Summer of Service

__________

A New American Rite of Passage?

Innovations in Civic Participation

Susan Stroud, Executive Director 1776 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Suite 201 Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202-775-0290 www.icicp.org

SUMMER OF SERVICE:
A NEW AMERICAN RITE OF PASSAGE?

An Innovations in Civic Participation Report

By Shirley Sagawa

Table of Contents: Introduction Summer of Service: A new rite of passage? The benefits of a Summer of Service A firm foundation: Findings from our program survey Implications for policy Conclusion Program Appendix 1 4 8 18 22 30 33

Photographs courtesy of Youth Engaged in Leadership and Learning (cover, page 4), Citizen Schools (page 1), City Year (page 16), Childrens Discovery Museum of San Jose (page 19), Youth Volunteer Corps of America (pages 5, 30, and 33), Washington Service Corps (page 20), The Breakthrough Collaborative (page 17), and the Corporation for National and Community Service (all other photos).

Introduction In many cultures, the transition from childhood into the teen years is marked by a rite of passage often one in which the young person engages deeply in learning and self-reflection, and takes on new adult responsibilities. These rites of passage many of which are thousands of years old are a central way in which groups of people pass on their values, culture, and history from generation to generation. While some young Americans experience such rites as part of their religious or cultural traditions, many do not. In our relatively young country, the establishment of such a rite for young Americans of all backgrounds could serve many purposes teaching the rights and responsibilities of citizenship; helping young people learn about (and become connected to) their communities; forging common bonds across economic and ethnic groups through common experiences; and helping young people develop in a positive, healthy way. Imagine what such a rite might look like. At age 13 or 14, when young teens are leaving middle school for high school, they might spend four weeks of their summer engaged in an intensive servicelearning project, working in teams led by older youth, young adults, or even community elders. This service would be an expectation, but not a requirement, and community groups might offer a range of options that would appeal to a wide range of interests.

The young peoples experience would be part of a learning plan that helps them connect their service to citizenship, life skills, and academic subjects such as science or language arts. Some students would be so motivated by their experience that they would want to stay involved, becoming team leaders for future classes of youth and eventually, committed professionals in a helping field; some would use their experience in other ways, bringing their greater sense of self-worth, community, team work, and other skills to future undertakings. Community and nonprofit leaders would see the useful work done by these young people and find ways to deploy them effectively, ensuring that their service is needed and valued. And as the young teens make their way through high school, and eventually apply to college or first jobs, where they did their Summer of Service would be a common experience and defining aspect of their lives. Unfortunately, these kinds of opportunities are the exception, not the rule in America today. Despite the pivotal nature of the early teen years, youth-focused investments (other than education) tend to emphasize problems, not potential. We spend money to tell teens to stay away from drugs; to keep youth offenders off the streets; to discourage teen pregnancy. Yet research and common sense tells us that giving young people something to say yes to is an essential part of teaching them to say no. Most parents work during the summer while their young teens are out of school, tied to an academic calendar created long ago to free children up for farming tasks. Summer school is often only for those who are failing, not those who could use the time to expand their horizons. Working families may be hard-pressed to pay for adult supervision for young teenagers during the summer or after school, but government funding for child care and after school programs limits eligibility to children under 13. AmeriCorps members must be 18, and only limited funding is available for community-based organizations to run service programs for younger youth. Federal law prohibits children under 14 from working, and for older youth, paid employment opportunities are limited. As a result, most young people making the difficult transition from middle to high school have no organized activities during periods when they are out of school, and many are left unsupervised, at risk of engaging in potentially harmful activities.

A universally available Summer of Service program would help fill this policy gap by helping communities create positive alternatives for young teens. Developing a national system to enable all young people to participate in service as a rite of passage would be possible, even in a tight economy, if the system were built on the existing infrastructure of service and youth programs. This report elaborates on this idea of a Summer of Service rite of passage, including background on citizenship education, service-learning, and youth development. It then examines fourteen existing programs for what they tell us about policy options for expanding opportunities for young teens to participate in summer service programs. We identified programs in two ways -- by contacting service-learning experts for nominations and reviewing previously published material by youth policy organizations. Based on this pool, we selected programs that fit our target age (teens), calendar (summer or afterschool), and activity (service-learning), and to represent diverse program designs. These programs were asked to provide indepth background information. These programs are profiled in Appendix A and are discussed in the text of the report. While we are struck by the range of programs and the many creative ways that they have leveraged their limited resources, we also recognize that a summer of service is an option for very few young teens today. This report offers a road map that could lead us to a very different place a nation in which we invest in young people for the contribution they can make, not the risk they should avoid.

Programs Profiled AmeriCorps Youth Harvest The Breakthrough Collaborative Childrens Discovery Museum of San Jose Summer of Service Citizen Schools Earth Force After School Heads Up ManaTEENs Mississippi Higher Education Consortium Lighthouse Partnerships Teen Outreach Program (TOP) Walkabout Washington Service Corps Roadmap to Civic Engagement YMCA Earth Service Corps Young Heroes Youth Engaged in Leadership and Learning (YELL) Youth In Action Youth Volunteer Corps

Summer of Service: A new rite of passage? It is a Friday in late-March, and the eighth grade class at Hometown Middle School is buzzing as they leave the Summer of Service Fair. A dozen community groups planning to organize service projects for teams of young people this summer host tables in the school gym. Students circulate from display to display, signing up for more information and picking up applications from the tables. Several options are particularly popular. With the help of a home improvement chain store, the rec center plans to involve the students in building a playground to be designed by the youth themselves. The towns museum will train another group of students as researchers to record oral histories of new immigrants to the community. The schools science department has planned for a team of students to continue their service-learning curriculum with an examination of a pollution-choked creek and the creation of a nature trail through the woods. And the elementary school will use a dozen students to help run a six week summer arts camp for younger children. Whichever option they choose, students know they will be learning new skills and will complete a citizenship curriculum chosen by the school. A few of the more intensive projects carry modest fees, based on a sliding scale with full scholarships for some. Helping out with these projects are a team of AmeriCorps members, retired adult volunteers, and high school and college students who similarly got their start serving the summer before senior high. Some students have already made their plans for their Summer of Service through their churches and synagogues, and a few have arrangements to serve outside the community two boys will tutor children in a low-income area of a nearby city and another will travel to Central America on an environmental project. Two young people have

designed their own independent service project, recording an oral history of local veterans who served in the Gulf War or Iraq. A few students arent planning to serve this year they have family commitments or are engaged in competitive sports. But they expect to serve next year, or will make up their time by serving throughout the year. The eighth graders debate which projects match their interests. They compare notes with friends and plan strategies for signing up together, knowing that most projects will be filled with diverse teams of young people from the several middle-schools in the area. All of the students who complete their term the equivalent of about 100 hours over three to six weeks are looking forward to participating in a ceremony in the fall where they will receive a small scholarship from a pool funded by local businesses and civic groups and their accomplishments will be published in a report to the community. Most important, all students feel they have reached an important milestone in their lives they are now old enough to be important contributors to the community, are valued for what they can do. This hypothetical community could one day be almost any town or neighborhood in America. The range of offerings might look completely different from those described here designed by local groups to address local needs consistent with local culture or offered by national nonprofits replicating proven programs. Students might do their summer service at a somewhat younger or older age. Programs might be more formal or less formal, with some standard elements, such as a citizenship learning plan, or no common elements at all. All students completing their service might receive a scholarship, funded by the community, a company, or the government. Schools might drive the development

of projects, or a coalition of community groups or local government might take it on. However, all projects, regardless of the community, would involve the following elements: Meet real needs. Service will be more meaningful to the students if their efforts are clearly directed at meeting real community needs. In addition, communities can benefit from student efforts, and young people will be viewed as a resource, rather than a problem, if they are seen as making an important contribution. Involve service-learning. Service-learning combines service to the community with student learning in a way that benefits both the student and the community. Provide opportunities for youth leadership. The chance to practice leadership skills is an important learning experience that can prepare students to take initiative later in life. Provide training and supervision. Students must be prepared for their service to enable them both to tie the experience to learning and have the requisite knowledge and skills to perform assigned tasks. Young people must be supervised much as other workers are supervised. Involve problem solving. Many service programs that have strong civic participation outcomes involve problem solving by students. A typical design engages students in identifying community needs and then guides them through a process that enables them to consider a range of possible responses including service, advocacy, and public education. Offer continuity and intensity. Episodic volunteering has not been shown to have the strong benefits of service-learning that is either ongoing (for a few hours each week) or intensive over a shorter period of time (such as full-time for several weeks). An intense experience also helps young people form bonds with one another and enhances their ability to experience transformative change.

 Encourage teamwork and skill building. Most real-life problem solving involves teams, not individuals working in isolation. Teamwork skills are essential to later success, as are other skills that can be promoted through service, including communication, leadership, and soft work skills (such as punctuality, diligence, appropriate dress and behavior, etc.). Celebrate success. A celebration of the completion of a project, especially one that includes recognition of the young people, is akin to a graduation ceremony and is important to any rite of passage. These program elements are widely adaptable to service opportunities that are suited to different regions, cultures, age groups, education levels, and issues. They are essential to ensuring that all young people who participate, whether they serve through their place of worship, school, or community group, gain the benefits discussed below.

Assets that Promote Positive Youth Development The benefits of a Summer of Service Benefits for youth The middle school years are pivotal years for young people a time when young people are making choices that will influence the rest of their lives. Their brains are growing and changing, responding to the various stimuli around them.i How they spend their time during this period may set them on a course of active citizenship and engaged learning, or down a path of risk behavior and likelihood of failure. That was the conclusion of the 2000 White House Conference on Teenagersii and the finding of authoritative reports, from the Carnegie Corporation's 1989 report, Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Centuryiii to the recent Congressionally mandated AddHealth study.iv
Physical development Good health habits Good health risk management skills Intellectual development Knowledge of essential life skills Knowledge of essential vocational skills School success Rational habits of mind critical thinking and reasoning skills In-depth knowledge of more than one culture Good decision-making skills Knowledge of skills needed to navigate through multiple cultural contexts Psychological and emotional development Good mental health including positive self-regard Good emotional self-regulation skills Good coping skills Good conflict resolution skills Mastery motivation and positive achievement motivation Confidence in ones personal efficacy Planfulness planning for the future and future life events Sense of personal autonomy/responsibility for self Optimism coupled with realism Coherent and positive personal and social identity Prosocial and culturally sensitive values Spirituality or a sense of a larger purpose in life Strong moral character A commitment to good use of time Social development Connectedness perceived good relationships and trust with parents, peers, and some other adults Sense of social place/integration being connected and valued by larger social networks Attachment to prosocial/conventional institutions, such as school, church, nonschool youth programs Ability to navigate in multiple cultural contexts 8 Commitment to civic engagement

What youth need, according to the National Academy of Sciences Board on Children, Youth, and Families a panel of highly credentialed experts who consider only scientific evidence in formulating their collective opinion are about two-dozen personal and social assets that promote positive youth development, shown on the previous page.v While youth do not necessarily need all the assets listed, experts agree that more assets are better than fewer. Other experts use similar lists with more or fewer categories Americas Promise, for example, collapses the list into just five promises based on the Search Institutes much longer list of 40 developmental assets:

Caring adults: Ongoing relationships with parents, mentors, tutors, or coaches; Safe places with structured activities in which to learn and grow; A healthy start and healthy future; An effective education that equips them with marketable skills; and An opportunity to give back to their communities through their own service. Just as the presence of assets correlates with positive outcomes, the lack of assets correlates with a score of risky behaviors from tobacco, drug, or alcohol abuse to early sexual behavior. Although the 1990s saw some positive developments for youth a modest reduction in births to teen mothers and a decline in smoking and violence among teens these problems and others remain at unacceptably high levels. Half a million youth aged 12 to 17 are victims of violent crime each year; one in two high school youth is sexually active with one in twelve reporting having sex before the age of 13. One in seven tenth graders smokes every day; one in four twelfth graders and one in six eighth graders abuse alcohol. One in four high school youth, and one in eight eighth graders use illegal drugs.

Id be sleeping until like 1 or 2 pm and probably call my mom and make sure shes not worrying about me and then just run up our cable bill.
Quote from San Diego Childrens Discovery Museum Summer of Service participant in response to evaluators question: If you werent in this program, what would you be doing?

One in ten young people fails to complete high school; more than 1.4 million older teens are neither in school nor working. While these problems cut across economic lines, virtually all of these problems are more prevalent among the eleven million children and youth who live in poverty in America today. Many, but not all of the assets youth need can be provided by loving and supportive families. Where families are unwilling or unable to provide them, schools, faith-based organizations, youth-serving organizations, and other community programs all play an important role in helping youth of all backgrounds develop. The National Academy of Sciences recognizes the important role that community organizations play in the lives of many youth by expanding the opportunities for youth to acquire personal and social assets and to experience the broad range of features of positive developmental settingsAdolescents who spend time in communities that are rich in developmental opportunities for them experience less risk and show evidence of higher rates of positive development.vi Those programs that play a beneficial role are structured to promote physical and psychological safety; provide supportive relationships and opportunities to belong; encourage positive social norms and skill building; empower youth by allowing them to make a difference in the community and be taken seriously; and integrate family, school, and community efforts. Unfortunately, despite the important role that youth programs can play, more must be done to connect youth to these learning environments, particularly during out-of-school time. Experts note

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that as many as 15 million children have no place to go at the end of the school day and school year, leaving them exposed to unnecessary risk and without opportunities to use this time productively. Afterschool and summer child care programs are scarce in many communities, while programs for teenagers, who are too old for child care, are often nonexistent. In fact, only 10 percent of the youth in organized after-school programs are middle school students or older, despite the fact that teens themselves desire safe, constructive environments afterschool. Service-Learning or Community Service?
Although many people speak of service-learning and community service in the same breath, these two are not interchangeable. The concepts these words represent are related, but there are basic differences between the two: Community service fills a need in the community through volunteer efforts. Service-learning also fills that need, but it uses that need as a foundation to examine ourselves, our society, and our future. Service-learning uses community service as the vehicle for the attainment of students academic goals and objectives. Further, service-learning provides students with opportunities to use newly acquired skills and knowledge in real-life situations.
Source: Mississippi Center for Community and Civic Engagement

Even when programs are available, their quality may be weak, with poorly trained or too few staff, inadequate resources, and unsafe facilities. Instead of offering an enriching experience, these programs may be uninteresting and unchallenging, or in the worst cases, harmful. In addition to a safe place to spend time, young people need access to a range of services and opportunities that are often unavailable. Youth programs are a good place to offer these services from technology training and exposure to career options to drug counseling and health care. Youth programs can also be an excellent place to involve youth in service. Youth benefit greatly from helping others, but too often, are thought of only as recipients of service. When young people see that they are able to improve the lives of others, they feel able to control their own lives in a positive way, avoiding risk behaviors, strengthening their community connections, and becoming more engaged in their own education.

