Youth Service America
From Service-Learning Wiki
Youth Service America (YSA) is a resource center that partners with and supports thousands of organizations committed to increasing the quality and quantity of volunteer community service and service-learning opportunities for young people, ages 5-25, in neighborhoods, nationally, and globally. Founded in 1986, YSA’s vision is to create and nurture a powerful network of organizations committed to making service and service-learning the common expectation and experience of all young people in the United States of America.
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Service-Learning in Youth Service America
YSA sponsors and collaborates with other organizations to involve youth in service-learning through several initiatives including: National and Global Youth Service Day, considered the largest service event in the world, it mobilizes young people to identify and address community needs; supports youths on a lifelong path of service and civic engagement; and educates the public, media, and policymakers about the year-round contributions of young people as community leaders.
A Service-Learning Curriculum Guide is published by YSA to provide an educational link between service projects and K-12 curricula for National and Global Youth Service Day, and convenes the Working Group on National and Community Service to advance new knowledge on service-learning topics. Co-sponsorship of the National Service-Learning Conference where YSA conducts an annual forum on Youth in Decision-Making, offers a number of skill-building workshops, and co-hosts an awards ceremony.
Project Plan-It!, YSA’s online interactive project planning tool, helps young people develop a plan for their service projects, allowing them to print their plan, timeline, budget, funding proposal, press release, service-learning reflection plan, and other helpful resources.
Scope of Service-Learning
Over 200 national and global partners organize thousands of projects based on a service-learning approach each year in the United States and abroad. Millions of youths from 50 states and 127 countries participated in National and Global Youth Service Day in 2003.
Intended Outcomes
Highlights of 2003 program impact include:
- Over 320 million media impressions (readership) from 951 radio, television, and newspaper stories highlighting youths’ positive role during NYSD and year-round, and an average 1 million hits a month on SERVEnet.org.
- Participation of approximately 300 government officials in NYSD and GYSD, including the Presidents of Brazil and the Philippines, helped legitimize and disseminate the key role of youth service and service-learning in community and
national development.
- Unanimous passage of United States Senate’s Resolution 112 declaring April 11th as National Youth Service Day.
- 150 youths, teachers, and organizations received $125,000 in grant funding to support their service-learning projects for NYSD, including 50 grants of $500 for students and 50 grants of $1,500 for teachers made available through The State Farm Good Neighbor Service-Learning Award.
- 40,000 “Service-Learning Curriculum Guides,” in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, were distributed for use in National and Global Youth Service Day projects.
- Approximately 60 youths, representing at least 12 states, participated in YSA sponsored events at the National Service-Learning Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- More than 6,600 students used Project Plan-It in as a resource to develop service-learning projects.
References
- Growing to Greatness (2004), St.Paul: National Youth Leadership Council.
