Ideas!
Make the case: Spread the word about service-learning, and explain to your school, friends, or organization why they should be involved:- Service-learning: Turning Ideas into Action is a PowerPoint presentation you can download and customize. It includes information on the positive impacts of service-learning, and examples of projects.
- What is Service-Learning? Fact Sheet is a PDF that you can download and print out that gives a quick overview of the “who, what, when, where and how” of service-learning.
- Want more? See the communications resources available on the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse site.
State Farm Youth Advisory Board is a group of 30 diverse youth who administer a unique grant program that empowers youth to take an active role in their education through service-learning. By administering service-learning grants ranging from $25,000 - $100,000, the board empowers youth the create sustainable change in local communities across the United States and Canada.
YouthNoise empowers young leaders to act for the causes they care about locally, nationally and globally. YouthNoise offers online and offline tools that equip youth to take action for a wide range of social issues. YouthNoise is composed of 158,000 registered users from all 50 states and 176 countries, creating a virtual meeting place for the next generation of activists.
ServeNet is a website for service and volunteering. Users can enter their zip code, city, skills, interests, and availability and be matched with organizations needing help. Contains a set of tools to help your service program, volunteer center, or community group strengthen the scale, effectiveness, and sustainability of its efforts.
Project Ignition, a joint project presented by State Farm and NYLC, invites students grades 9-12 and teachers or project coordinators, to create new projects on teen driver safety. 25 school projects will be selected to receive a 2000 dollar grant to complete their project in the fall 2004-2005 school year. Winners will be selected by a national judging panel - this time for up to 5000 dollars to travel to Long Beach,CA for the 2005 National Service Learning Conference and one school will receive a grant of 10,000 dollars for best in show.
empowerME Programs
The Kids' Movement of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation runs a pre-teen/teen-focused site called www.empowerME2b.org which lists service-learning projects specifically geared toward ending the childhood obesity epidemic:
- Raising Youth Voices
- empowerME@school
- empowerME4Life
On Giants' Shoulders is a high school/college student-run program that uses web cameras and the internet to mentor elementary and middle school students (especially in schools in underserved neighborhoods). A group of students from a high school or college is paired with a group of elementary or middle school students. Each member of each group is then paired on a one-to-one basis according to individual interests. Supportive and encouraging dialogues motivate the younger students to excel academically and socially.
The website contains everything needed for a student or faculty member to create a chapter in a high school or college. The site is also a database of high schools and colleges (potential cybermentors), and elementary and middle schools (potential cybermentees). Read more about Chelsea, the high school students who founded On Giants' Shoulders.