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One type of youth program that seems to offer particular benefits is service-learning. Service that is tied to learning objectives has been shown to decrease alienation and behavior problems and increase knowledge of community needs, commitment to an ethic of service, and understanding of politics and morality. In addition, studies have shown that students who engage in service-learning improve communication skills, increase awareness of career possibilities, and develop more positive workplace attitudes than fellow students. Studies show that when service-learning is explicitly connected to curriculum, young people make gains on achievement tests, complete their homework more often, and increase their grade point averages. Service-learning is associated with both increased attendance and reduced dropout rates.vii Service-learning not only helps to enliven the educational process and improve student motivation and achievement, it also helps youth develop assets such as connectedness, feeling valued, attachment to prosocial institutions, the ability to navigate in multiple cultural contexts, commitment to civic engagement, good conflict resolution and, planning for the future skills, a sense of personal responsibility, strong moral character, self-esteem, confidence in ones personal efficacy, a commitment to good use of time, and a sense of a larger purpose in life. In fact, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy includes two service-learning models on its list of programs that have been proven effective at reducing teen pregnancy.viii More than 80 percent of parents in a national survey said their child would benefit from an afterschool program that offered community serviceix and 95 percent of teens agree that it is important to volunteer time to community efforts.x About one-third of public schools offer service-learning programs for at least some of their students.xi But too often, this valuable pedagogy is Service-Learning:
Is a method whereby students learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service that is conducted in and meets the needs of communities. Is coordinated with an elementary school, secondary school, institution of higher education, or community service program and the community. Helps foster civic responsibility. Is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students, or the education components of the community service program in which the participants are enrolled. Provides structured time for students or participants to reflect on the service experience.

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not an option for teachers racing to cover required material and prepare students for standardized tests. In contrast, the afterschool and summer periods offer large, unstructured blocks of time for youth, ideal for alternative learning models. By supplementing or better yet, connecting school-based service-learning to out-of-school time programs, more youth would have the opportunity for experiential academic learning that also enhance other aspects of their development. Benefits for the community: Citizenship In recent decades, concern has mounted about citizen apathy, manifested through everything from low voter turnout to lack of interest in public affairs. Experts seeking to address this problem call for efforts to instill civic values in Americas youth, through civic education and service. While service alone may encourage further volunteering an important form of civic participation service tied to learning that teaches a range of civic actions has been shown to have important impacts on future civic participation.xii Studies show that students who engaged in high quality service-learning programs demonstrate:
In Manatee County, Florida, two thirds of local teens volunteer through ManaTEENs, one of the largest youth-led local volunteer clubs in the country. The 13,400 ManaTEENs contribute more than one million hours of service annually to the community, mostly through youth identified, youth led projects.

an increase in the degree to which they felt aware of community needs, believed that they could make a difference, and were committed to service now and later in life;xiii more sophisticated understandings of socio-historical contexts, consciousness of politics and morality in society, and consideration regarding how to effect social change;xiv a greater sense of civic responsibility and ethic of service;xv increased understanding of how government works;xvi greater likelihood of being engaged in a community organization and voting years after their participation in the program than those who did not participate;xvii

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 increased political attentiveness, political knowledge and desire to become more politically active;xviii and a feeling that they can make a difference.xix A Summer of Service that involves civic-focused service-learning could be an important part of a national strategy to encourage civic participation. The long-term impact of such an effort might well mean not only stronger participation in our political process, but more Americans willing to advocate for change, volunteer for causes, and work for the better of the community. Benefits for the community: Meeting community needs Young teenagers are old enough to make a significant contribution to their communities, if properly trained, organized, and supervised. In the programs we surveyed, young people were involved in hundreds of projects that addressed environmental, educational, public safety, and other needs. For example, they: Planned and implemented a campaign that reduced their schools energy bill (Earth Force) Produced video public service announcements to encourage recycling (Youth In Action) Removed 2.7 tons of recyclables and over 875 pounds of litter from public areas of San Francisco (Youth in Action) Collected survey data about behavior and safety problems at school and proposed solutions to address them (YELL) Studied the impact of bus pass prices on students and presented findings to school groups and policymakers (YELL) Created and maintained artificial reef balls that attracted a new species of oyster to the Florida coast (ManaTEENs)

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 Conducted safety assessments of senior citizen homes and installed safety products donated by a corporate sponsor (ManaTEENs) Created a pet disaster shelter for pets of emergency workers and senior citizens (ManaTEENs) Conducted weekly visits to nursing homes (Heads Up) Tutored younger children (Heads Up) Recorded oral histories of World War II Veterans (YVCA) Conducted water quality tests and river clean-ups (Childrens Discovery Museum of San Jose) Prepared and facilitated activities for childrens museum visitors (Childrens Discovery Museum of San Jose) Provided one-on-one reading experiences for children at a preschool (Childrens Discovery Museum of San Jose) Created a guide to the wildlife of Ecuador (Citizen Schools) Created guides to Boston High Schools for eighth grade students (Citizen Schools) Taught seniors to use the internet (Citizen Schools) Worked with local organizations to turn a vacant lot into a community park complete with raised flower beds, playground equipment, and a grassy playing field (YMCA Earth Service Corps) Created a touring environmental theatre group (YMCA Earth Service Corps) If just a third of young people completed a Summer of Service of 100 hours or more, it would generate more than 100 million service hours each year. If even half of these young people, inspired by their experience, continued to serve for 100 hours each year into and through adulthood, the impact would be exponential, totaling more than 2.5 billion hours per class of students over the next 50 years.

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Benefits for the community: Community strengthening In todays society, very few institutions connect people of different backgrounds to one another. While some point to the days of the military draft as a time when diverse groups of young adults made lifelong connections to one another, women were not a part of this experience. Today, the all-volunteer military is still 85 percent male, disproportionately minority, and largely missing both the poorest and richest Americans.xx Schools are segregated not by law but by residential and economic divisions; in fact, today, America's schools are so heavily segregated that more than two-thirds of black and Hispanic students are in schools where a majority of the students are not white, while most of the nation's white children attend a school that is almost 80 percent white.xxi According to the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, residential segregation remains a striking feature of American society in the 21st Century, with the typical white American living in a neighborhood with few minorities, and the typical African American living in a neighborhood that is mostly black.xxii Sociologist David Brooks argues that cultural segregation is even more extreme, with specific suburbs and neighborhoods forming exclusive societies, unaware of others who live just a few miles away. As Brooks puts it, what I have seen all around the country is people making strenuous efforts to group themselves with people who are basically like themselves.xxiii One American institution that does bring together people of diverse backgrounds is national service. A study of AmeriCorps programs engaging diverse participants identified benefits of diversity for members, service recipients, host agencies, program staff, and the community. For members, being with and serving people from

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different communities was beneficial, enabling members to dispel stereotypes, learn to approach issues from different perspectives, develop self-confidence, and extend diversity lessons to the workplace. For many service recipients, diversity among the corps members allowed for greater exposure to people different from themselves. Service recipients saw that one's willingness to help crosses cultures and they gained an opportunity to exchange perspectives. Host agencies reported improved outreach to groups that they had not previously served, especially non-English speaking populations. Community benefits include enhanced service delivery and the development of positive relationships among members, service recipients and their families or neighbors in disadvantaged communities. This benefit was noted more strongly in the more segregated communities.xxiv Cross-cultural experiences for middle-school youth might offer similar or even greater benefits. Research demonstrates that young children often play together and form friendships regardless of cultural, racial, and social backgrounds. Unfortunately, prejudice is learned and by the fourth or fifth grade, these same children often separate along traditional racial/cultural lines. Helping middle-school age children engage together in positive ways could help to counter learned prejudice and prevent future discrimination. xxv Not all service corps connect individuals of diverse backgrounds. Nor should they if by design they are intended to serve a group with specific needs or if for practical and cost reasons they are tied to a specific school or club. Nonetheless, the community could be greatly strengthened by the presence of programs that do draw from different neighborhoods, schools, and economic groups.

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A firm foundation: Findings from our program survey Each grade of American youth includes a cohort of about 3.5 million, give or take several hundred thousand children. If even a third of these young people chose to participate in a Summer of Service, over a million young people would need to be connected to structured opportunities. This level of participation would require tens of thousands of programs. Ideally, these programs would be found in the young peoples own communities, perhaps at organizations to which they were already connected. To understand what such a system might look like, we identified two dozen program examples. These programs were recommended by service-learning experts or cited in previously published material by youth policy organizations. Based on this pool, we selected a diverse cross-section of programs that fit our target age (teens), time (summer or afterschool), and activity (service-learning). These programs were asked to provide detailed information. This section of the report shares general findings about the selected programs. Information about individual programs can be found in Appendix A. By design, most of the programs we looked at engaged middle-school youth, although some were targeted at an older or younger age group. Most focused on a disadvantaged population, although some were diverse and some involved mainly middle- to upper-income young people. Some provided an intensive, full-time service experience over a period of weeks or months; some offered a regular weekly block of time for service; while others integrated service into an afterschool or summer program that had other, related goals such as academic achievement.

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The programs we studied fell into roughly four structural categories, with some overlap: 1. Integrated part of afterschool or summer child care program. Many programs operated as regular afterschool or summer child care programs, providing supervision for the youth but also engaging them in structured activities, including service. The service aspect of these programs typically constituted about 20 percent of program time. For example, Heads Up and Breakthrough Collaborative, both academically focused programs, use service-learning to reinforce important concepts, while Citizen Schools uses servicelearning to teach a broad range of life and leadership skills. 2. Club or curriculum taking place during out-of-school time. A second group of programs taking place during out-of-school time took the form of a club or curriculum that could be offered wherever youth are including child care programs, recreation centers, or schools. For example, the Washington Service Corps Roadmap to Civic Engagement, Earth Force Afterschool, TOP, and the YMCA Earth Service Corps all offer tested program models that can be incorporated into almost any youth setting for a few hours each week. 3. Junior youth service corps run by youth corps. Youth corps served as the host organization for another set of programs. Youth corps provide youth and young adults between the ages of 16 and 25 with crew-based, highly structured, and adult-supervised work experience, life skills, education, career guidance and counseling, employment training, and support services, and the opportunity to develop citizenship values and skills through service. These programs often use older corpsmembers to lead the young corpsmembers in service. For example, the San Francisco Conservation Corps and City Year both use their young

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adult corpsmembers to lead service programs for middle school students, thereby providing the young adult corpsmembers leadership opportunities and the younger participants exposure to appealing role models. 4. Service program/summer camp. Some of the programs we reviewed were youth service programs, either freestanding, or more commonly, operated by a local host. Some, like Youth Volunteer Service Corps were essentially franchises offered by a national organization; others, like the San Jose Childrens Discovery Museum, existed in a single city but could be replicated. The number of students participating in a program ranged from 58 to 41,000, with many programs falling in the 800 to 1000 member range for total participation. However at most individual sites, the number of participants was much lower. The staff to participant ratio ranged from 1:4 to 1:20, the latter for a program that involved older participants. Most programs provided a 1:5 or 1:10 ratio of staff to participants. The program staffing structure and the portion of the organizational overhead that had to be absorbed by the service program significantly affected its costs, causing program cost to vary from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars per participant. For example, a service club that was part of a child care program or school cost very little, if it used an existing staffing structure or volunteers to manage it. In contrast, a stand alone youth service program that had a staff whose sole focus was the program could be significantly more expensive. Additional expenses, such as stipends for participants also affected cost significantly. Programs using a summer camp model employing low-cost, summer staff and operating

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Quality service experiences:

Meet real needs. Involve service-learning. Provide opportunities for youth leadership. Provide training and supervision. Involve problem solving. Offer continuity and intensity. Encourage teamwork and skill building. Celebrate success.

full-time for one or more weeks might cost as much as $300 or as little as $50 per youth per week. Programs utilized a variety of funding sources. These included federal funds (AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, and 21st Century Schools), as well as state and local public funds. Private sector funding included foundations, corporations, and individuals. Several programs included parent fees as major funding source. Charging parent fees was not limited to those programs engaging middle-income students. Several programs involving low-income families charged sliding scale fees as a way to ensure family support for the program. Most programs did not provide students incentives or rewards for participation, beyond low-cost recognition or recreational rewards, such as a trip to a park or beach. However, a minority did offer access to the Presidents Volunteer Service Award (a Presidential recognition program for Americans of all ages, who serve a specified number of hours over a 12-month period); stipends ranging from $50 per month to $5241 per year; and scholarships, including the AmeriCorps education award, which is available for youth as young as 16 who are serving in certain youth corps.

In examining and presenting a broad range of program designs, this report is not intended to imply that one model is better than another. Rather, these programs help policymakers and others to understand the range of possible options for expanding summer service experiences. Clearly there are benefits to stimulating locally designed options, just as there are benefits to encouraging the franchising or replication of proven programs. In the next section, we make recommendations to policymakers interested in expanding summer service programs for young adolescents. However, more research is needed including studies using common evaluation instruments if judgments are to be made regarding the relative benefits of different programs.

