, and others dedicate their time to the numerous nonprofits making Belmont and its surrounding communities even stronger. That we see, time after time, our neighbors take on these noble efforts instills a valuable trust in shared values of the town.
There is a distinct need for this work, both to complete tasks and to sustain our community’s character. It is therefore essential to seek out and address obstacles that might discourage participation in these programs and efforts. This spirit of volunteerism is something that we now struggle to impart to younger community members—a troubling trend that threatens many of the institutions and connections that make the Belmont we know and love today.
I’m not alone in having begun my volunteering journey at an age when I was more likely to get in the way than actually help out. Whether it was showing up for volunteer days at Habitat or supporting my parents when they were called into service by the Winn Brook Parent Teacher Association, the idea that some portion of my time would be devoted to uncompensated, beneficial work was never foreign to me.
I found this early exposure important. By the time I entered middle school, it had built the connections that meant I knew exactly what I wanted to do to fulfill my mandatory community service requirement. At the same time, I’d seen how showing up and helping out for just a few hours a month can have a tangible impact in the long term. By high school, I had established relationships with community organizations that had benefited my own upbringing, thereby presenting excellent opportunities to give back through time and, once I started working, money. Filling the 40-hour requirement with meaningful work was a simple task, one I completed within my first year.
This is the experience of many young people in our schools, but it diverges sharply from that of their peers who are not given the support and opportunity to develop the community relations that drive a long-running commitment to volunteerism. Crucially, since I left the Chenery Middle School, now Chenery Upper Elementary, the community service requirement for grades five through 8 has been eliminated. As a result, preteens aren’t introduced to community organizations and service opportunities.
Without these relationships, it is much more likely that upon reaching high school, students will view the 40-hour requirement as an unwelcome chore rather than as an intrinsically motivated service. Additionally, during my time at the high school, students could get credit for community service by contributing items or funds to food drives and other school-sponsored charitable efforts. This sends precisely the wrong message. The idea that one’s obligations to their community can be quickly paid off with a large enough check is not a principle we should teach in Belmont’s public schools.
It is essential that we improve our middle and high school community service programs for Belmont’s service culture, one that recognizes people’s volunteer time as essential to both the projects they support and the bonds that hold our community together. We should reinstate a requirement for student volunteering in the seventh and eighth grades while also ensuring that policy blocks students from exempting themselves with food and monetary and donations. This change will help young Belmont residents build meaningful connections with community groups and find volunteer opportunities that bring them value long after they have completed their service requirement.
Most Belmont students expect that upon their graduation from Belmont High School, they will enroll in a college. Many will travel across the country, if not further, to seek out prestigious programs in their chosen fields. This speaks to the level of academic excellence that some Belmont students achieve, but it creates an additional problem for the community groups they are involved in. I’ve been a part of many organizations that see massive fluctuations in engagement from young residents as a few excited high schoolers become a major part of their programs, before leaving the state for four years, if not longer.
Belmont has a striking demographic divide, with less than half as many residents in the 20 to 29 age bracket as between the ages of 10 and 19. This is a result of both the expectations for college education and career success, and of the troubling lack of affordability in Belmont. Young professionals deeply tied to Belmont’s institutions and community find few affordable spaces in town.
The power of having organizations that a person knows, appreciates, and has experience with is unmatched in mobilizing that person to help out in the community. When we push young professionals out of Belmont, we lose people who are deeply invested in the town.
At the same time, for the high schoolers who are looking at whether it is worth investing their time and energy in advancing through an organization, whether to begin new projects and take a major role in existing ones, we give them absolutely no confidence that they will be able to see those through to their conclusion. Very little in government, advocacy, or community programming can truly be accomplished in only a couple of years. Engagement is discouraged when young people are unable to develop long-term relationships and trust that those connections will endure for years to come.
I think there is a common sentiment that Belmont is feeling increasingly disconnected. High residential and business turnover, demographic shifts, and simple changes in how people go about their daily lives are all contributing to this feeling. One of the best antidotes are the incredible organizations and institutions that give Belmont residents an opportunity to come together to serve our neighbors. These groups provide an opportunity to bridge economic, social, and intergenerational divides.
Our current policies have made it tougher to instill the value of volunteer work. Relatively simple fixes to how our schools treat community service could make real progress here. At the same time, if we truly want to rebuild the solid base of young people engaged in service organizations and projects in Belmont, we will need to tackle issues like affordability and displacement. Without giving young people a chance to invest their time in our town, we cannot ask them to engage in service.
Angus Abercrombie is a Precinct 8 Town Meeting member and a member of the Belmont Conservation Commission.
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