NEW YORK — Ten U.S. cities are recruiting volunteers to help with local problems such as flood recovery and childhood obesity as part of a nationwide emphasis on service led by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Bloomberg founded a volunteer corps in his city last year in response to President Barack Obama's call for more Americans to do service work. He then launched a coalition of cities focused on service, and it now has more than 100 member cities.
Earlier this year, the billionaire mayor's philanthropic foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation gave grants to 20 cities to hire chief service officers and start their own service efforts.
Ten of those cities are launching their programs this month, with a wide range of initiatives geared toward solving local issues. The cities are Philadelphia, Detroit, Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, Tenn., Sacramento, Calif., Savannah, Ga., Omaha, Neb., and Newark, N.J.
The mayor said volunteers are especially crucial at a time when municipalities everywhere are having to trim spending and slash services.
"Faced with continued economic challenges, many mayors are working to take advantage of