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Implications for policy Our review of programs and research leads us to make several policy recommendations regarding expanding Summer of Service opportunities for youth. 1. Ensure a quality service experience. A quality service opportunity meets real needs, provides training and supervision, involves problem solving, encourages youth leadership, offers continuity and intensity, encourages teamwork and skill building, and celebrates success. These elements, discussed on page 4, were found in virtually all of the programs examined in this report and were cited in many of the program evaluations as important elements to achieving outcomes. Note that these elements define a process, rather than a specific type of service project, and can be used in any field with any age group. 2. Go where the youth are. It is far easier and cost-effective to integrate service programs into settings where youth can be found, such as clubs, schools, afterschool programs, summer camps, religious organizations, or recreation centers than to create new freestanding service organizations. Creating incentives for these existing organizations to add a service element would help to expand these opportunities. Such incentives could include providing full or partial funding for service coordinators; assigning VISTAs or other AmeriCorps members to organize the service; subsidizing transportation to and from service projects; or offering free curriculum and training. Policymakers should also recognize that youth-serving programs are not available in every community. For this reason, new programs should be seeded in communities where such offerings are limited, particularly low-income rural and urban areas. Even where they do exist, every program is not appropriate for every youth. For example,

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in most communities, programs are extremely limited for young teens; school-sponsored programs may not appeal to youth who have negative views toward school; programs sponsored by religious organizations may not be an option for youth who are not part of the congregation. To address this issue, policymakers might consider calling for communities to conduct an analysis of existing programs and populations served in order to identify gaps in programs. Youth could be involved in this process. Resources could then be targeted at the community level to create new youth programs to reach populations not currently served. 3. Encourage partnerships. Partnerships are also a good way to expand service opportunities through existing programs. Such partnerships could involve a youth-serving organization (where the youth are) and an organization that can offer service opportunities (such as a youth corps or nonprofit organization that uses volunteers). Virtually every program in this report involved multiple partnerships. For example, the YELL and Mississippi Lighthouse Partnership programs connect universities with schools; Citizen Schools engages its corporate partners in providing volunteer staff to lead apprenticeships for the students; and many programs worked closely with local nonprofit organizations that host projects for youth volunteers. Several programs found it beneficial to share staff with other organizations; for example, Citizen Schools made it possible for its teaching fellows to spend part of their day at public schools, thus creating a full-time position, while the Childrens Discovery Museum of San Jose hired many Museum staff for its summer service program, thereby ensuring that staff quality was high. 4. Encourage the use of volunteers or youth as team leaders. Many programs we looked at involved adult or student volunteers or AmeriCorps members (who receive stipends for their service) to lead younger students in service. When supervised by professional staff, or following a set curriculum or program guide, these volunteers offer many benefits. First, their availability on a part-time or partyear basis may make it easier to fill positions that are less attractive to individuals looking for full-time work.

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Second, they are usually available for the cost of a modest stipend, or at no cost. Third, older youth may benefit from serving as program leaders, as was the case with Breakthrough Collaborative teachers, Washington Service Corpsmembers, and City Year corpsmembers who led the programs for middle school youth. Programs that involve alumni can keep program graduates connected to the community of participants, offering them the chance for leadership roles. For example, ManaTEENs not only relies on teen club members to develop and lead its service projects, it also engages former club members including the programs founder as AmeriCorps members. Similarly, engaging adult family members can be a way to encourage parental involvement. Heads Up utilized both of these strategies, involving both older students and parents in the important program roles. Finally, these individuals can serve as role models for younger youth. For example, college student volunteers may offer young adolescents the chance to ask questions about higher education and to appreciate that they too may be able to continue their education. The use of volunteers as team leaders does not mean that professional staff are not needed. Most of the programs we looked at placed volunteers, including AmeriCorps members, under the supervision of paid professional staff. These staff were not necessarily dedicated full-time to the service aspects of the program. They were, however, able to take responsibility for training volunteers and handling issues that arose that were beyond the appropriate roles and knowledge of the volunteers. 5. Tie service to learning. As noted above, service-learning not only helps to enliven the educational process and improve student motivation and achievement, it also helps youth develop assets such as connectedness, feeling valued, attachment to pro-social institutions, the ability to navigate in multiple cultural contexts, commitment to civic engagement, good conflict

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resolution and planning for the future skills, a sense of personal responsibility, strong moral character, self-esteem, confidence in ones personal efficacy, a commitment to good use of time, and a sense of a larger purpose in life. Policymakers should call for programs to be intentional about the outcomes they are seeking, whether these are academic goals, life skills, or civic participation. Programs should employ a curriculum or other guide to help participants relate their service experience to these specific skills. Academically oriented programs could benefit from partnerships with local schools. For example, if eighth graders are expected to learn to analyze data and understand biodiversity and interdependence, a summer program could collect and analyze water samples from local streams, consider the impact of the water quality on plant and animal life, and explore ways to redress any problems they identified. The teaching of many important skills that go beyond the purely academic is increasingly being squeezed out of the school day. Summer programs could help address the need for youth to learn skills from conflict resolution and financial management to civic participation and the arts. Community partners such as police, financial institutions, advocacy groups, or cultural organizations could be key partners in programs like these. Policymakers should encourage the formation of these community partnerships. 6. Benefit from the availability of proven service-learning curricula. Today, proven curricula are available through service-learning organizations, national nonprofits, and other sources,xxvi including some of the programs profiled in this report. The availability of this material can enable organizations to host service opportunities, confident of the quality of their programming. Policymakers can make it easier for programs to access existing curriculum by providing support for curriculum clearinghouses, evaluation and research to assess the effectiveness of different curricula for different populations,

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and subsidizing curriculum distribution, acquisition, and training. 7. Expand or replicate proven programs. We found many examples of excellent programs that have proven strategies for attracting and engaging youth in service. While it is important to encourage the development of new models, policymakers should also make funding available to replicate or expand proven programs. Such replication and expansion can be cost effective, enabling research and development and other costs to be spread across a larger number of participants. It is also a way to spread effective practices in a systematic way, and to give local groups access to training, technical assistance, and materials. Policymakers should be mindful that while start-up funding may be relatively easy to obtain through private sector sources, replication and expansion dollars are harder to access and may be important targets for public funding. 8. Encourage diversified funding. Programs that are overly dependent on any single source of funding risk long term sustainability. Most programs in this report receive a mix of funds from large and small foundations and state and federal public sources including AmeriCorps. Some were successful at accessing individual and corporate contributions as well, and others utilized significant subsidies or in-kind help from universities, afterschool programs, and schools. Use of volunteers was also a common way to obtain no-cost or low-cost resources. Policymakers and funders should encourage and assist programs to diversify their funding, and to keep costs manageable relative to available resources. In many communities, requiring participant fees could substantially affect the number of young people who are able to participate in a program. Some organizations may feel, philosophically, that individuals should not be charged for participating in a service program. On the other hand, many organizations and families believe that

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service-learning is valuable to youth, much as computer camps and afterschool recreational programs are. Within the broad marketplace of youth programming, there is a place for summer service opportunities that are subsidized, at least in part, through parent fees. 9. Encourage rewards and incentives as well as stipends, where needed. Many of the programs in this report used incentives, stipends, or rewards for participants. We differentiate among these types of benefits in the following ways: Incentives are essentially recruitment tools, or strategies to ensure good attendance and program completion. They provide students, or their families, a reason to participate. These incentives need not be expensive and could be developed through local partnerships such as a pool membership or field trip for volunteers who complete their service. Incentives could also include special school privileges for students who complete their service term, or priority access to courses or community programs. Students may also use their summer service to fulfill state or district community service requirements. Programs that run long enough hours to serve as child care for working parents can also consider that fact an incentive. Federal and state policy makers should allow local programs to develop appropriate low-cost incentives for Summer of Service participants. Local policymakers might consider developing incentives that could be extended to participants at little or no cost (such as priority access to services or programs). Unlike incentives, stipends are usually provided as a way to remove obstacles for low-income participants to make an intensive commitment to service. Programs offering stipends typically engage older teenagers, at least some of whom are from low-income families and who might otherwise need to take paid jobs. Youth corps that are closely related to job-training programs and that target low-income youth commonly offer stipends. Programs in this report offering stipends included AmeriCorps Youth Harvest (low-income rural youth including migrant populations); YELL (low-income urban youth); and Youth in Action (low-income urban and moderate-income

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youth). Depending on the amount, stipends can add substantially to program costs but may attract young people who would otherwise not be able to participate. Policymakers should clarify the circumstances for providing participant stipends with public funds. Rewards, although very similar to incentives, serve a different function. Rewards are typically used as a form of recognition, an important element of a rite of passage. Some programs we looked at provided no- or low-cost rewards, such as certificates, to acknowledge the service of participants. For example, several programs provided the Presidents Volunteer Service Award; the ManaTEENs program tracks volunteer hours and encourages participants to apply for a range of service scholarships; and the San Jose Childrens Discovery Museums two week Summer of Service program set aside Fridays for a fun, non-service event (such as a picnic or swim party) and invited parents to a graduation event to honor the children. Policymakers should encourage the provision of recognition, including holding a ceremony to mark completion of the program. More tangible incentives or rewards are appropriate if they serve additional purposes. For example, the provision of scholarships may serve a second policy goal increasing college access. Research suggests that in addition to strong academic preparation, two critical factors are needed to expand college access, both of which could be addressed in part by a Summer of Service scholarship program. First, many low-income students simply cannot afford to go to college without scholarship support and reduced tuition options. Second, more students must desire to attend college from an early age. High school graduates whose parents did not attend college tend to report lower educational aspirations than their peers as early as eighth grade. Low educational aspirations affect students curricular choices, as well as their selection of peer groups. The awarding of a modest college scholarship for Summer of Service completers (as little as $100 - $500) could open the door to college to many young people who would not otherwise consider themselves college material. Policymakers could support this strategy by allocating National Service Trust Fund dollars for Summer of Service scholarships; creating incentives for higher education institutions to provide scholarships to such students; or providing matching grant funds for local programs that are able to raise scholarship funds locally.

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10. Allow for a range of program cost options. As noted above, many factors affect program costs. In many cases, those programs that have higher costs are those that: Operate for more days and hours Are unable to shift to or share costs with other projects of the organization Use paid staff rather than volunteers Provide stipends or scholarships to participants

Caution is warranted, however, before one concludes that less expensive programs are better than more expensive ones. For example, a program with longer hours and more days of operation may be more beneficial than a shorter program because of the longer programs intensity and its ability to serve a child care function. Similarly, a program involving stipends or scholarships may make it possible for hard-to-reach populations to participate, and may have a greater impact on young peoples motivation to pursue college than programs that offer no such benefits. In addition, programs in resource-poor areas (often low-income rural counties or urban neighborhoods) may not have access to private sector or local tax dollars, and parent fees may not be a realistic option. These programs may need more public dollars than those in more affluent communities. For these reasons, policymakers should allow for a range of program costs, but be clear and consistent so that grantees may make appropriate resource planning. Funders should also support research to shed light on program design issues with a view toward achieving cost effectiveness as well as broad participation geographically and demographically.

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Conclusion The programs examined in this report provide a broad range of models for Summer of Service options. Policymakers could easily stimulate the expansion of these programs, and the creation of new ones, with relatively modest funding. With a modest investment, national policymakers could leverage state and local public and private resources, and mobilize community leaders, to make such opportunities available. Over time, a Summer of Service before high school could become a rite of passage for future generations enabling young people to enter their teenage years with a positive experience that reinforces their connections to the community, enlivens their education, and strengthens their personal and civic values. At the same time, communities across America might find an important new resource in their own backyards young people who are ready to serve, if only they are asked.

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Endnotes

Giedd J, Blumenthal J, Jeffries N, Castllanos F, Liu H, Zijdenbos A, Paus T, Evans A, Rapoport, J Brain development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study. Nature Neurosci 2:861-863 (1999).
ii iii

Materials from the conference can be found at http://www.health.org/multimedia/presteleconf/whitehous.aspx.

Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, Turning points: preparing American youth for the 21st century: Recommendations for transforming middle grade schools. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York (1990). Resnick, Michael D., et al. Protecting Adolescents from Harm: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Journal of the American Medical Association 278:823-832 (Sept. 1997).
v vi vii iv

Eccles, Jacquelynne, Gootman, Jennifer A, eds. Community programs to promote youth development, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, (2002). Eccles, p. 118.

Billig, S. (2000) The Impacts of Service-Learning on Youth, Schools and Communities: Research on K-12 School-Based Service-Learning, 1990-1999, available online at http://learningindeed.org/research/slresearch/slrsrchsy.html. Kirby, D., No easy answers: Research findings on programs to reduce teen pregnancy. (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 1997).

viii ix

Datta, A. Rupa; de Kanter, Adriana, Family Involvement in Education: A National Portrait (The Partnership for Family Involvement, The GTE Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education, August 1998).
x xi

The Wirthlin Group, Prudential Spirit of Community Youth Survey (The Prudential Insurance Company of America, 1995).

Kleiner, B., and Chapman C., Service-Learning and Community Service among 6th- through 12th Grade Students in the United States: 1996 and 1999, (National Center for Education Statistics, 1999).
xii xiii

See programs profiled in The Grantmaker Forum on Community and National Service, Service to Civics (October 2003). Melchior, A. (1999). Summary Report: National Evaluation of Learn and Serve America. Waltham, MA: Center for Human Resources, Brandeis University.

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xiv

Yates, M. & Youniss, J. (1996a). Perspective on Community Service in Adolescence. Social Development, 5, 85-111; Yates, M. & Youniss, J. (1996b). Community Service and Political-Moral Identity in Adolescents. Journal of Research in Adolescence, 6(3), 271-284. Cited in J. Perry (1999). The Grantmakers Forum Community and National Service Research Task Force Report. Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana. Stephens, L. (1995). The Complete Guide to Learning Through Community Service, Grades K-9. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

xv xvi

Berkas, T. (February, 1997). Strategic Review of the W. K. Kellogg Foundations Service-Learning Projects, 1990-1996. Battle Creek, MI: W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
xvii xviii xix

Youniss, J., McLellan, I.A., & Yates, M. (1997). What We Know About Engendering Civic Identity. American Behavioral Scientist, 40, 620-631. Morgan, W. & Streb, M. (1999). How Quality Service-Learning Develops Civic Values. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University.

OBannon, F. (1999). Service-Learning Benefits Our Schools. State Education Leader, 17, 3. Halbfinger, D. & Holmes, S., Military Mirrors Working-Class America, New York Times (March 30, 2003). Orfield, G. & Lee, C., Brown at 50: Kings Dream or Plessys Nightmare?, The Civil Rights Project, Harvard University (January, 2004).

xx xxi

Eaddy, W., et al, Residential Segregation, Poverty, and Racism: Obstacles to Americas Great Society, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (June 2003).
xxiii xxiv xxv

xxii

Brooks, David, People Like Us, The Atlantic Monthly, (Sept. 2003). Study of Race, Class, and Ethnicity, Final Report, Macro International, (November 1997).

