Learn and Serve - Michigan's Resource Blog

How is Service-Learning Sustainable at L’Anse Creuse Public Schools?

2011-11-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

Written by Ellen King, Learn and Serve AmeriCorps*VISTA

Recently I sat down with Julie Rickel, Community Service-Learning Director at L’Anse Creuse Public Schools to ask her how service-learning is sustainable in her school district. I even caught it on video! Be sure to watch it to learn how a former grantee (who started to receive funding in ’93!) has continued with service-learning.

Responses: Why Do You Do Service-Learning, Why Will You Continue To Do Service-Learning?

2011-11-02T09:00:00.000-04:00

This post features Sue Wilson, Academic Service Learning Coordinator at the Clarkston Community School District.

Why Do You Do Service-Learning?

Service learning is vitally important in Clarkston. It empowers our students, teachers, families, and community! All students are empowered because they get the opportunity to take the skills they are learning (no matter what level) in the classroom and use them in the real world. Students of all ages learn to collaborate, make decisions, and experience satisfaction in making a difference in their community. It's hard to see this type of learning from textbooks and worksheets! Teachers are empowered as they become a facilitator rather than the "keeper of all knowledge" when students take ownership in their service learning project. Families are empowered when they have opportunities to volunteer and/or share their expertise in their children's classrooms. And, finally, our community is empowered when its businesses, non-profits, government agencies, and schools are working together because it's the right thing to do.

Why Will You Continue To Do Service-Learning?

As an educator, service learning requires passion, organization, and a willingness to think "outside the box." Service learning is not a program that fades because Washington has decided to cut funding. It is our civic duty as parents and educators to continue to provide service learning experiences for our kids. If we don't, who will? Yes! We will continue to do service learning!

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If you are interested in seeing your response appear on our blog, follow this link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6SX3BPR and take our short survey to tell us why you do service-learning and why you will continue to do service-learning:

Sue Wilson can be reached at sawilson@clarkston.k12.mi.us for more information.

Education Northwest and MCSC Host Education Symposium

2011-10-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

Written by Nicky Martin, Education Northwest

For 45 years, Education Northwest has been working with schools, districts, and communities across the country on comprehensive, research-based solutions to the challenges they face. Staff at Education Northwest are dedicated to and passionate about learning. Through our work, we strive to create vibrant learning environments where all youth and adults can succeed. We work with teachers, administrators, policymakers, and communities to identify needs, evaluate programs, and develop new solutions. The breadth of our work—ranging from training teachers, to developing curriculum, to restructuring schools, to evaluating programs—allows us to take a comprehensive look at education and to bring wide-ranging expertise and creativity to our clients’ challenges.

Since 1998, Education Northwest has worked specifically to support national service programs and community- and school-based mentoring programs. In partnership with Bank Street College of Education, we administered the LEARNS project for more than a decade – providing training and technical assistance to national service programs working with schools to provide tutoring, mentoring and out-of-school time support to youth.

In October, we built on this experience to partner with the Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC) on The Symposium: National Service as a Strategy to Support Schools. This two-day event in Thompsonville brought together teams of practitioners to learn about evidence-based best practices in tutoring, out-of-school time and school readiness and to hear from successful program peers. Teams spent focused planning time translating best practice into site-specific strategies that will strengthen their programs and bolster their school partnerships. The MCSC will follow up the event with facilitated learning communities that will help to carry on the conversation post-event.

We at Education Northwest have a long history of collaboration with MCSC and were happy to have this latest opportunity! MSCS does terrific work supporting programs throughout the state and sharing knowledge and expertise across the larger national service community. It’s our hope that our event can be replicated in other states in support of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s continued focus on education as a priority area.

Michigan's Second Annual Disability and Inclusion Week: Spotlight on the Chautauqua Learn and Serve Charter School

2011-10-19T09:24:00.024-04:00

Written by the Learn and Serve – Michigan Team.

The Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC) is currently celebrating the second annual Disability/Inclusion week. The MCSC strongly believes in the importance of making service a part of the lives of individuals with disabilities not just in Michigan. Our Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA Ellen King was able to talk with the Director of the Chautauqua Learn and Serve Charter School, Cynthia McCauley in Panama City. Please read on to learn more about Cynthia and her program.

What has been your experience in engaging youth with disabilities in service-learning projects?

