Youth Volunteer Corps

Written by: David Battey, Founder and President of Youth Volunteer Corps

When, at the age of 16, my mother informed me she had signed me up to do volunteer work for the summer, I wish I could say that I was excited for the opportunity to learn and grow and give back to the community that I loved. But the truth is, I was bummed.

My whole life shifted when I showed up for my first volunteer project. I met two young kids who I was assigned to mentor and who had no idea I wasn’t the coolest teenager in the Kansas City metropolitan area. They looked up to me and clearly valued my presence and input. That summer spent with those kids helped build my confidence and self-esteem, and when I was done it was clear to me I truly could have an impact on the world around me. I was hooked.

Because of that summer, after graduating from college, I founded Youth Volunteer Corps (YVC), and in the last 20 plus years, more than 240,000 youth have served nearly 4 million hours in communities across the U.S. and Canada.

Since 1987, YVC has grown to 50 affiliated programs across those two countries. Understanding that a young person’s first experience volunteering can determine whether they will ever volunteer again, we have fine-tuned the art of creating youth volunteer projects that are inspiring, educational, challenging, and fun. After the completion of our summer programs in 2010, we surveyed the hundreds of youth who participated, and 96 percent said they would volunteer again based on their experience serving with YVC.

Throughout all this growth, Michigan has remained one of the most important states for YVC. Although we’re based in Kansas City, YVC has more ties to Michigan than any other state. Here are just a few reasons why we love Michiganders:

· In 1990 the W.K. Kellogg Foundation awarded YVC a $1 million, four-year grant to expand the YVC model. This grant resulted in three new YVC affiliates in Michigan by 1991.

· We currently have five Michigan affiliates (Alpena, Ann Arbor, Muskegon, Plymouth, Eastern Upper Peninsula, Southwest Michigan – St. Joseph), which is more than any other state.

· In the past we’ve had as many as nine YVC sites in Michigan.

· One of our board members, a former YVC Program Director herself, is from Michigan.

We’re always looking to expand our model of youth service to more communities in Michigan and beyond. Here are the top three reasons to become a YVC affiliate:

1. Gives you access to a national network of established programs, professionals, and their collective experience and knowledge.
2. Offers a unique group-based, out-of-school time model for youth (ages 11-18) to serve their communities in a variety of ways.
3. Service-learning is a growing national trend and YVC is a pioneer, employing the concepts in a community based setting.

You never know how much you may change a teen’s life when you introduce them to service. For more information on YVC or how to become an affiliate, email me at dbattey@yvca.org.

You can also visit http://www.yvca.org/ for more information.

2011 Governor’s Service Awards: Honoring Michigan’s Volunteers

Written by: The Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

The Michigan Community Service Commission, in partnership with Governor Rick Snyder, is currently accepting nominations for the 2011 Governor’s Service Awards. These awards are given to individuals, organizations, and businesses that are committed to service and volunteerism in their communities. The categories accepting nominations are:

- Governor George Romney Lifetime Achievement Award

- Outstanding Volunteer Program Award

- Corporate Community Leader Award

- Outstanding National Service Program Award

- Mentor of the Year

- Senior Volunteer of the Year

- Volunteer of the Year

- Youth Volunteer of the Year

One important category the Learn and Serve – Michigan team would like to highlight is the Youth Volunteer of the Year Award. We believe volunteer service that begins at an early age is often carried forward throughout life. This category recognizes and celebrates the efforts of young people age 21 and younger who take action to make his or her community a better place. Nominees may be involved in many activities or give significant time to one particular cause.

A celebration will be hosted by Governor Rick Snyder to pay tribute to five finalists, including the winner, in each of the eight categories in October of 2011.

Nominations must be postmarked by Tuesday, July 26.

Do you know someone you would like to nominate? Visit the Michigan Community Service Commission’s website at www.michigan.gov/mcsc for the nomination form and additional information on the 2011 Governor’s Service Awards!

What are young people doing in your community? Be sure to comment and highlight the hard work of the young people in our state!

Kent ISD Promotes Project-Based Academic Service-Learning

Written by: Steve Dieleman, Kent Intermediate School District

The Kent Intermediate School District coordinates a Learn and Serve America Youth Engagement Zone initiative. The program is designed to improve student engagement, attendance, behavior, achievement, graduation rates, and college enrollment. The process is targeted in two communities in Kent County: Kelloggsville and Godfrey-Lee Public School Districts. The initiative is funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

All tools, projects, and curriculum developed through the initiative are available to at no-cost to educators throughout the state and nation. Online resources are provided for students, educators, and community organizations. Use the following link to access the web site:

http://kentisdservicelearning.com

The Kent County process assures integration of service-learning in the curriculum. The county-wide Curriculum Crafter includes Project-Based Learning. All service learning programs in the initiative meet standards for Project Based Learning and inclusion in the Curriculum Crafter. For more information, visit the links below:

http://curriculumcrafter.org

http://curriculumcrafter.org/content.aspx?page=ServiceLearning

Partners in the Youth Engagement Zone include Curriculum Crafter, Stoneshores Consulting, Grand Rapids Community College, Lowell Area Schools, and Wittenbach/Wege Agriscience & Environmental Education Center. Service learning projects in the Youth Engagement Zone are designed to address the three elements of sustainability: Economy, Environment, and Society.