Robinson, J.S., Bowman, R.P., Ewing, T., Hanna, J., & Lopez-De Fede, A., Building Cultural Bridges, Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service (1997). For example, see curriculum posted by the National Service Learning Partnership at http://www.service-learningpartnership.org/teaching/curriculum.cfm.

xxvi

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SUMMER OF SERVICE:
A NEW AMERICAN RITE OF PASSAGE? Appendix
AmeriCorps Youth Harvest The Breakthrough Collaborative Childrens Discovery Museum of San Jose Summer of Service Citizen Schools Earth Force After School Heads Up ManaTEENs Mississippi Higher Education Consortium Lighthouse Partnerships Teen Outreach Program (TOP) Walkabout Washington Service Corps Roadmap to Civic Engagement YMCA Earth Service Corps Young Heroes Youth Engaged in Leadership and Learning (YELL) Youth In Action Youth Volunteer Corps 34 35 37 39 41 44 46 48 50 53 55 57 60 62 65 68

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Program location: AmeriCorps Youth Harvest places members in multiple school district and community sites in the Rio Grande Valley. The members service six rural school district communities including Edcouch-Elsa, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo, Mission, Donna, Valley View, and Progreso. According to the 2000 Census, 36 percent of persons in the area were below the poverty level in 1999 compared to 15 percent of persons in the State of Texas, and the unemployment rate is 13 percent -- twice the Texas rate. Only 50 percent of county residents 25 years of age and older are high school graduates compared to 76 percent of Texas residents. Participants: Fifty-eight high school seniors, aged 17 to 19 participate in the program. The majority are Hispanic and from low socioeconomic households. Each year, the program has five or six participating members whose families income is received through migrating across the country to harvest crops. Interested students must complete an application and program interview. The applicants must be United States citizens or lawful permanent residents and have at least a B grade point average. The applicants are recruited through school presentations and word of mouth from participating members or alumni. Hours/days of operation: The program operates year-round; however, the members are recruited to serve from mid-October until the end of July. Member hours vary based on their schedules and their service site schedule. The members must complete a minimum of 900 hours of service, including training and reflection time during the program year. Members are required to complete 20 hours per week during the school year and 30-35 hours per week during June and July. Key partners: Key partners include the six participating school districts, local Boys and Girls Clubs, public libraries and housing authorities. Annual budget: The current annual budget is $536,000 of which $329,000 is allocated for the member living allowances. Members receive a $5,241 living allowance and a $2,362.50 educational award upon completion of the program. Funding sources: The program receives an AmeriCorps grant from the OneStar Foundation, with matching funds from local school districts. Staffing: The program is staffed by an executive director, program director and administrative assistant, who have backgrounds in education, service, and social work. The staff to participant ratio is 1:20.

AmeriCorps Youth Harvest

Edcouch-Elsa Independent School District P.O. Box 127 Edcouch, Texas 78538 Phone: (956) 262-0034 Fax: (956) 262-0039 http://americorps.eeisd.org Since 1994, AmeriCorps Youth Harvest has engaged high school seniors in tutoring community members to increase academic achievement, promote problem solving skills, and motivate others to excel. The program pairs the students with school-sponsored programs and community organizations to provide them with professional job experience, unique training, increased awareness of community issues, and the personal satisfaction of helping others succeed. These AmeriCorps members are required to plan a service project for the local community. In addition, all of the AmeriCorps members must participate in seven programorganized service projects during the year to successfully complete the program. Members have helped to beautify the local Boys and Girls Club, conducted a clothing drive for distribution to disadvantaged families, organized games for athletes at Special Olympics, and created hats for terminally or chronically ill children. Members participate in a wide array of training including financial management, HIV/AIDS and STDs awareness, tutor training, conflict resolution, and resume writing/job interviews. AmeriCorps Youth Harvest was honored with the Governors Volunteer Award in April 2000. For more information, contact: Jennifer Jefts jjefts@eeisd.org (956) 262-0034
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Program location: The Breakthrough Collaborative has 25 program sites across the country and in Hong Kong. The program operates in 16 states: California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Virginia. Participants: Approximately 2,200 middle school youth (10-14 yrs) are taught by approximately 750 high school & college youth (15-23 yrs). The middle school participant demographics are as follows: 89% of students served are students of color; 65% of students served qualify for free or reduced lunch; 41% of students served come from a single parent household; and 27% of students served speak English as a second language. Fifty-seven percent of the high school & college aged teachers are teachers of color. Middle school students are recruited directly through presentations in their schools, and complete a rigorous application process that includes essays, submission of grades and standardized test scores, teacher recommendations, and parent participation. Students do not receive stipends or awards for their participation in service, although select students apply for and receive scholarships through partner organizations (Philips Exeter Summer program, Princeton Review, Sally Ride Space Camps at Stanford University, Level the Playing Field Institutes Summer Math and Science Academy at University of California, Berkeley, etc.). All Breakthrough programs are tuition-free for students. Teachers receive a modest stipend of $500 - $850 per semester. Hours/days of operation: Breakthrough programs include a rigorous, all-day (generally 8 am 3 pm), 8 week summer program, as well as after school and Saturday programs during the school year. Key partners: Across the country, Breakthrough works with numerous public schools, independent schools, universities and corporations to sponsor and host Breakthrough programs. Annual budget: Breakthroughs national budget is $1,350,000. The programs cumulative budget (national + 25 affiliates) is approximately $7 million. Funding sources: Foundations and individual donors, plus in-kind contributions Staffing: Local Breakthrough sites typically have 2-3 full time administrators. Teachers are talented high school and college students who work directly with middle school students for an overall teacher student ratio of 1:3

The Breakthrough Collaborative

40 First Street, Fifth Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 Phone: 415-442-0600 Fax: 415-442-0609 www.breakthroughcollaborative.org Founded in 1978 as Summerbridge, the Breakthrough Collaborative is a national educational enrichment program that engages talented high school and college students in service teaching middle school students with limited educational opportunities. The program has two main goals: to prepare more high-potential, underserved middle school students to succeed in rigorous college preparatory programs; and to encourage talented high school and college students to pursue careers in education. The Breakthrough program consists of two intensive six-week summer sessions in which the middle school students take classes in core academic subjects, and participate in elective courses ranging from astronomy to African-American literature. The classes are rigorous and small and full participation is expected of every student. Skills are also imparted outside of the classroom. Daily all-school meetings provide opportunities for public speaking and field trips allow students to practice conversation and presentation skills; community service projects help students to develop an awareness of the larger communities in which they live. While the summer session is the hallmark of the program, it is supplemented by after-school and/or Saturday sessions during the school year. Like the summer sessions, the school-year activities
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complement and expand upon what the students are learning in their regular schools, with a particular emphasis on skill-building and enrichment. Most Breakthrough sites also include an active high school advocacy component that includes working with families to explore appropriate high school choices. The key to the success of the Breakthrough program is the Students Teaching Students model. The high school and college students who teach the younger students are more than teachers; they are role models and mentors. Often drawn from the same communities as the students, and frequently students of color themselves (57%), our teachers are living examples that the skills they are imparting to their students will lead to success. As a result of their Breakthrough experiences, 72% of our teachers enter the field of education, building and diversifying Americas teaching corps. The middle school students also engage in service-learning which helps to establish them as powerful individuals able to take control of their own educational outcomes which directly reinforces the primary goal for those students. Most programs include a significant service-learning component for the middle school students during their Saturday programs and throughout the summer. Service learning, Breakthrough style, consists of the integration of academic skills and reflection with direct service to meet identified community needs. Typical service learning projects include environmental awareness activities, violence prevention training, and generational awareness projects. Breakthrough parents make a commitment to support their students participation in the program, to supervise nightly homework, and to ensure students are able to attend throughout the two year period. Breakthrough works closely with parents to supplement the academic counseling provided by students schools, paying particular attention to issues of high school selection and course selection, helping parents to advocate for the best schools and most demanding course work for their children. In 2003, Breakthrough completed the fourth year of a longitudinal study with Stanford University. The evaluation found that in comparison to a matched comparison group, students who participated in Breakthrough not only were more likely to be on a college track with regard to course selection, but were significantly more likely to be engaged in community service two years after leaving the program. Students reported being involved in a wide array of extracurricular activities, with 83 percent engaged in two or more activities and 24 percent serving as an officer or captain of a club or sport. Program students participated in significantly more extracurricular activities than comparison students, and were more likely to participate in community service, a religious group or activity, and organizations or clubs based on nationality, culture or ethnicity. The study also found that Breakthrough teachers remain connected to education and service. Eighty-three percent reported that their Breakthrough experience made them more socially conscious and more committed to working for students with limited opportunity backgrounds. Fifty percent volunteer their time in other educational or youth advocacy programs. For more information, contact: Laura Pochop lpochop@breakthroughcollaborative.org 415-442-0600 x113

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Program location: Childrens Discovery Museum, San Jose, California. Participants begin each program day at the Museum, then break into their teams and travel to their service site of the day. Participants: 180, ages 11 -15 (entering 7th through 10th grade) from a wide range of socioeconomic and demographic backgrounds. Hours/days of operation: Four 2-week sessions, beginning in the last week of June and running through mid-August. The program day runs from 8:45AM 3:30PM Monday-Thursday and from 8:45AM 5:30PM on Fridays. Extended care hours from 7:30AM 5:30PM daily are also an option for working parents. Participants engage in 5.5 hours of community service for seven days out of a ten day session. Key partners: Local partners where the SOS teams volunteer vary each year, but usually include: Sacred Heart Community Services, CET Head Start Pre-School and the Migrant Summer School Program, InnVision, Our City Forest, Santa Clara Valley Parks and Recreation Department, Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge, and Live Oak Adult Day Services. Annual budget: $65,700, including staffing, supplies and materials for service projects, transportation to service sites, weekly fun field trips and honoraria for the youth. Funding sources: Parent fees, foundation grants. Families pay $300 325 for each two week session, with discounts for Museum members. Scholarships are given to families in need of assistance. Staffing: There is one full-time SOS Coordinator who hires a team of 12 Team Leaders and Assistant leaders. Team Leaders have extensive experience working with youth and a passion for community service, and many are Museum employees in other capacities during the year. Staff to Youth ratio is 1:6.

Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose (CDM) Summer of Service (SOS)

180 Woz Way San Jose, CA 95110 Phone: (408) 298-5437 Fax: (408) 298-6826 Website: www.cdm.org/sos Established in 1998, the Summer of Service program at Childrens Discovery Museum in San Jose helps young teens deepen their appreciation and understanding of themselves and their community through civic service, reflection, positive peer interaction, and age-appropriate recreational activities. SOS participants build relationships with peers and adults while exploring an area of civic engagement (i.e. the urban environment, underserved populations, early childhood education, etc.) that speaks strongly to them. SOS also provides a viable summer option for families and parents who are looking for a safe and enriching environment for their children who are too old for traditional day camps but too young for summer employment. Finally, SOS contributes to a number of local organizations and agencies by providing trained and supervised youth volunteers. Participants choose to be on one of 5 teams for the two-week session: Red Team members volunteer at local food pantries, shelters, senior centers, and a sports camp for children with disabilities. Purple Team members prepare and facilitate activities for Museum visitors and contribute to an SOS Zine and documentary video in the CDMedia.Studio. Orange Team participants make friends with a little one at a local pre-school. They help lead activities in the classrooms,
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play games, serve snack, read books, and prepare the children for naptime. Green Team members become River Guardians by conducting water quality tests and conducting river clean-ups. They also plant trees, help with plant restoration, and lead projects in the Museum garden. The Striped Team is comprised exclusively of youth entering 10th grade and offers an opportunity to get involved in more in-depth service projects and to design and lead activities for younger SOS participants. The SOS day begins with a camp-wide rev-up a morning game or group activity before youth break into their respective teams for that days service. After several hours at their respective service sites, the teams join together for reflection in groups, each group made up of 2 members from the five teams. Youth are asked to consider their encounters with hunger and disadvantage, local environmental conservation, and situations they have never thought about before. Many reflection activities include a creative component where the youth brainstorm solutions to problems they have seen or how to better communicate to civic leaders or other citizens about changes that they would like to promote. Once a week during reflection time, a guest speaker addresses the group on topics ranging from stereotypes about homelessness to becoming a trainer of guide dogs for the blind. Fridays are camp-wide field trips to recreation sites such as the beach, Great America, or a ropes course, giving everyone a chance to relax and spend time together after a hard weeks work. During time together as a team, participants also play games and complete group challenges, develop a skit about their team and the service work they do, and have time to hang out together, bond, and build peer and team leader/adult relationships. At the end of a session, youth are recognized at a graduation ceremony and given small, non-monetary honoraria to recognize their service. SOS service hours also count towards fulfilling high school community service hour requirements. For more information, contact: Jessica Intrator sos@cdm.org (408) 298-5437 x243

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Program location: Citizen Schools currently operates 24 academic year program sites in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Texas. Summer programs operate at several program locations across the country. Participants: 1,800 youth aged 9 14 participate in Citizen Schools each year. Their demographics reflect the diverse communities where they live. In Boston, for example, most students come from lowincome families, and 90% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. In terms of racial/ethnic demographics, approximately 55% of Boston students are African-American, while 23% are Latino. Because the programs begin immediately after the final school bell rings, most participants attend the schools in which the programs operate. Students enroll by completing an application form and the requisite parent permission and health forms. Hours/days of operation: Each program location has unique hours, based on the schedule of the partner school and the needs of the community. Most program sites operate 3-4 afternoons each week, for 3-4 hours/day. The academic year program runs from late September to late May, though several sites offer orientation programming as early as August. Summer programs run Monday through Friday, 9 am to 4:30 pm, during July. Key partners: Citizen Schools partners with each of the schools in which it operates. Programs outside of Boston are run in partnership with local CBOs or school districts. Annual budget: Each site costs approximately $175,000 per year.

Citizen Schools
308 Congress Street Boston, MA 02210 Phone: (617) 695-2300 Fax: (617) 695-2367 www.citizenschools.org Since its founding in 1995, Citizen Schools has prepared students for leadership roles in the 21st century. To achieve this goal, Citizen Schools has identified four important objectives for students success: Strengthen academic skills; Develop personal leadership skills; Facilitate access to resources; and Build community connections.

