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City launches 'City Serves' paid volunteer time and seeks volunteers for 2028 Olympics
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Summary
The city rolled out 'City Serves,' which provides up to four paid hours per six-month window for employees to volunteer with approved internal or nonprofit opportunities; officials also warned the city will need roughly 5,000 volunteers for Olympic-related roles.
City officials used the town hall to introduce City Serves, a program allowing employees paid time to volunteer with internal city events or approved nonprofit partners.
Shay Lynn described the program: "employees now get paid for 4 paid hours of per 6 month period to volunteer," with volunteer windows from July 1–Dec. 31 and Jan. 1–June 30. Lynn said supervisors will receive automatic approval requests via the city’s system, asked employees to sign up at least seven days ahead to allow scheduling adjustments, and said post-volunteer reporting will be processed into payroll as VTO in Kronos.
Staff encouraged employees to propose internal volunteer opportunities and noted that external opportunities must be tied to one of four federations in the Heart of the City campaign. Lynn provided the contact point cityserves@okc.gov for questions and signups.
Separately, Sue Holland briefed attendees on the city's role as a host community for the Olympics and said the city expects to need about 5,000 volunteers across venues and support functions. She encouraged staff to consider volunteering and noted language-support planning for international visitors.
The program is intended to increase cross-department engagement and offer employees a structured way to contribute to community events and city priorities.