The service learning methodology-especially when it blends individuals of all abilities in service and learning for the greater good, has grown into a passion that is almost who I am. I see the world through the lens of service learning. As an example, one of our projects is serving food to the homeless and individuals with financial challenges. Students with challenges and older individuals with disabilities who have aged out of our Learn and Serve program learn a recipe, travel via public transit to a grocery store, purchase the ingredients, take it to the office-again, via public transit, all with the help of their non-disabled peers. But it occurred to me, how unfair this is to the homeless population, and I thought we must find a way for them to serve, too. So, the meal became a community meal where everyone was invited to join a crafts making session called "Community Pillars." The purpose of the session was to make items from discarded furniture to be sold for donations to support programs for homeless women and children. The power of the concept is so apparent in this project. Egos are being replenished. People are learning or re-learning work skills that they must have. Most important, all are feeling valued and know their lives have meaning. Our shared humanity is so energized by the process.

For more information about the Community Pillars project, click here: http://www.newsherald.com/articles/sbc-94537-homeless-making.html

How has service-learning impacted your students?

Individuals with disabilities have become empowered and independent beyond any one's belief. My daughter, Melissa, is a professor of educational psychology at Indiana University where she teaches special education topics. Since I have taught special education for forty years, she grew up knowing and working with my students. After I started the charter school to use only the service learning methodology, Melissa came to visit the school and said, "Mom, I don't know how to say this in a way that is not politically incorrect, but your students don't look "handicapped" anymore." I hadn't seen it until she said it. She was correct. Because our charter school is only for students with disabilities, our students are able to form true friendships with others who would otherwise never cross paths. My students have the power to make substantive, positive change in all facets of those involved-disabled to gifted-even in their appearance and the ways they carry themselves. This visible, external strength will help them later in life; they will have confidence to remain engaged in their communities and they will have the confidence to seek employment and convince an employer that they are an asset.

Do you have any good stories that would highlight successful service-learning projects with your students?

Our students teamed up with students from a high school in the area, Bay High School, to take a philosophy course overseen by Oxford University. Follow this link to a special video about the project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-0wRrP9Zu0

Introduction to the Second Annual Disability/Inclusion Week

2011-09-28T10:35:00.018-04:00

Written by: Ellen King, Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA

The Michigan Community Service Commission is so excited to announce that we will be celebrating the second annual Disability/Inclusion Week October 17-21, 2011. This week-long effort raises awareness about disability and inclusion to make service a part of the lives of individuals with disabilities. The Learn and Serve – Michigan team will be focusing this awareness on including individuals with disabilities in service-learning projects, and other youth service opportunities.

Throughout the week of October 17, we will connect you with countless disability/inclusion resources through Facebook (Learn and Serve – Michigan) and Twitter (@learnandservemi). You can also track the Michigan Community Service Commissions tweets all week with #inclusion. Be sure to check in everyday for inclusive classroom project examples and other service-learning and inclusion related resources!

Sign up to join us for our webinar on Wednesday, October 19^th at 3:30 as we discuss “Engaging Youth with Disabilities in Service.” This webinar will connect schools and youth serving organizations with valuable tools and resources to help serve and connect with those with disabilities. Attendees will also hear from a special education teacher who will highlight successful service projects. Registration is still available: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/900700242

Do you have any inclusive service or service-learning examples that you would like to share with us? Comment and we will be sure to highlight it during Disability and Inclusion Week!

September 11 National Day of Service

2011-09-07T09:36:00.006-04:00

Written by Chelsea Martin, Volunteer Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA

This month, people all across the country are taking part in September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance activities. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and national service coordinators like HandsOn Network are partnering with organizations like 911day.org, My Good Deed, as well as state and local organizations to help Americans serve, honor, and remember those who served or were lost in the tragedy.

The Michigan Community Service Commission has joined the growing national movement focused on supporting veterans and military families as part of their September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance efforts. With funds granted by HandsOn Network and the Points of Light Foundation, the MCSC is working to coordinate service projects across the state of Michigan between September 8 and September 12, 2011. Projects will incorporate an element of remembrance for the 9/11 tragedy and many will engage military members, veterans, or military families in projects. Partners like Michigan Habitat for Humanity, AmeriCorps State programs, and local volunteer centers are carrying out service projects like community garden clean-up and house builds in communities across the state.

If you’re interested in creating a September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance project, there is still plenty of time! Visit www.handsonnetwork.org for great project tool kits. To find listings of already existing service projects based on zip code, check out www.911day.org.

The September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance is a culmination of an effort originally launched in 2002 by 9/11 family members and support groups. It became officially recognized following the passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of April 2009.