Funding sources: AmeriCorps and numerous individual and private sector funders support the program. In addition, Citizen Schools has a sliding fee scale that is based on a familys income level, although most families pay less than 10% of the actual cost of the program. Staffing: A full-time Campus Director manages daily operations and instruction at each Citizen Schools program site. These front-line leaders are talented and experienced educators and community builders. Campus Directors have substantial experience and expertise in teaching in classrooms and informal environments, especially in urban settings. The instructional staff at each site includes at least two additional Teaching Fellows, most of whom are AmeriCorps members, as well as several part-time Teaching Associates. Teaching Fellows are dynamic educators who combine a morning assignment with a partner education or nonprofit organization and an afternoon assignment at Citizen Schools. All have undergraduate degrees and prior teaching experience. More than 40 percent of Teaching Fellows are individuals of color and 50 percent of the Teaching Fellows are proficient in a language other than English. For part-time Teaching Associates Citizen Schools emphasizes: relevant experience working with children; writing and data analysis skills; interest in education and community building; proper spoken English; and the background and ability to act as a positive role model. All program sites maintain a staff to student ratio of approximately 1:10.

Through hands-on learning and teambased activities, students improve academic and non-academic skills and deepen their connections to the community. And by serving their communities, students see themselves as resources who can actively participate in and add value to their communities. Hands-on learning apprenticeships are the centerpiece of Citizen Schools after-school curriculum. The young apprentices work alongside adult volunteers to explore new worlds and develop new skills. Many apprenticeships involve service to the
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community, and the final products involve a service and community engagement component. On average, approximately 25 percent of program time is spent on service. Citizen Schools students participate in a variety of hands-on apprenticeships that serve the community. For example, apprenticeships have enabled students to: visit a senior center each week to spend time with the residents and teach them how to use e-mail and the internet; brainstorm new designs for public places that they have presented to local architects and city planners; paint murals and clean up their neighborhoods and parks; and compile data on high school options for 8th grade students so that their peers have the tools to make informed decisions. In addition to apprenticeships, students participate in explorations, homework/investment time, choice time, and team time. Explorations provide a chance for apprentices to use their city as a classroom without walls and to discover its cultural and civic gathering places while sharpening their academic skills. Homework/investment time is an opportunity for students to improve their in-school performance by completing classroom assignments with the support of after-school staff and volunteers. The structure and activities of Choice Time and Team Time vary across program sites, but all include team-building and leadership development. Citizen Schools actively engages parents as volunteers in the program, in some cases teaching apprenticeships, and as active participants in their childrens learning and education. Parents have also volunteered their time on Explorations or as helpers during Homework/Investment Time. The program encourages parent engagement and investment through regular outreach events and communication. Frontline program staff members make phone calls to the parents/guardians of each of their students at least every two weeks. Each student receives significant public recognition as well as a T-shirt. Depending on their service and apprenticeship projects, students may receive additional keepsakes of their experience, e.g. a copy of a video they produced, a scrapbook, etc. Citizen Schools has engaged Policy Studies Associates (PSA) to conduct an independent longitudinal evaluation of its impact on students. Initial results indicate that sixth graders in Citizen Schools are significantly outperforming a matched comparison group in improving school attendance, being promoted to the next grade, reducing discipline problems, scoring on high-stakes tests, and advancing to strong high schools. The evaluation also reported that Citizen Schools eighth grade graduates are far more likely (70% to 46%) to attend a top-tier college-track high school than students who did not participate in Citizen Schools. Citizen Schools graduates are also significantly more likely to reach 10th grade on time than their peers, a key indicator of drop-out prevention. For more information, contact: Eric Schwarz ericschwarz@citizenschools.org (617) 695-2300 ext 102

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Program location: Earth Force After School is delivered through Earth Force field offices in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Florida, South Carolina, and metro Washington, DC. Each of these offices supports 5-10 project sites. In addition, The After School Corporation (TASC) supports 5-10 project sites around New York City. Participants: 800-1000 youth aged 10 to14 are involved in the program. The majority receive free or reduced price lunch. They are recruited through a variety of strategies; some programs require participation as the academic enrichment or community service element of their program. Others combine it with sports (e.g., soccer/Earth Force). Families pay no fees beyond what the project site might charge for general participation in the sites other activities. Hours/days of operation: Usually two to four hours per week over a semester. The program consists of 28 one-hour activities. Key partners: TASC and groups such as the Girl Scouts and DC Scores. Annual budget: For a fee of $2500, Earth Force offers a program kit, training for facilitators, ongoing support from Earth Force staff, access to online resources and a network of other after school participants, participation in Earth Force evaluation and research, and publicity support from Earth Force staff. The program is also available without training and support for approximately $500. Local cost of implementation varies, and the fee is often defrayed or covered by grant funds. Funding sources: Corporate and foundation funding, Learn and Serve America. Staffing: The staffing ratio is usually one group leader for every 10 students. The materials are written for diverse group leaders, from first-time group leaders to veteran educators.

Earth Force After School

Earth Force 1908 Mount Vernon Ave Alexandria, VA 22301 Phone: 703-299-9400 Fax: 703-299-9485 www.earthforce.org and www.green.org Founded in 1993, Earth Force is a national environmental education, civic participation, and service-learning program that teaches middle school-aged youth the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to become active citizens on environmental issues in their communities. Earth Force After School adapts the Earth Force community action and problem-solving model for out-of-school settings, enhancing the skills that students learn in the classroom with real-life experience. The core of the Earth Force program is a six-part problem-solving process that guides young people through the identification and analysis of one or more local environmental problems, the examination of the impact of current policy and practice, and the planning and implementation of a project designed to change local policy or community practice. This process includes: 1. Community Environmental InventoryIdentify local, community environmental problems or threats and related community information, including its strengths. 2. Issue SelectionSelect an environmental issue for further study from several choices. Research the issue, narrow and refine its definition. 3. Policy & Community Practice ResearchIdentify and analyze relevant public and private policies and community practices. Examine who makes policy and how. Understand different perspectives on the issue.

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4. Options for Influencing Policy & PracticeIdentify possible project options for affecting change in policy or practice and select one. 5. Planning & Taking Civic ActionDevelop and implement the plan of action. 6. Looking Back and AheadAssess the project and CAPS process. Identify the next steps for addressing the problem. Celebrate success! Earth Force operates on the premise that most environmental problems or threats originate with human behaviors. Making real improvements to the environment almost always involves changing the habits and practices of people and groups. Earth Force After School is designed to help young people become a force for change in their communities, building on their interests and desire to take an active role in making the world a better place. The program shows participants how either to change peoples treatment of the environment in their daily lives or to influence those who make and enforce environmental policies. For example, students in the Hill Middle School Environmental Club in Colorado explored energy waste during their meetings after school, and decided to make the rest of their school aware of the importance of conserving energy. The students began their research on the Internet. They looked up renewable and non-renewable energy sources and found pages of tips on how to conserve energy. Then club members went to each room in their school surveying how much energy was being wasted. They made a list of all the sources of wasted energy that they found. Once they looked over the list, they made a survey for all the teachers to take, and students interviewed the principal. The students made suggestions to the principal on how to reduce energy waste, encouraging dimming hall lights, keeping the lights off in the auditorium when it was not in use, and using natural light in classrooms. Students also made announcements in the morning to ask teachers to make sure they shut down computers at the end of the day and turned their lights off before they left. The students noticed teachers were making these changes and were told that they helped to lower the school's monthly energy bill. As part of its ongoing evaluation program, Earth Force conducts surveys of its program participants and Earth Force educators. The findings from the 2001-2002 evaluation indicate that Earth Force is meeting many of its critical goals, with positive impacts on participants civic skills and knowledge and on educators commitment to and satisfaction with teaching. Among its findings: Almost all of the educators responding to the evaluation indicated that Earth Force had a positive impact on participant knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The strongest impacts, from the educators perspective, were on participant awareness of environmental issues. Other areas where educators reported large positive impacts included participants ability to draw connections between the skills learned in school and their use in the community; participants confidence in working with adults; participants belief they can make a difference in the community, and
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participants decision-making skills and ability to plan and carry out a project. Data from pre- and post-program participant surveys showed strong positive impacts on participants self-assessed civic skills, with statistically significant increases on all 11 skills included in the surveys. Participant survey data also showed positive, statistically significant impacts on measures of civic knowledge and participants commitment to civic action. Specific measures showing impacts included: knowing where to find information on environmental issues, knowing how to change rules and laws affecting the environment; knowing how to contact adults for information and how to work together with others to solve an environmental problem.

The Earth Force evaluation is posted at www.earthforce.org. For more information, contact: Scott Richardson srichardson@earthforce.org 703-519-6873

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Program location: Heads Up operates in ten elementary schools and neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. Participants: Eight hundred 6-12 year olds and 50 14-19 year olds participate in Heads Up. 77 percent are African-American, 20 percent are Latino and three percent are Asian, Caucasian or other. Over 90 percent receive free or reduced price lunches at school. K-6th grade students are enrolled in two ways: parents may submit applications on a first come/first served basis or Heads Ups partner schools may opt to have students be referred by teachers and/or counselors. In either case (and some schools adopt a mixed approach), Heads Up enrolls whole families giving priority to siblings and other household members when spots become available. Students must attend one of Heads Ups partner schools. Teenage participants, also known as junior tutors, are typically older siblings of current participants or graduates of Heads Ups after-school and summer programs themselves. Additional teens are recruited through school counseling offices and by word-of-mouth. All teens must submit a written application and complete an interview and background check. Hours/days of operation: During the school year the program operates MondayFriday, 3:15-6:00pm, late January-early May and late September-early December. During the summer the program operates Monday-Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm, JuneAugust. Key partners: DC Public Schools, local universities (George Washington University, Howard University, Georgetown University, American University, Trinity University, Catholic University of America, University of the District of Columbia), AmeriCorps Annual budget: FY2004 budget for Heads Up: $3.8M. Funding sources: AmeriCorps, College Work Study, and private sector funders, including individuals, venture philanthropists, corporations, and foundations Staffing: A full-time Heads Up site director, joined by a teacher from the local partner school, manages each site. Typically, these directors bring 3-5 years teaching, youth development, and/or service experience; the teacher must have served at the school for at least one year and is selected jointly by the principal and Heads Up. Together, the teacher and site coordinator supervise 12-16 university students serving as part-time AmeriCorps members, 3-5 junior tutors, 2 parent partners, and an additional 15-20 college student tutors during the school year. Overall student-staff ratios are 4 or 5 to 1 each day. Junior tutors are paid $6.15/hr or earn hours toward DCs community service requirement.

Heads Up
645 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20003 Phone: (202) 544-4468 Fax: (202) 544-4437 www.headsup-dc.org Since 1996, Heads Up has run a year-round series of after-school, mentoring, and summer programs for families in Washington, DC, by enlisting college students, parents, and teens as tutors, instructors, mentors, and coaches. The organizations mission is to provide children and youth from low-income neighborhoods with the academic skills and learning opportunities they need to succeed, and to provide college students with the opportunity to understand and help meet those needs in order to promote their development as leaders motivated to effect social change. Service is one of the three key principals of the program, which engages neighborhood parents, local high school students, area undergraduates, and elementary school children in service to their communities. Heads Up elementary students design projects that give back to their community, Heads Up teens serve as junior tutors, Heads Up undergraduates tutor those who need help with their schoolwork, and Heads Up parents volunteer with the program both in and outside of the classroom. Heads Ups goals are to ensure that all our young participants develop the competence, connections, confidence, and character to graduate high school and continue post-secondary education. More specifically, the program works to ensure all Heads Up students are:

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reading at or above grade level, engaged in school and learning, inspired early to attend college, and surrounded by a positive set of peers and young adults.

Service-learning supports these goals by providing a context to reinforce skills, expand student aspirations, and build a community of supports for each participant. During the summer, grade school students spend approximately 20% of their time in the program on their literacy projects long-term lessons that combine service with activities that reinforce reading and writing skills and that result in a tangible product or performance. Examples of the literacy projects that grade school students complete include oral history projects, community newspapers, gun violence research, and even t-shirt businesses. Junior tutors are engaged in service 100% of their time while in the program which is approximately 2 afternoons per week during the schools year and 25-35 hours per week in the summer. In addition to service, grade school students practice reading and writing skills, complete homework, receive healthy meals and snacks, and participate in club activities, such as chess or dance. During the summer, students also participate in swimming or other athletic activity. Parents can serve in the two parent partner positions available at each site. Many others volunteer to chaperone field trips and events. Surveys, assessments, and anecdotes continue to demonstrate that Heads Up is making a difference:

In 2003, 52% of students testing at or below basic in reading achieved grade level proficiency after one year of participating in Heads Up. Surveys showed that 97 percent of Heads Up parents themselves rated the improvement of their children's attitude about learning as "very good" or "excellent", while 94 percent said that their children's grades had gone up. More than 50 percent of undergraduate tutors say they are considering a career in teaching or public service as a result of their participation in Heads Up. Darin McKeever, Executive Director dmckeever@headsup-dc.org (202) 544-4468

For more information, contact:

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Program location: Manatee County, Florida Participants: A diverse group of 13,400 youth, aged 11 to 19, participate in the program. Any local teenager is eligible to participate. Most are recruited by word of mouth, although AmeriCorps members also recruit at middle schools, high schools, community centers, and communities of faith throughout the year. There is no fee to participate, but applicants are invited to make a $10 contribution to defray costs. Hours/days of operation: Hours vary depending on special events, projects, and ongoing program schedules. Key partners: The Volunteer Center of Manatee County serves as the institutional home for the program. Other partners include more than 550 local agencies, the Florida Association of Volunteer Centers, Volunteer Florida the Governors Commission, the Points of Light Foundation, Corporation for National Service, Americas Promise, Youth Venture, and Youth Service America. Annual budget: The ManaTEEN budget for 2004-05 is $185,000. More than $100,000 is budgeted for materials and supplies. Funding sources: Government (Corporation for National Service, county government); private foundations; corporate foundations Staffing: As a youth-run program, ManaTEENs has just one fulltime staff person (Director), three AmeriCorps Promise Fellows and two AmeriCorps VISTAs. ManaTEENs create committees and appoint project leaders. Four of the five AmeriCorps members are former ManaTEENs (including the programs founder).

