If you ride a bicycle in the city but can’t afford to bring it to a bike shop for expensive repairs, you’re in luck. Time’s Up! will teach you how to fix your bike yourself. Mechanic Dustin Wade works on a bike at Time's Up!'s Brooklyn space. On March 1 the volunteer-run environmental action group opened a new space at 99 South Sixth St. in Williamsburg. Time’s Up! offers workshops...

Not all Americans believe it’s a good idea for the government to encourage volunteerism. Don Watkins, a writer for the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, weighed in on President Obama’s calls for people to give back to their communities: “When the government, instead of protecting individual rights, starts forcing us to cater to the needs of others, it sets us on a course at odds with freedom....

More volunteers on the horizon for Brooklyn.... There are 450 Americorps volunteers serving at 25 organizations in Brooklyn, and soon that number may grow. On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a bill to increase funding to the Corporation for National Service and similar organizations. I’ve been wondering how the Obama administration would tackle this, and I’m not surprised to hear the...

Volunteerism is in the news, and we here at ChangesBrooklyn are validated that we recognized a trend. This weekend, the New York Times reported that numbers of volunteers are growing due to unemployment. In just the few stories we’ve reported so far for this blog, we’re seeing the same thing. The folks at the Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service said that their ranks of volunteers now include a former...

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Appearing before the House Committee on Education and Labor on February 25, singer Usher testified about his experiences with community service and why he believes the government should do more to encourage involvement. The multimillion-record-selling, Grammy-winning artist founded New Look, a nonprofit organization that helps disadvantaged youth gain skills useful for careers in the...

Jeri Barksdale with one of her foster grandchildren at Duffield Children's Center Photo: Jim Flood On Friday Jim and I paid a visit to what may be the oldest human services non-profit in the borough: The Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service. It’s been around since 1866, as a response to the devastation of the Civil War. These days, the BBCS assists over 13,000 people per year with the help of over...