To volunteer, or to manage volunteers? This is the question.

Advice from my friend Celeste Sauls-Marks, CVA, who serves as the Agency Relations Director for Dallas County and ServiceWorks! at the Volunteer Center of North Texas, on the topic of "resources for those who are looking to pursue a career in volunteer resources":

If you are looking to pursue a career in volunteer resources management, there are several resources locally that can be helpful. The local professional association of volunteer resources managers (VRMs) is the Dallas Association of Directors of Volunteers. On their website, www.dadv.org, they list current available positions. They will also be a great resource for you. They meet once a month on the second Tuesday at 12 pm at the Volunteer Center of North Texas. Also, they host the local Volunteer Management Conference each year on the first Friday in March. This year, it will be held at the SPCA. Information will be posted at www.vmcdfw.org when it becomes available.

Another resources for jobs in the area is the Center for Nonprofit Management (www.cnmdallas.org). You might also consider getting your certification in volunteer administration. You can access this at www.ccva.org.

You may also to check out the new national professional association for VRMs at www.avrm.org. While this is an extremely new organization, they will have programming and training that may be beneficial to you. There is also the Volunteer Management Review (www.charitychannel.com) newsletter that provides short newsletters on topics related to volunteer resources management.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Celeste is where she is. Top notch, that woman. Our community is lucky to have her here.

Now, for those who are less inclined to pursue this vocation in a full-time capacity, here is an intereting opportunity for an internship at the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation (CDCDC, a separate 501(c)(3) from Central Dallas Ministries).

Community Development Interns
The Central Dallas Community Development Corporation is seeking highly qualified interns to work directly with the Executive Director on a variety of strategic projects of critical importance to the organization. Upper-division undergraduates and graduate students are encouraged to apply. This is an excellent opportunity for anyone interested in the fields of community development, public policy, and social service. It is also suitable for students of economics, accounting, statistics, or business, or those planning a career in commercial real estate, who would like to gain experience in community-based, nonprofit real estate development.

Download the full Internship Posting here.