See many photographs of our planning sessions on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/61424043@N08/

 

Grad Nation/Dropout Prevention

Written by: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

In March, The First Annual “Building A Grad Nation Summit” was held in Washington, DC. The event commemorated the launch of America’s Promise Alliance Grad Nation campaign. This partnership between America’s Promise Alliance, Civic Enterprises, and Johns Hopkins University’s Everyone Graduates Center released the Building A Grad Nation Report, and brought together hundreds of education stakeholders from across the country to discuss solutions to the high school dropout crisis in America.

According to the report, a student drops out of high school every 26 seconds. It is because of this statistic that America’s Promise Alliance launched a dropout prevention campaign in 2008 called “Building a Grad Nation.” The overall goal of this campaign is to reach a 90 percent graduation rate by 2020. In order to achieve this high benchmark, the report created several sub goals. For example, one goal is to increase the number of students reading at grade level by fifth grade. Another is to reduce chronic absenteeism by 2012, which is an indicator of high school dropouts. A recent study reported by education week (http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2011/04/the_disquieting_side_effect_of.html) supports this idea that dropouts can be identified early in students’ education by stating that “a student who can’t read on grade level by third grade is four times less likely to graduate by age 19 than a child who does read proficiently by that time.”

Building a Grad Nation is a newer initiative that builds on America’s Promise Alliance ongoing youth development work. America’s Promise Alliance was founded in 1997. Since then, they have introduced “The Five Promises,” developmental resources young people need for success. Ever since, they have continued to help communities create systems that allow youth to thrive. For example, one aspect of “The Five Promises” is the “Opportunities to Help Others” initiative. This promise is critical to youth service participation within the community. According to America’s Promise Alliance, young people gain a better sense of responsibility when provided with an opportunity to help others. Subsequently, one graduation rate indicator promoted by Grad Nation is youth participation in community service.

Recent research shows service-learning is a promising strategy for dropout prevention because of the skills and activities students learn during their projects. The Learn and Serve – Michigan program encourages its grantees to embrace these skills and activities, which include; creating a connection and establishing a relationship between school and work, gaining communication skills, and community engagement. Additionally, studies by RMC Research evaluations conducted in the 2009-2010 school year show students who attended schools with Learn and Serve – Michigan grants scored higher on measures of academic competence and school attachments than students who do not attend schools with these grants. Additionally, these students scored higher on the Michigan assessment of language arts, math, and science tests. This research may suggest classrooms in Michigan that engage youth in service-learning as a teaching method better prepare their students for success than those classrooms that do not use service-learning as a teaching method.

How do these concepts from America’s Promise Alliance, Building a Grad Nation, and research about service-learning as a dropout prevention strategy intersect? What can we continue to do here in Michigan to prevent students from dropping out of high school? Comment, and let us know what you think!

For more information on 26 seconds, visit http://www.26seconds.com.

For more information on service-learning as a dropout prevention strategy, visit the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse’s fact sheet: http://www.servicelearning.org/instant_info/fact_sheets/k-12_facts/dropout_prevention.

For more information on America’s Promise Alliance, visit http://www.americaspromise.org/.

Free Laundry Day Makes a Difference in Northern Michigan

Written by: Jessica Downing, Michigan Department of Human Services Youth Services AmeriCorps*VISTA

The Crawford and Otsego County MYOI (Michigan Youth Opportunities Initiative) is a youth group that consists of youth from Crawford and Otsego County that have been in foster care after their 14^th birthday, are between the ages of 14-21, and are YIT (Youth In Transition) eligible. The MYOI youth group is coordinated through the Crawford and Otsego Department of Human Services. The group meets monthly to discuss issues related to foster care and advocacy, and allows them to learn necessary life-skills to prepare them to transition successfully into adulthood and out of foster care. The group also plans projects that will engage the youth members by working within their community and giving back. The primary goal of the Crawford and Otsego County MYOI is to educate, engage, and prepare foster youth to make a successful transition into adulthood.

On April 16, 2011 the Crawford and Otsego County MYOI held the Free Laundry Day Project at Alpine Laundry and Dry Cleaning in Gaylord, Michigan. This project was in conjunction with the 2011 Global Youth Service Day (www.gysd.org). Prior to the event, the youth group was provided with information about the opportunity to obtain a Michigan GYSD mini-grant from the Michigan Community Service Commission and The LEAGUE Michigan to host a youth service project in their community. The youth group discussed community needs and decided to host a project in which they would cover the cost of laundry for individuals and families in need in Gaylord. The project goal of the Free Laundry Day was to help individuals and families obtain clean linens and clothing for their households and to attend school, work, and even job interviews.

The Crawford and Otsego County MYOI obtained donations of snacks, water, and other laundry care supplies for the event. The youth members that worked at the event also distributed and collected participant evaluations of the project so they could present the information to other organizations and community agencies to show the impact of the project, as well as allowing them to produce a final grant report. The youth members learned through this project that even the simplest things, such as having clean clothing each day, comes at a cost. They also learned that many individuals and families in Northern Michigan struggle to make ends meet, let alone cover the cost of obtaining clean clothing each week. This event allowed the youth group members to not only give back to the community through volunteer service, but also by connecting directly with fellow community members in need, learning about community needs and resources that are available, and about the essentials of doing laundry!