ManaTEENs
Volunteer Center of Manatee County 5131 Manatee Avenue West Bradenton FL 34209 Phone: (941) 761-3207 Fax: (941) 761-0458 www.manateens.org ManaTEENs was founded in 1994 by student Laura Lockwood and a small group of teens. Starting with only 22 members, the clubs first project was painting a neighbors house. A decade later, ManaTEENs engages two out of every three county youth and work with more than 571 organizations, contributing more than a million hours of service annually. The goals of ManaTEENs are simple: To mobilize youth and resources to identify and address area needs. To achieve these goals, ManaTEEN members are encouraged to assist any of the local organizations registered with the Volunteer Center as well as to participate in the 37 programs created and sustained by ManaTEENs. These include Lowes Home Safety for Seniors, through which teen volunteers conduct needs evaluations in the homes of senior citizens and then install items donated by Lowes Home Improvement Warehouse such as smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, and flashlights and a volunteer babysitting service, consisting of 800 babysitters called Carousel Kids, Other projects include: Environmental Cemetery Mapping and Restoration of indigent cemeteries; Watershed initiatives to test water, etc.; Reef Rakers to manufacture artificial reef balls, deploy the equipment and maintain it through SCUBA events. Animal Welfare PAWS to deliver pet food to senior pet owners who cant afford to feed themselves and their pets; Pets in Emergencies Guide to identify pet friendly facilities in times of disasters; Spaying/Neutering to coordinate schedules for the countys mobile
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facility; Pet Shelter to manage the only pet shelter available during times of evacuation to human needs shelters. Disaster/Homeland Security Event Watch to train youth to be extra eyes and ears for local events; Business Continuity to train youth to teach businesses to be disaster ready; Community Health to involve youth in health literacy initiatives that pertain to teens; CERT to train youth as Community Emergency Response Teams; Nosey Neighbors to host block parties for the purpose of acquainting neighbors and creating/disseminating a resource directory for residents; Volunteer Reception Center to manage facilities for unaffiliated volunteers after disasters. All programs and projects are youth created, led, developed by, implemented by, and/or evaluated by ManaTEENs. The program encourages family volunteering, with a majority of families joining their teens in ManaTEEN projects. The program also sponsors an innovative weekend volunteer program for fathers and their kids, Weekend Dads, targeting divorced fathers who have weekend visitations with their children. Although the program does not provide stipends or scholarships, it maintains a tracking system for participants volunteer hours, and encourages them to apply for service-related scholarships. It hosts celebratory events, including dances and camping trips for the young volunteers. Each month an exemplary teen is featured on the programs website. Philliber and Associates has evaluated ManaTEENs after school program. Individual programs are evaluated through pre/post tests, satisfaction surveys, etc. For more information, contact: Adraine LaRoza ManaTEENs@aol.com (941) 761-3207

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Program location: Lighthouse Partnership sites are found throughout Mississippi at The University of Southern Mississippi, Rust College, Tougaloo College, Delta State University, and East Central Community College Participants: The program is scaling up to 250 K8 grade students per year, mostly from underserved areas. Students are recommended by teachers or sign-up to attend the after-school program. Hours/days of operation: The program operates afterschool and during school breaks, including summer. Specific times of operation vary from 3 days a week to 5 days a week from when school gets out to 5-6 pm. Key partners: Each site involves a local partnership that includes a higher education institution, a K-8 school, and a community or faith-based organization. Annual budget: Ranges from $15,000 to $35,000 per site, plus local matching funds. Funding sources: Corporation for National and Community Service Learn and Serve America initiative, the Mississippi State Department of Education and the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service. Staffing: Each university/college partner has a servicelearning coordinator who works in partnership with a K-8 school and a community based organization. College students participating in service-learning courses (such as writing, sociology, or social work) work directly with youth in afterschool programs.
th

Mississippi Higher Education Consortium Lighthouse Partnerships

University of Southern Mississippi Center for Community and Civic Engagement 118 College Drive #5083 Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001 Phone: 601-266-6913 Fax: 601-266-6886 Website: www.usm.edu/ccce The Lighthouse Partnerships program was established in 2000 with four goals: 1. To develop and/or continue Lighthouse Partnership after-school programs that engage local partnerships of K8, postsecondary, and community/faithbased agencies in coordinated efforts to enhance extended-day opportunities for low-income students by tapping into collegiate service-learning courses. 2. To foster increased civic awareness among K8 after-school program participants by involving them in activities that foster an understanding of history, civics, and service. 3. To bolster college student civic knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors by (a) enlisting college service-learning course participants as after-school civic mentors/tutors, and (b) by recruiting college teams to participate in a statewide civic leadership development program. 4. To strengthen service-learning infrastructure by (a) providing trainings/workshops on service-learning, partnership development, and history/civics/service curriculum development, and (b) providing servicelearning faculty liaisons, fellowships, and departmental mini-grants. Service-learning is at the core of the Lighthouse Partnerships. For example, Delta State University engages college students from art and history classes to work with the after-school youth to create a mural that depicts the rich blues
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history of the Delta. Other projects have enabled school-age youth to transform their school yard into a visually stimulating outdoor classroom; honor local veterans; and produce a video on money management targeted at their peers. The afterschool programs also include a civics component which follows the We the People curriculum. An evaluation is underway. A program survey found that 78 percent of faculty indicated that service learning improved student learning, and 25 percent of after-school enrollees improved their grade by at least one full letter grade. For more information, contact: Vickie Reed Vickie.Reed@usm.edu 601-266-5085

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Program location: 135 sites in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and the US Virgin Islands Participants: A diverse group of 14,000+ youth ages 9-19 participate in the program. Hours/days of operation: Program operation varies by site, although the program recommends that students spend 1-2 hours per week for the classroom experience and 20 hours on service during the program year. Key partners: Varies by site Annual budget: $100 to $600 per youth participant Funding sources: Local organizations are encouraged to institutionalize the program by incorporating TOP into existing core curricula, by attaching the program to core operational funding, and by adopting TOP to fulfill requirements of major initiatives (e.g., statewide teen pregnancy prevention mandates or service learning requirements)all of which offer long-term funding. Around the country creative TOP sponsors have found many ways to generate community support for the program in the form of cash, in-kind, and donated resources. Staffing: Varies by site

Teen Outreach Program (TOP)

Cornerstone Consulting Group, Inc. One Greenway Plaza, Suite 550 Houston, TX 77046 Phone: 713.627.2322 Fax: 713.627.3006 www.cornerstone.to Established in 1978, Teen Outreach is a program based on the principles of positive youth development that is designed to meet the needs of adolescents during the transitional period in which they are growing into adulthood. TOP combines curriculumguided classroom discussion and community service work in a program that supports positive youth development and prevents negative youth behaviors, such as early pregnancy and school failure. Designed for youth ages 12 to 17, TOPs youth development approach is flexible enough to be used in various settings that serve adolescents or younger youth. Local programs can be school led, community sponsored or an equal partnership between schools and community. For example, TOP can be 1) offered as an in-school strategy integrated with core subjects; 2) offered as an in-school elective; 3) positioned as an after-school voluntary program; and/or 4) designed as a component of out-of-school enrichment programs, such as, social clubs, recreation programs, mentoring and tutoring initiatives, service learning programs, and various after-school and gap time activities. TOP operates on a nine-month or school year cycle. Although program sponsors construct local programs to meet the needs and concerns of their communities, research suggests that certain minimum levels of participation in both the community service and classroom components of the program are critical to TOPs effectiveness. To realize the level of outcomes found in the TOP evaluation, local programs should offer participants at least 1 to 2 group discussion sessions per week and a minimum of 20 hours of service per program year (i.e., nine months or academic school year)

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Past service projects have included: Creating a banner and assisting with the motorcade for National Night Out Writing and performing plays with positive messages for neighborhood children Advising a committee of professionals who deliver pregnancy prevention programs throughout the city and county Joining the Stand CampaignOhios mass marketing campaign to dissuade youth from smoking Presenting refusal skills role-plays to the 5th grade students in each TOP high schools elementary feeder school. This included a panel discussion regarding social and emotional changes during puberty and a question and answer period to allay fears regarding growing up Organizing and creating Halloween crafts and games for children in a North Toledo neighborhood in partnership with many different organizations, which served over 200 people.

Youth development through service and learning is at the heart of Teen Outreach. The Teen Outreach Program seeks to promote healthy behavior among teens; help them gain valuable life skills; and give youth a sense of purpose through meaningful opportunities to contribute. TOP emphasizes the life skills of communication, assertiveness, decision making and goal setting. Service relates to these goals by engaging young people in meaningful activities that allow them to take on adult-like responsibilities and become contributing members of their communities. These activities are active, affective, adaptable, and age-appropriate. Learning happens when young people connect something new with something they already know, and in many instances, most of what young people learn happens in school. Through academic extensions, young people begin to connect what they learn in school to their service experience and ultimately to their lives. Over more than 20 years TOP has been evaluated using rigorous experimental techniques of comparison and control groups, both randomly and non-randomly assigned. Evaluations have consistently demonstrated lower pregnancy rates and higher school success among TOP participants in comparison to non-participants. Local programs that successfully replicate TOPs framework and maintain stated thresholds of youth participation in the community and classroom components can have significant impact on the lives of youth. In the long term evaluation of Teen Outreach, conducted by Philliber Research Associates (PRA) since 1981, TOP participants, when measured against comparison groups, consistently demonstrate

11% Lower Rate of Course Failure in School 14% Lower Rate of School Suspension 33% Lower Rate of Pregnancy 60% Lower Rate of School Dropout

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Teen Outreach is one of only a few programs proven effective in both preventing teen pregnancy and increasing school success. A study conducted by Dr. Susan Philliber, Philliber Research Associates, and Dr. Joseph Allen, Ph.D., University of Virginia, among 695 students in 25 sites nationwide suggests that TOP is successful because it provides young people with several of the elements critical to positive youth development: a safe place to express their innermost thoughts and feelings about their psychosocial development; structured volunteer community service, which is increasingly being linked to positive outcomes for young people; a forum for understanding and evaluating their future life options; opportunities to establish competence and autonomy in a context that maintains their sense of relatedness with important adults; opportunities (through volunteer work) to take on adult roles in ways that do not necessarily undermine parental or school authority structures; and an opportunity to be viewed in a positive role by adults and other youth.

The Cornerstone Consulting Group, Inc., offers materials, technical assistance and training to groups and organizations interested in learning more about the TOP approach. Cornerstone has developed a complete array of curricula, in English and in Spanish, and implementation guides to enable communities to operate the Teen Outreach Program. In addition, Cornerstone offers a menu of TOP training opportunities, including start up, program implementation, and training of trainers. Cornerstone also offers technical assistance tailored to meet the needs of local sponsors of TOP. Areas of strategic consultation include devising the means to institutionalize and expand the program, coordinating multi-site delivery, developing and maintaining community partnerships, staffing and managing programs, identifying long term funding strategies, and grappling with governance issues. Training is designed to support communities in the development and implementation of local TOPs. For more information, contact: Gayle Waden gwaden@cornerstone.to 713.627.2322, Ext. 10

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Program location: This program has been implemented in Minneapolis Public Schools intermittently over the last 12 years. Most recently, it operated in 4 sites in the Minneapolis Public School District in 2003. Participants: Approximately 200 K-8 students (5 to 12 years), the majority of whom received free or reduced-price lunches, participated in the program. Students were referred by teachers based on poor student performance on benchmark tests and need for enrichment. Hours/days of operation: In 2003, the program was a 3-month summer program; in past years, the program operated four hours per day for four days for six weeks. In 2003, many students were in class in the morning and the Walkabout program occurred in the afternoon, while some were involved in the program for most of the day. Key partners: NYLC, Minneapolis Community Education department, 21st Century Schools department of the district, and various local agencies (such as the Minneapolis Parks Department). Annual budget: Depending upon the scale of the program, costs can range from $60,000-150,000 including sponsoring organization expenses for personnel and coordination, and costs for NYLC for curriculum, training and materials. Funding sources: School and city budget, foundations. Some parent fees, based on a sliding scale. Staffing: Each site included 1 to 2 Certified K12 Teacher(s), 2 to 3 college age students, 2 to 3 high school age students with a ratio of 5(8) staff to 25 students. Each site had some adult volunteers depending upon the needed tasks. Parents served as chaperones to off-site projects at some sites.

Walkabout
National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) 1667 Snelling Avenue North, Suite D300 St. Paul, MN 55108 Phone: 651-631-3672 Fax: 651-631-2955 www.nylc.org In the 1970s, a film entitled WalkAbout depicted the rites of passage to adulthood of the Aboriginal young people in the Australian outback. According to NYLC President Jim Kielsmeier, the WalkAbout program was created by educators based on the premise that significant educational experiences should mark the transition to adulthood for American youth. The resulting program, piloted in 1990, engaged K-8 students in service-learning intended to address their academic and developmental needs. By 1992, the program was engaging 1,300 students. The program followed a curriculum guide developed by NYLC, and was based on the following principles: Team teaching involving high school and college youth with younger students Clear, consequential learning activities based on ideas and themes. Young people involved in determining the nature of the learning activities Action-oriented or experiential learning to deliver basic skills. Emphasis on significant learning products or projects to demonstrate completion. Emphasis on service-learning.