Also, be sure to check out Michelle bama’s PSA on this National Day of Service: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC66p-cStSU&feature=channel_video_title

Responses: Why Do You Do Service-Learning, Why Will You Continue To Do Service-Learning?

2011-08-31T09:51:00.008-04:00

Recently, the Learn and Serve – Michigan Team developed a survey calling for responses on “Why Do You Do Service-Learning” and “Why Will You Continue To Do Service-Learning.” We will post the responses to these questions leading up to the 2011-2012 school year.

This post features Angelia Salas, Senior Program Officer at the Michigan Community Service Commission.

Why Do You Do Service-Learning?
Service-learning helps fulfill the human promise early in life. Each and every single human being on this planet has gifts to contribute and it seems important that we tap that potential as soon as possible. If we create that spark in the academic setting, the potential for learning is intensified.

Why Will You Continue To Do Service-Learning?
Good teachers have used service-learning in the classroom forever. It will remain an important way to reach students and meet academic and community needs. We created a movement over the last two decades. That won't end.

If you are interested in seeing your response appear on our blog, follow this link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6SX3BPR and take our short survey to tell us why you do service-learning and why you will continue to do service-learning.

Angelia Salas can be reached at salasa@michigan.gov .

Responses: Why Do You Do Service-Learning, Why Will You Continue To Do Service-Learning?

2011-08-17T09:58:00.010-04:00

Recently, the Learn and Serve – Michigan Team developed a survey calling for responses on “Why Do You Do Service-Learning” and “Why Will You Continue To Do Service-Learning.” We will post the responses to these questions leading up to the 2011-2012 school year.

This post features Maria Kimmel, a special education teacher at Belding Area Schools.

Why Do You Do Service-Learning?
Service-learning provides opportunities to help my students be involved in helping their community and achieving learning goals in a unique way. It gives them a chance to get out of the classroom and apply skills in real and meaningful ways. It gives my students, who have learning difficulties a way to shine and achieve while helping others in need.

Why Will You Continue To Do Service-Learning?
Service-learning Projects provide my students opportunities to work as a team to help others while meeting their own learning goals. It helps them be successful and gives them purpose, instead of seeing themselves as disabled, they view themselves as people who can help others in meaningful ways.

If you are interested in seeing your response appear on our blog, follow this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6SX3BPR and take our short survey to tell us why you do service-learning and why you will continue to do service-learning.

Maria Kimmel can be reached at kimmelm@bas-k12.org.

Social Media in Service-Learning

2011-08-03T16:49:00.001-04:00

Written by: Brad Lewis, (Program Officer for Learn and Serve America at the Corporation for National and Community Service)

Learn and Serve America (LSA), at the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) funded 10 Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) and six Institutions of Higher Education in 2008 to pilot the implementation of social media in service-learning programs.

Several years later, we learned some valuable lessons.

At the outset, CNCS recognized that with a small budget and a large country, we had to work through intermediaries to get things done. Therefore, this strategy was to test the use of the web as the ultimate vehicle to meet the masses. It had to do with reaching out to meet Americans where they were – on the web.

“93% of teens go online, as do 93% of young adults. Also, 74% of all adults go online. Further, nearly

three quarters (73%) of online teens and an equal number (72%) of young adults use social network sites.” (Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2010)

There was little adoption of these strategies in community-based agencies and schools, while institutions of higher education were a bit farther along.

“When we started, there was zero support for using social media. We have learned so much…. Now it is integrated into our communication strategy and is helping us connect across streams of service.” (Angelia Salas, Michigan Community Service Commission)

The funding seeded innovations in connecting tools such as blogging, Facebook, wikis and Twitter with service-learning work in order to increase youth engagement, community collaboration, and best practices for high-quality service-learning.

What does this mean for the field?

· Using social media tools, appropriately customized, supported by skilled workers who have adequate time, and combined with training modules, can boost civic engagement and strengthen the organizations that use this strategy.

· Developing new tools or platforms is difficult, slow, and full of unexpected challenges. Yet many people express the need for new tools and are critical of the existing ones. The development cycle in private industry involves failure and restarting or revising original plans, so that is to be expected.

· It is important to use social media strategically and for a purpose. The way to start is not to say, “Students use Facebook, so we’d better do something with it.” The starting point is to ask, “What do we want to achieve? What tools do we need to accomplish that goal?” Then: “Are social media tools among those we need?”

