Field workers realized that preventing addiction meant reaching children before they began using drugs. Throughout the year, CityTeam keeps about a thousand kids busy with regular recreational activities, neighborhood clubs, tutoring, leadership development, and Bible studies. CityTeam President Pat Robertson says kids know where the organization's workers live and know that they can reach those workers anytime, day or night. The problems of the community are our problems. Volunteers distribute food, clothing, and furniture, provide rent assistance, assemble holiday food boxes and kits of school supplies, and teach English as a second-language to Spanish and Vietnamese residents.
Volunteers also act as unofficial caseworkers, following up with client families.
Harry Brown, the vice president for administration, says CityTeam's extensive volunteer network enables the agency to provide a level of support and personal help that rivals publicly funded programs in the city. Most volunteers are recruited through local churches or ads. While some volunteers work only once a year, others offer a regular commitment. CityTeam applies the same targeted grass-roots approach to fundraising as it does to delivering social services. According to a 1995 study by Independent Sector, an umbrella group for nongovernmental organizations, most private charities rely heavily on direct government subsidies.