Before the summer began, teachers participated in three days of training. College and high school students received one day of training, including a school visit. The staff team spent a week together before the summer began.
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The goal of the program was to address the learning objectives of a summer program while at the same time solving a community need. (For example, if students are building a bench, then math is integral to the process.) The service activities provided the experience factor for the educational process (putting the education facts to work in a real world setting to provide meaning for the learning experience). This teaching and learning method is better known as service-learning. Examples of projects included the construction of benches for an animal park and a neighborhood clean up as an ongoing project for the summer (including garbage removal as well as local community beautification-planting flowers, community communication, etc.). A 1992 evaluation found that the program was a motivating learning environment for students, who had a 97 percent retention rate and 91 percent attendance rate, far above the regular school year. Students reported increased self-esteem and self-concept, with over 90 percent seeing themselves as a successful student in summer school and someone who can help my community a lot. Parents also remarked on students enthusiasm for the program. The program also had a strong impact on teachers, who chose to include servicelearning in their regular classes after teaching in the program. High school students on the staff reported an increased sense of self-worth and capability, while college students reported that the program had strengthened their skills and interest in teaching. For more information, contact: Carole Klopp cklopp@nylc.org 608-833-9620 or 651-999-7378

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Program location: The pilot program took place at 60 youth-serving organizations at communities served by the Washington Service Corps (WSC) throughout the state of Washington. Almost half of the service projects were conducted in rural areas. Participants: In the 2002-2003 program year, over 750 young people participated. The initiative focused on youth between 11 and 13 years of age; however, the ages ranged from 5 to 17. A majority of youth were female (56% to 44%); 39 percent were white, 30 percent Hispanic, and 31 percent other races/ethnicities; 74percent spoke English at home and 18% spoke Spanish at home; and a majority received a subsidized lunch at school. Hours/days of operation: The schedules varied throughout the state. Some programs were run in after-school programs, some on weekends, and some in a condensed camp atmosphere. The original program was 14 units long, taking approximately 2 hours each. The entire program, including a youthchosen service project, could operate for up to 16 weeks. The current program schedule includes 7 units of 1.5 hours per unit, with extra sessions needed for an exploratory service project, project planning, and the final service project. Key Partners: Service Learning Northwest, a technical and training assistance center, developed The Roadmap to Civic Engagement and assisted in the implementation of the program. Twenty-three project partners throughout the state and a total of 60 youth-serving organizations were also key partners. Annual budget: Costs for this effort varied but were minimal. Funding sources: State funding; AmeriCorps; donations from various local entities. Staffing: In the pilot year, 500 AmeriCorps members facilitated the program, usually in a ratio of no more than 1 member to 5 youth. General oversight of the initiative was assigned to each WSC project partner. Most of the AmeriCorps members involved were in their first year of AmeriCorps service (71%); nearly half (45%) had received college degrees. Ninety-three percent indicated English was the language most commonly spoken in their homes. In terms of race and ethnicity, 72 percent were white, 13 percent were Hispanic, and 7 percent were multiracial.

Washington Service Corps Roadmap to Civic Engagement

Washington State Employment Security Department P.O. Box 9046 Olympia, WA 98507-9046 Phone: (360) 438-4005 Fax: (360) 438-3113 http://www.wa.gov/esd/wsc/ At a time when democratic participation, especially among youth, has been in decline, national service programs have been called upon to reawaken our nations civic spirit. To meet this challenge, the Washington Service Corps (WSC) developed a unique civic engagement model in which AmeriCorps members participate in a civic engagement program as students themselves and then partner with local youth-serving organizations to facilitate the same program with middle school youth. Through a lively servicelearning process, youth and members examine their communities assets and needs and develop strategies for meeting genuine community needs while connecting their civic actions to the foundational principles of democracy. Local WSC project partners take the lead in establishing youth partnerships and training AmeriCorps members to facilitate the curriculum as part of the AmeriCorps program requirements for member development and community strengthening. Project partners and/or members actively market the program to youthserving organizations throughout the state. Once partnerships with youth-serving organizations have been established, youth come to the program in a variety of ways. For many, the Roadmap has become a component of an after-school program they are already attending (e.g. Boys and Girls Club, YMCA). For others, AmeriCorps members market the program in the school and community, and students select and apply for the Roadmap
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program specifically. Finally, a few students participate as part of a class during school hours. The Roadmap is designed around a service-learning planning and implementation strategy that features the Six Step Model for Effective ServiceLearning. While youth are participating in the program they are involved in discussing the concept of community and their involvement; investigating the assets, resources and needs of their community; addressing possibilities for meeting identified needs and choosing a targeted need; developing a plan of action and designing a project to meet the selected need; executing the plan; and finally, reviewing, reflecting, and celebrating their efforts. Service projects vary depending on the needs defined by the youth themselves. Examples of service projects completed during the 2002-2003 program year included: multiple food drives and service projects to raise money for donations to food banks to address the subject of hunger; various projects such as graffiti clean-up, school and park litter and recycling efforts to address environmental issues; and efforts to assist and improve the lives of seniors in their communities. The Roadmap curriculum uses service-learning and reflection to clarify and deepen individuals understanding of civic engagement. The Roadmap addresses three essential characteristics of service-learning: clear learning objectives, meeting genuine community needs, and systematic reflection. Three additional elements are also included: youth voice, meaningful service, and partnership building. Through participation in an active service-learning process, participants examine a variety of community settings, learn to identify a communitys assets and needs, gain an understanding of how to develop strategies for meeting genuine community needs utilizing academic and community resources, and actively address those needs by implementing service projects. Simply put, the service activity itself is the culmination of active civic engagement efforts. The Roadmap has allowed the WSC to turn an AmeriCorps member training performance measure into a unique program that addresses one of the most pressing needs of youth today: civic engagement. An Abt Associates evaluation of the program found that the Roadmap increased participants understanding of what it means to live in a democratic society. Youth-serving organizations participating in the survey also indicated that the program offered their youth an opportunity to increase knowledge of needs and resources in their communities, as well as the chance to interact with positive adult role models (the AmeriCorps members). For more information, contact: Nancy Pringle Director, Washington Service Corps npringle@esd.wa.gov (360) 438-4054 Larry Fletch Service-Learning Northwest larry.fletch@esd112.org (360)750-7500

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Program location: The program is currently being run by local YMCAs in 38 states and has spread to countries abroad including Brazil, Thailand, India, and Zimbabwe. Participants: A YMCA may serve between 20 and 1000 high school and middle school youth in the YMCA Earth Service Corps (YESC) program. YESC Clubs are run as extracurricular environmental service clubs either in partnership with local high or middle schools or at a local YMCA or community center. Participants include urban, suburban, and rural youth from every income bracket. Hours/days of operation: YESC Clubs are encouraged to meet weekly during the school year. It is up to the club to decide when and where to meetsometimes after school, over lunch, or during an activity period. YESC service projects take place on weekends and in the afternoons. Some YESC programs also offer weekend retreats and summer intensive programs. Key partners: Local partners include high school and middle schools, community centers, home school organizations, etc. Annual budget: Budget varies from program to program. It is possible to maintain a club with very little funding, but some resources will allow for field trips, leadership weekends, and host environmental symposia. Funding sources: Funded by foundations, local YMCAs, and group fundraising projects. Staffing: The program is usually run by a volunteer teacher-advisor from the school working with a YMCA staff or volunteer to help organize and support each YESC club. Ideally, one or more youth leaders emerge to direct much of the Clubs organizing and activities, supported by the adults. AmeriCorps members have been involved with YESC clubs and programs since the beginning of this national service program. AmeriCorps members trained and supported by local YMCA staff have served as youth outreach workers in helping to initiate and support YESC clubs.

YMCA Earth Service Corps

Metrocenter YMCA YMCA of Greater Seattle 909 Fourth Ave. Seattle, WA 98104 Phone: 206-382-4966 Fax: 206-382-7894 www.yesc.org YMCA Earth Service Corps is a service-learning program whose mission is to empower young people to be effective, responsible global citizens by providing opportunities for environmental education and action, leadership and cross-cultural awareness. The program was created by the Seattle Metrocenter YMCA in 1989 as a way to involve young people in the environment and community leadership. In 1992, the Seattle YMCA received a grant from the Kellogg Foundation to broaden the range of the program. It has since grown to become the fastest-growing YMCA teen program in the United States. The YESC Club is entirely focused on identifying and carrying-out local environmental projects based on the service-learning model. Clubs are encouraged to spend the first few months of the school year assessing community needs and developing leadership skills. During this period, staff or adult volunteers help plan service projects. Later in the year students take over leadership and gradually become self sufficient project planners. Examples of projects include: tree plantings, stream restorations, school recycling programs, energy audits of school and neighborhoods, community beautification, removal of invasive species, beach clean-ups, neighborhood murals, community gardens, teaching elementary students about the environment as well as local
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and statewide advocacy on environmental issues. Through reflection activities, students are encouraged to apply what they have learned through the project and YESC to other parts of their life. In addition to service-learning, YESC participants may learn how to organize and run effective meetings, plan projects, and participate in arts-based reflection activities, team building initiatives and games, environmental education, cross-cultural awareness and celebration, ropes courses, kayak trips and hikes, leadership retreats at camp, national gatherings, and even international travel. Participating youth do not receive anything for their participation in service. Some students have earned service scholarships for college or have found participation in YESC has led to opportunities such as full-ride Pinnacle Scholarships in Outward Bound and opportunities to travel to places such as Hawaii for service trips. Since 1995, the YMCA Earth Service Corps program has been evaluated annually by the Search Institute. Last year's study documented program outcomes from a random sample of program sites. Findings include: Impact on Youth

More than nine out of ten of the youth surveyed indicated that they had been positively impacted in the areas of community involvement, commitment to the environment and empowerment. More than eight out of ten indicated they had been positively impacted in their leadership skills.

Impact on Building Assets for Youth Involved

Over nine out of ten of the youth surveyed indicated that they felt YMCA Earth Service Corps had a positive impact on their values, and over eight of ten indicated that YMCA Earth Service Corps had positively impacted their social competencies and their identity. Nine or more out of ten youth felt empowered by YMCA Earth Service Corps activities. More than seven of ten of the youth surveyed responded positively to questions we asked them about the impact of YMCA Earth Service Corps on their commitment to learning. More than eight of ten youth indicated that Club Advisors had high expectations of them. More than seven of ten of the youth surveyed responded positively to questions we asked them about their feelings of support from their Club Advisor.

A YMCA Earth Service Corps Handbook (available at the website www.yesc.org) offers detailed directions for organizing and running a YESC club. The YMCA of the USA encourages those interested to contact their local YMCA to see if they sponsor the YMCA Earth Service Corps or if they are interested in working in starting a program.
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For more information, contact:

Dawne Brevig, YMCA Earth Service Corps Director dbrevig@mc.seattleymca.org 206-382-4966 Sharon Williams, YMCA of the USA national consultant on teens Sharon.williams@ymca.net 1-800-872-9622, ext. 4699.

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Program location: At City Year sites in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbia, Columbus, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, San Antonio, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, DC. Participants: Nearly 1,000 diverse middle school youth participate in Young Heroes in a variety of communities across the country. At thirteen City Year sites, corps members (full-time AmeriCorps members who serve 10 months from September-June) recruit at local middle schools and community agencies during the fall, and youth apply to join the program. The only qualifications are that youth complete the application and interview process with parental permission, secure one recommendation, and agree to commit to attending the program three Saturdays per month for the full five months of the program calendar. Hours/days of operation: The program operates three Saturdays per month over a five-month period from January-May. A typical day lasts 7 hours and to graduate, Young Heroes must complete a minimum of 80 program service hours, which include a lesson plan on a social issue each Saturday morning followed by an afternoon team-based community service project that relates to the social issue topic, as well as ongoing team building/leadership development for youth. Key partners: Bank of America - National Presenting Sponsor of the Young Heroes Program. City Heroes - a more intense version of the program for high school students that is run at some City Year sites. Youth Service America The Young Heroes program counts National Youth Service Day as one of its required service days nationally. Hundreds of local non-profit and community-serving agencies Saturday lesson plans and service days are planned with the generous donation of time and energy from partner programs that provide training on social issues and/or host youth in service. Annual budget: Varies from site to site. Funding sources: Foundations, Corporations, AmeriCorps Staffing: City Years model is to have one staff member managing each team of 5-10 corps members (see below for more information on City Years model) who are placed on a full-time project that involves working with youth, and Young Heroes teams are managed in the same fashion. The program is managed at every site by at least one staff person, often with the support of second-year City Year members. Corps members are responsible for planning and implementing the program, recruiting volunteers to lead teams of youth and help run the program (including community volunteers, AmeriCorps/City Year alumni, and City Year corps members from other teams). On Saturdays, Young Heroes youth participants serve on teams of 8-10 with at least two Team Leaders per team. Some teams have additional Assistant Team Leaders who are high school students. Parents serve as weekly volunteers and chaperones, and serve on Parent Advisory Groups at some sites

Young Heroes
City Year 285 Columbus Ave. Boston, MA 02116 Phone: 617-927-2500 Fax: 617-927-2540 www.cityyear.org Young Heroes participate in orientation and training, are assigned to a team, and then take their pledge to serve during their Opening Day ceremony on MLK Day each January. Their five months of Saturday service learning covers a variety of social issues such as hunger, homelessness, the environment, disability awareness, refugee awareness, youth violence, and drug/alcohol prevention. During the morning they participate in interactive workshops, listen to speakers, and participate in activities that allow them to learn about the topic, debunk any myths they have about the topic, and explore how it relates to them and what they can do about it. In the afternoon, they participate in service projects directly related to the topic such as serving lunch at a soup kitchen, planting community gardens, serving at Special Olympics, or painting anti-violence murals.
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In the fall of 2002, City Year commissioned a study to identify current outcomes of the Young Heroes program which relate to factors the scientific literature puts forth as antecedents to ongoing civic engagement in youth and adulthood. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that the Young Heroes program may impact ongoing civic engagement by affecting: what they notice (civic awareness) how they think (capacities for institutional and community perspective taking) what they believe about their sense of connection and responsibility to other people, institutions and the community at large; about the rewards of collective action; and about the fun they can have doing community service (civic beliefs) what they believe about roles they can play and the impact they can have in institutions and in the community (civic efficacy) who they hang out with (supportive norms) All participants in the study made important progress, building on current understanding to develop new ways of thinking and new feelings about their roles and capacities as a member of the community. These new ways of thinking and feeling about their connection to others as members of a community, roles they can play and the impact they can have in their communities, for most seemed to be accompanied by a greater desire to have an impact. For more information, contact: Michelle Regan mregan@cityyear.org

