"Be the Change" NY: Facilitator's Guide

"Be the Change" NY is a service-learning curriculum that encourages young people to explore global and local issues, learn and practice life skills and create meaningful community service projects. Students explore the importance of community, leadership, and service, participate in a community mapping activity, and select a project intended to address a community need they have identified. During the planning process, students use CFC's IGNITE model to identify a project that addresses a community need, gather the project supplies, network with community members and organizations to create partnerships, inform other students, parents, community members and the media about their project, use teamwork to work together to accomplish the project goal and encourage all students to remain positive throughout the planning process. After spending several weeks planning the project, the group executes their project. The curriculum guide is designed to explicitly give the youth the skills and lessons they will need to successfully complete their own service project. To help facilitators and youth alike the guides are divided into four sections: core values, life skills, thematic lessons, and service project.