Our CBOs summed it by saying:

Social media presents many exciting opportunities for community organizations to communicate about and advance service-learning, even with the obvious start-up challenges being champions for new ways of doing business.

They also found unanticipated positive impacts. One grantee noted, “Our intention was to engage youth; the unanticipated impact was how excited adults were.”

Last words:

“Just don’t jump on a social media site because it looks cool. Really think about your goals, your purpose, and your audience, and if that site will do for you want you want.”
- Erica Ricker, Heartland Foundation

Trends to come:

Scanning the horizon, we see: (this came from our Higher Education folks)

· Very heavy use of social media by young Americans, and positive correlations between social media use and volunteering. Declines in young Americans’ use of earlier media, such as newspapers and television, as social media has revolutionized.

· The “other revolutions”: Social media and youth have been important themes in, for example, the Arab revolutions of 2010-11 and the Obama campaign of 2008.

· Evidence that important service and service-learning organizations are not well served by the tools that the market provides. (E.g., The Phoenix Project’s focus groups found universities dissatisfied with web tools for service-learning.)

· Technological change is rapid--consider the widespread growth of smart phones and tablets--yet important populations are still stuck with old technology. Schools may only have computers sold in 2001.

· There is no breakthrough technology, no “killer app,” for civic engagement or service-learning.

The list of CBO social media grantees and a description of their Web 2.0 projects can be found at the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse (NSLC) website: http://servicelearning.org.

Learn and Serve America Community-Based Organization Social Media Grantees/Lessons Learned document - http://www.servicelearning.org/2008-cbo-social-media-grantees

Learn and Serve America Higher Ed Social Media Grantees/Lessons Learned document - http://www.servicelearning.org/2008-he-social-media-grants

Weekend Survival Kits

2011-07-20T09:08:00.001-04:00

Written by: Kelly Hall & Leslie FitzWater, Mid Michigan Food Bank

Thirty percent of those served by the Mid Michigan Food Bank’s hunger-relief network are children. According to Feeding America, child hunger can impact a child’s growth physically, emotionally, and academically and make them more likely to suffer poverty as an adult. Feeding America also cites that 20.5 million children depend on free or reduced-price school meals to keep them from going hungry.

The Weekend Survival Kit program at the Mid Michigan Food Bank serves elementary school students who qualify for free or reduced lunch. Most of these children receive a majority of their food at school during the week which is why this program steps in to provide food for the weekends.

Every other Friday, volunteers bring in kits that contain two breakfasts, two lunches, three dinners, and two to three snacks to the schools for distribution. Last school year the program began by distributing Weekend Survival Kits to 250 kids in four different schools in mid-Michigan. Due to the word getting spread around about the program and an increase in economic need, there has been a significant increase in program participants. At the end of this year a little more than 1,600 kids in 33 different schools were receiving Weekend Survival Kits.

At the end of each year students are surveyed. As part of that survey they were perfectly able to articulate the benefits of the program and the effects hunger had on them.

When asked “How would this year have been different without the Weekend Survival Kit?” answers such as these were given: “I wouldn’t get as much energy”, “I wouldn’t be able to sleep as much”, “I wouldn’t be able to exercise”, and “We wouldn’t be able to pay attention, we would be drowsy.”

Frequently, community members ask whether the children really need the food with all the other programs available. The students that were surveyed succinctly described how important this food is: “If I didn’t take the food on Friday’s I wouldn’t have food for the weekend.”

“I wouldn’t be able to eat as much as I should be; I would only eat once a day.”

“[It would] be bad [if I didn’t get the kits] because we run out of food and have no money.”

“We don’t have money so I only have snacks, this gives me meals.”

And as one child simply said: “I would go hungry.”

For more information on the Mid Michigan Food Bank, visit http://www.midmichiganfoodbank.org/. Or watch the video below!

Call for Responses: Why I Do Service-Learning, Why I Will Continue to Do Service-Learning

2011-07-13T09:12:00.001-04:00

Written by: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

The Learn and Serve – Michigan team recently created a section for our blog called “Why I Do Service-Learning and Why I Will Continue To Do Service-Learning.”

We are asking service-learning experts, like you, to help tell the story of why our commitment to service-learning endures. Please click on the survey link below and fill out the form to share your response as to why you do service-learning and join others in support of service-learning in Michigan.

Your answers will appear on this blog, the Learn and Serve – Michigan’s Resources Blog in the future, in an effort to inspire people across the state to integrate service-learning into their school’s curriculum and to continue to participate in service-learning.