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Program location: Site 1: McClymonds High School, West Oakland, CA. McClymonds student body reflects concentrated poverty and segregation. Out of the approximately 800 students that attend, 80 percent are AfricanAmerican, 11 percent are Latino, 8 percent are Asian and 1 percent is White. According to District records, 88 percent live in families that participate in the CalWORKs public assistance program. Site 2: Kennedy Middle School, Redwood City, CA. Kennedy Middle School is part of a magnet district: meaning that the 991 students who come to the school are from diverse areas throughout RWC, many commuting to school from RWCs east side neighborhoods. The school is approximately 70% Hispanic, 20% White, 4% African American, 3% Asian, 2% Filipino, 2% Pacific Islander and 1% Native American. Approximately 35% of the students are classified as English Language Learners, and 41% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Participants: Students are recruited by adult or youth staff at the beginning of the school year through classroom presentations and general outreach. They fill out a short application and then interview with youth and adult staff. YELL aims to recruit students from diverse backgrounds. Past discipline problems and academic challenges do not rule out participation and are reviewed on a case by case basis. Grades and past discipline problems are not considered. In 2003-2004, 100 youths applied to the two programs and 46 were accepted. In both sites, several former participants continued from the previous year, serving as mentors to the new students. Redwood City: YELL includes 75 youth in grades 6 8, along with five high school mentors and three youth staff who are alumni of the middle school program. The group is racially diverse: 67 percent Latino, 4 percent Asian, 2 percent African American, and 23 percent white. The majority of the students are low-income and many immigrated to the United States as young children. West Oakland: YELL serves a racially diverse group of 34 youth in grades 9-12 in its after school program, and an additional 30+ students from all grade levels through a partnership with student government where the program teaches the curriculum during the day. Ages range from 14-18. Hours/days of operation: YELL operates throughout the school year, with mandatory after-school sessions two days per week. In Redwood City, these sessions are 1 hours each, in West Oakland, the sessions are 2 hours each. Youth also participate in some evening and weekend events and presentations. In West Oakland, the program continues throughout the summer where youth have internships to build their skills and prepare them to become staff. These hours vary, but most interns work at least 10 hours a week. Key partners: Stanford University School of Education; Redwood City: Kennedy Middle School, Redwood City School District, Kennedy Family Center, Redwood City 2020, BAYAC AmeriCorps (beginning 2004-2005); West Oakland: McClymonds High School, Chappell Hayes Health Center, San Francisco Foundation, Oakland Unified School District, BAYAC AmeriCorps. Annual budget: (projected 2004-2005) Redwood City: $124,000; West Oakland: $201,000. Funding sources: Foundations; AmeriCorps; in-kind University support Staffing: Each community has a full time director employed through the John W. Gardner Center, 2 support staff (in West Oakland and Redwood City, these are AmeriCorps members, in Redwood City, these are two 10 hour per week undergraduate students), and one embedded researcher. Next year (2004-2005) Redwood City will also employ two AmeriCorps staff members through BAYAC.

Youth Engaged in Leadership and Learning (YELL)

John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities 520 Galvez Mall, 4th Floor Stanford, CA 94305 Phone: (650) 569-3864 Fax: (650) 569-3867 gardnercenter.stanford.edu Youth Engaged in Leadership and Learning (YELL) is a youth community research and action project facilitated by the John Gardner Center. Through the research process, YELL prepares and supports students to become knowledgeable and active decisionmakers in their schools and communities. Based on the premise that youth have important insights into school and community improvement, YELL engages students in research design and implementation, analyses of findings from their collected data, and in utilization of those findings for recommendations and reports to decision making bodies. Skills youths develop in YELL include facilitation, public speaking, social science research methods, team work, advocacy, critical thinking, and listening to other points of
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view. The YELL curriculum is available to other programs on the Gardner Center website, at http://gardnercenter.stanford.edu/sharing_what_works/pubs_tools/handbook.html. YELL is currently in its fourth year of implementation at Kennedy Middle School in Redwood City, and its third year of implementation at McClymonds High School in West Oakland. With guidance and research assistance from the Gardner Center staff and community leaders, the YELL participants choose an issue to study that impacts their lives, learn to use a variety of research methods to investigate it, analyze their findings, and then develop plans for action and advocacy that address those concerns. For example, youth teams have focused on bullying, making bus passes more affordable, and creating better recreational hang out spaces for teens. The service provided by YELL participants is defined by the assets the youths bring to their schools and communities: their data gathering and analyses are reflected on and shared back with other stake holders. By providing their own ideas and opinions, and gathering the ideas and opinions of others, the YELL participants are serving their community. This type of service is a hub of YELL. In addition to research projects, YELL participants engage in team-building activities, personal reflection, checkins and discussions of events which are immediately relevant to them (i.e. a shooting death at the local community center over the weekend or a particular school policy that is relevant to their topics). Youth also attend trainings and events outside of regular sessions, including facilitation training, presentations of findings to local decision making bodies, workshop facilitation at conferences (i.e. Stressed Out Students conference at Stanford University, Why Teach conference at Canada Junior College, Taking Action conference in Sacramento, etc), climbing/ropes courses and other field trips. Students participating in the program receive stipends and other benefits. At Redwood City, 8th grade participants receive $50 per month for participation and High School mentors receive $120 per month. 7th grade participants receive free field trips including indoor rock climbing, ice skating, camping, and a local amusement park as incentives. In West Oakland, new participants receive $120 a month if they meet attendance and participation requirements. Second or third year participants receive $150 if they meet attendance, participation and other staff responsibilities. All students are eligible to participate in field trips and retreats. The Gardner Center documents the lessons learned through its programs, identifies promising practices, and conducts research that informs theory, practice and policy in community youth development on the local, regional and national levels. Initial findings highlight the critical lenses that middle school and high school students apply to their schools and communities. The opportunities afforded within the YELL project support youth in their decisions to take action against social injustices rather than remain critical and skeptical. In addition, the project demonstrates the crucial role of adults who create a space for youth to voice their knowledge and opinions and who do not hesitate to step back and allow the youth to make decisions and determine the direction of their work.
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Youth seem to be responsive to adults whose actions and reactions prove that they are genuinely listening to and integrating youths ideas. More information can be found on the Gardner Center website at http://gardnercenter.stanford.edu/research_projects/youth_dev.html. For more information, contact: Mary Hofstedt (Redwood City YELL) Hofstedt@stanford.edu (650) 569-3864 Yolanda Anyon (West Oakland YELL) Yanyon@stanford.edu (510) 879-8051

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Program location: The San Francisco Conservation Corps has 3 sites. YIA is housed at the Environment Community Outreach Center at 1050 S. Van Ness Ave., in San Francisco. Participants: In 2004, a diverse group of 64 youth ages 11-18 participated in the program. Demographic breakdown included 38% African American, 14% Asian American, and 42% Hispanic American. Participants included slightly more males than females. Junior Corpsmembers in Youth in Action are from low- to moderate-income families in San Franciscos challenged communities of the Mission, Bayview/Hunters Point, Potrero Hill, and Excelsior neighborhoods. The overwhelming majority of Youth in Actions population is growing up in either single parent families in which the parent works, or two parent families in which both parents work. Hours/days of operation: Spring-Fall: TuesWed-Thurs 4 to 6 pm; Sat 8:30 am to 4 pm; Summer: Tues-Wed-Thurs 10 am to 4 pm. Annual budget: Approximately $1,210,000. Funding sources: State and local public funds, foundations, and the National Gardening Association (in-kind tool supply and donations) Staffing: In addition to four professional staff with backgrounds in youth programs, media, and environmental education and planning, Youth in Action currently employs 12 adult Corpsmembers who act as crew leaders, with a staff to youth ratio of 1:4.

Youth In Action
San Francisco Conservation Corps Building 102 Fort Mason San Francisco, CA 94123 Phone: 415.928.7322 Fax: 415.928.7330 www.sfcc.org Created in 1989, the San Francisco Conservation Corps Youth in Action (YIA) program is an intensive academic support, community service, and environmental education program for San Francisco middle and high school students. Youth in Action goals are: 1. To increase children and youths' leadership skills, increase their knowledge of, attachment to, and identification with their community 2. To increase their academic accomplishment, especially their literacy and numeracy 3. In addition, this year (together with other programs of the San Francisco Conservation Corps), Youth in Action seeks to increase beverage container recycling by 5% over the prior fiscal year as well as 4. Provide recycling education to 6,000 people. The program provides participants with academic support and enrichment, and opportunities to engage in meaningful community service, while learning about the relevance of urban environmentalism. Simultaneously, through a challenging combination of classroom activities and hands-on work experience, participants develop basic job, social, and leadership skills, as well as an ethic of service that will help them succeed as students and active members of their community. Youth in Action runs two school-year sessions (fall and spring), and one summer session. During the school year sessions, participants attend after-school study labs Tuesday through Thursday and service-learning workshops and activities on Saturdays. In addition, participants conduct community service projects in one of three project areas: Conservation & Recycling, Media, and Leadership. During the summer session, participants conduct service-learning projects two days a week, and participate in enrichment classes the other two days. Youth in Action participants earn stipends or
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wages for their full participation in the program that communicates to them the value of their time and efforts. During the school year, Junior Corpsmembers may receive from $225-325 per session, and during the summer, high school aged (14-17) Junior Corpsmembers may receive $75/wk for each of 9 weeks. Middle school aged (11-13) Junior Corpsmembers may receive $45/wk for each of 9 weeks. The three distinct project areas within which YIA participants work in have unified goals, but the objectives and final outcomes vary based on project specific content, curricula, student interest and student ability. Nonetheless, all participants explore the theme of Environmental Stewardship through the lens of their project specific area. The chart below outlines these three areas.

Participants also receive academic support through the program, including attending an afterschool study lab, receiving feedback on their progress, participation in classes in Environmental Stewardship, Leadership, and Media Literacy, and workshops on topics such as course selection, high school choice, college preparation, and general study habits. To help support YIA participants in achieving their Action Plan goals, YIA Corpsmembers maintain frequent communication with parents/guardians, teachers, and school counselors through meetings, phone calls, parent/guardian conferences, and classroom observations. In addition to community service activities and academic support activities, YIA offers participants and their families access to information on citywide resources and services. Activities include referral to community resources, services and/or information to students and their families; group sessions on issues affecting the well being of youth including "high risk" factors violence, drugs

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and alcohol peer pressure, relationship issues, self-esteem and identity, life skills education and youth development; and parent meeting to provide parents information and support and programs available to families. A 2003 evaluation of Youth In Action conducted by the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth, and Families found that youth increased their knowledge of issues in the community and increased homework completion. Parents surveyed expressed high levels of satisfaction with the program. For more information, contact: Ann Cochrane, Executive Director acochrane@sfcc.org 415.928.7322 ext. 318

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Program location: 45 sites in 23 States and Canada Participants: A diverse group of 41,000 11 to 18 year olds participated in 2003 Hours/days of operation: The program operates during the school-year and summer; hours and days vary by site Key partners: Most common local sponsors are Volunteer Centers then YMCAs. Other sponsors include United Way, school district, Camp Fire USA, Boy Scouts, and Parks and Recreation Department. Annual budget: Local budgets vary from $7,000 in a small, rural community with a volunteer or part-time director to $130,000 in a bigger city with two full-time staff and 15 part-time Team Leaders. Funding sources: Funding is provided by foundations, corporations, individuals, United Ways, and local and federal government, including AmeriCorps. Three sites charge fees for the summer program and provide scholarships to those who ask. Staffing: Each site has one local director and a number of Team Leaders. Adult volunteers of all ages are involved in almost all local programs. AmeriCorps members serve in about 75% of US YVC programs. Volunteers and AmeriCorps members are recruited from varying backgrounds to mirror the Youth Volunteers themselves. Parents are involved in some sites as Team Leaders.

Youth Volunteer Corps (YVC)

National Office: 4600 West 51st Street, Suite 300 Shawnee Mission, KS 66205 Phone: 913-432-9822 Fax: 913-432-3313 www.yvca.org First launched in 1986, the cost-effective YVC model has since been established in communities nationwide and in Canada. The program has four goals: 1. To engage young people in service projects that are challenging, rewarding and educational. 2. To serve the unmet needs of the community and its residents. 3. To promote among young people a greater understanding and appreciation for the diversity of their community. 4. To promote a lifetime ethic of service among young people. Programs are sponsored locally by community-based organizations. While each local community's YVC program is tailored to meet unique community needs, the program consists of two fundamental components: Summer -- In the summer, young people volunteer on teams supervised by trained Team Leaders, who are generally of college age. Volunteers work on their projects full time Monday through Friday for two or four weeks at a time. The intensive design of the summer component reinforces teamwork skills, appreciation for diversity and civic responsibility. School year -- YVC Program Directors and staff work closely with teachers to design and implement age-appropriate service projects that tie school curriculum to community service. In addition, young people from throughout the community work together on service projects after school, on weekends and during school breaks. Through their service, YVC volunteers tutor elementary students, serve meals to homeless and low-income people, assist at child care programs and summer camps, engage in trail construction and restoration, lead activities with seniors, remove graffiti
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and paint murals, research and write youth service guides, create web pages on the internet for non-profit agencies, and guide children with disabilities on horseback rides. They may receive lunch and transportation services, and the program recognizes their service through nonmonetary rewards. All programs must meet YVC standards. These include: Recruit youth who represent the diversity of the program's community. Conduct supervised service projects that address important community needs. Provide leadership opportunities for Youth Volunteers. Establish an integrated education and reflection process for participants. Conduct an intensive summer component consisting of structured team projects. Conduct a school year component of frequent, diverse service projects. Provide no financial inducement for Youth Volunteer participation. Follow basic volunteer management practices. Hire a year-round Program Director responsible for managing and operating the program. Use the trademark Youth Volunteer Corps name and logo in close coordination with the name and logo of the sponsoring organization. Organize an Advisory Council within the first year of program operation. Participate in the program evaluation process.

The national office provides affiliates with on-site developmental and technical assistance, operating materials and evaluation guidelines. In addition, YVC offers local programs recruitment and promotional materials, conferences and training programs, publicity and recognition, network newsletters, and cost savings through bulk purchasing. An evaluation of 18 YVCA sites conducted in 2002 found that the program has positive impacts on youth: Volunteer service builds an ethic of service in the youth They internalize service as a part of who they are. Community service becomes a lifetime commitment. Youth who try out YVC end up considering service to be something that is part of their lives. The youth develop leadership skills, including being role models The youth develop cognitive and job skills The youth develop community awareness and a sense of community Their self esteem and sense of empowerment is enhanced They see that they are part of the solution and that they are making a difference David Battey dbattey@yvca.org 913-432-9822 x25
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For more information, contact:

Innovations in Civic Participation

Susan Stroud, Executive Director 1776 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Suite 201 Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202-775-0290 www.icicp.org