Working Mother

With the future of my world at BusinessWeek uncertain, I’m easing myself out of another job: parent volunteer. A newly elected vice-president of our high school parent teacher organization (PTO), I resigned even before the school year began when my work outlook changed, and joined the ranks of Americans cutting back on volunteering while we grapple with realities of the recession. “You’ve got to take care of business,” agrees a friend, whose grant-dependent work is tougher now because of cuts in state funding. Part-timers, we had devoted hundreds of hours in more robust times to our public schools—from tapping local police to read to first-graders to helping the middle school plan its annual goals to campaigning for a referendum to renovate our high school. But now, time once spent volunteering is devoted to trying to ensure job security—and save for looming college tuitions.

Common wisdom, backed by a government survey that showed volunteering held steady during the economic crisis last year, was that the growing ranks of the unemployed would turn to volunteerism while they searched for jobs and waited out the recession. But the latest findings of America’s Civic Health Index, an annual survey published by the National Conference on Citizenship, tell a different story: 72% of survey respondents say they have cut back on their time engaged in civic participation. “The economic crisis has triggered civic foreclosure,” said Michael Weiser, the group’s chairman. “The good heart of Americans is still very evident, though, as they refocus on basic needs.” Although volunteers aren’t giving as much of their time, 68% said they would be willing to provide food to those in need.

My largely nocturnal job has allowed me to be at home four days a week helping with homework, chauffeuring kids, cheering athletic events, managing the house—and volunteering, whether as a writing coach at the middle school or a parent helping out with class parties. Through the years a core of tireless women in our town have held down the essential jobs of the PTO, which raises thousands of dollars for the schools, while I’ve joined a supporting cast of others who float in and out of availability depending largely on the labor market. What’s all that time worth? Nationwide, according to the Independence Sector, volunteers’ time was valued at $20.25 an hour in 2008—make that $24.48 an hour if you live in my state, New Jersey.

But now, with BusinessWeek on the auction block, it seems reckless to pledge time to a volunteer activity. Commit to regular meetings when your schedule is in doubt? Spend time online with volunteers when social networking is the activity de rigueur for endangered workers? I confess, I haven’t kicked the volunteer habit completely: I’ll remain an outspoken but welcome parent representative at the high school through its ongoing accreditation process. With two years of monthly meetings behind us, much of the work can now be done online. In times like these, that suits this volunteer just fine.

Reader, have you had to curtail your volunteer activities as your family deals with fallout from the recession?

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