Please follow this link to tell us why you do service-learning, and why you will continue to do service-learning: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6SX3BPR

We look forward to receiving your responses!

Youth Volunteer Corps

2011-06-30T12:13:00.001-04:00

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:

Gives you access to a national network of established programs, professionals, and their collective experience and knowledge.
Offers a unique group-based, out-of-school time model for youth (ages 11-18) to serve their communities in a variety of ways.
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

2011-06-22T09:41:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-15T16:51:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-09T14:32:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-01T10:01:00.001-04:00

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!

NorthWest Initiative – Food Systems Project – Summer Garden Camp

2011-05-25T11:13:00.001-04:00

Written by: NorthWest Initiative

The Food Systems Project offers four summer camps free to the school communities each and every summer. Camp duration is three hours per day, three days a week, for three weeks. Campers learn a new healthy recipe each day in addition to testing fun flavors at the fruit smoothie station. Campers also care for the garden (weed and water), track plant growth, and are taught a new garden lesson each day. Exercise is also incorporated in our daily routine – be it relay races, bean races, yoga, aerobics, or simply playing hard at the playground.

Students also harvest produce from the school gardens to sell at a youth farm stand. The stand made more than $300 last year, and all excess produce was donated to low income senior apartments. This summer, the School Garden-Based Nutrition Education program plans to participate in the new Westside Farmer’s Market, with plans to donate excess produce to the Greater Lansing Food Bank to distribute to low-income families.

The goal of our program is to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. Last year we saw a 46 percent increase in vegetable consumption and a 17 percent increase in fruit consumption according to pre and post parent surveys. Food Systems Project feels our “seed to plate” format to be the main contributor to our success; as students will eat what they worked hard to grow.

Staffing and food sampling costs are provided by the Michigan Nutrition Network. All garden costs are paid via community and partner donations.

If you would like to learn more about the Food Systems Project School Garden-Based Nutrition Education Program; contact Joy Baldwin at (517) 999-2894; joy@nwlansing.org; or visit www.nwlansing.org/fspschoolgardens.html.

STEM and Service-Learning

2011-05-19T11:31:00.001-04:00

Written by: Bob Seidel & Kate Shatzkin from the National Summer Learning Association

Studies estimate that nearly 80 percent of future careers will require awareness of and facility with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). But American students are behind their peers in other countries in these subjects, and afterschool and summer learning programs are striving to be part of the solution. Because they do not face all of the constraints of the regular school day and year, afterschool and summer learning programs often have greater flexibility to allow students to learn through practical activities in their communities, including service-learning projects.

The National Summer Learning Association, the Afterschool Alliance, and the National AfterSchool Association have joined forces to make 2011 the “Year of Science” for afterschool and summer learning programs. Our goal is both to communicate the benefits of the unique settings and hands-on projects these programs can provide to spark students’ interest in STEM subjects, and to help equip the field with the resources it needs to fully engage youth beyond the school day.

Many summer and afterschool programs already play a major role in engaging students in STEM through hands-on, project-based learning that complements traditional school day learning. STEM is really about the ability to understand our world, about problem-solving, about inventing something new. Summer programs can take advantage of exciting natural laboratories, whether it’s a bay where students can test water quality or a community garden where students can organize neighbors while studying plant genetics.

Increasingly, summer and afterschool STEM learning are seen not just as a nice add-on, but a critical component in development of these skills for American youth. In a recent article in American Scientist magazine (http://caise.insci.org/uploads/docs/FalkandDierking95perc.pdf), Oregon State University researchers John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking wrote that “an ever-growing body of evidence demonstrates that most science is learned outside of school.” The researchers also noted that a 2009 report on informal science learning environments by the National Research Council found that “not only do free-choice science learning experiences jump-start a child’s long-term interest in science topics, they also can significantly improve science understanding among populations typically underrepresented in science.”

To harness their full potential to contribute to the STEM learning movement, though, those who run afterschool and summer learning programs say they need not just training and money, but mentors who can show young people what science and math will allow them to do in life. Engaging older students and adults as STEM mentors, during both the school year and the summer, is another exciting way to link the movements promoting high-quality service-learning and out-of-school-time learning.

For more information, visit the websites of the Afterschool Alliance (www.afterschoolalliance.org), the National AfterSchool Association (www.naaweb.org), and the National Summer Learning Association (www.summerlearning.org).

Bob is policy director of the National Summer Learning Association and a member of the Service-Learning United leadership team. Kate is marketing and communications director of the National Summer Learning Association. For more information, contact Bob at bseidel@summerlearning.org.

Service Learning: A Civic Education

2011-05-11T09:16:00.001-04:00

Written by: Jaymes Pyne, Assistant Director in the Community Outreach Office at Grand Valley State University’s College of Education

Last week I attended a Learn and Serve - Michigan Service Learning Sustainability Symposium with some colleagues. The Symposium was intended for K-12 educators and service learning coordinators, but I was ecstatic to go as a representative from higher education because there was so much great information getting spread around!

Besides, my colleagues and I thought collaborating with teachers in the trenches would also help inform our work with teachers on environmental service learning though the Groundswell initiative and various College of Education service-learning initiatives.

Facilitating the symposium were Traci and Matt from KIDS Consortium, a Maine-based organization promoting an award-winning model for service learning education. Over the course of two full workshop days, Matt and Traci worked with school district teams to develop action plans for educating others in their district and sustaining a service learning program for years to come. The diversity and knowledge coming from these districts is impressive, to say the least, and I witnessed the beginnings of some fantastic models for institutionalized service learning.

But I want to take this time to share all the wonderful resources that KIDS Consortium has to offer. Through games and organized guides, KIDS makes it easy for professionals new to service learning to get the basic principles:

The What Is It? Game – I find that the greatest challenge when working with college students and education professionals new to service learning is just agreeing on what service learning is! So many times there is a misconception that community service and service learning are synonymous. Not so! The What Is It? Game provides specific scenarios of students doing either community-based service, community service, or service learning, and asks the participants to place each scenario into one of those three definitions. Through this process, participants get to process these fundamentally different service experiences and get to the heart of what service learning actually is.

Working with KIDS - Sometimes all you need is a simple walkthrough of the steps of service learning. This textbook offers a well-organized and comprehensive strategy for planning and implementing service learning with a class of students. It covers the process of service learning and provides examples of great projects, how to work together with students on planning and implementing a youth-driven project, and how to sustain project partnerships with community organizations.

Free Project resources - Take some time to see what KIDS has on their website, whether you're starting from the perspective of service or content area.

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Better yet, if you have the chance to attend a KIDS event, do it! You will not be sorry. I should insert here that I have no affiliation whatsoever with KIDS Consortium; I just love their stuff!

As a final note, it must be stated that Learn & Serve knows how to put on a symposium. We spent the 2 1/2 days at the beautiful Shanty Creek Resort, where there was even one night of snow tubing. Yes, you should have seen the operators' faces as an army of wool jackets and dress shoes marched up the hill on a blustery 12 degree winter evening, racing down the hill in tubes without a second thought! The picture below is of myself (middle) and two of my colleagues who also attended the symposium.

This blog was originally posted at http://colleaguesplus.com/. To view more blogs written by Jaymes Pyne, click here: http://colleaguesplus.com/blogs/pyne.

“We’re Making the Change, What About You?”

2011-05-06T09:00:00.001-04:00

Have you recently visited the Michigan Community Service Commission’s YouTube Channel? Find out how members of the 2010-2011 Service-Learning Youth Council (SLYC) are “Making the Change” in their communities.

Visit http://www.youtube.com/mcsconline to see more videos from our Service-Learning Youth Council members.

The Youth Senate Expands its Philanthropic Efforts for the Impoverished

2011-05-04T09:39:00.001-04:00

Written by: Members of the Youth Senate, a Program of the Youth Empowerment Project at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor

Over the last five years, the Youth Senate has focused on raising awareness in their schools and communities about global poverty issues. The Fight Poverty in Africa Project is the primary example of their efforts.

This year, the Action Senate at Pioneer High School has decided to interface their prior work from the Africa Project with an in-depth look at local poverty, particularly how it effects youth and the rates of homelessness. Pioneer students are preparing to give an interactive classroom presentation on the impact of poverty on the people in our local community. Huron is continuing to use the Africa Project framework to increase awareness of youth in poverty among African nations and will do similar classroom presentations.

The students believe in a form of grassroots campaigning that is more effective than simply broadcasting a message across the P.A. They believe that by going from class to class, although this is tedious, they will be able to most effectively convey the message and urgency of the fight against local poverty. This is because the level of interaction that comes out of an in-class presentation is far greater because the presenters and audience are peers. The presenters are there to answer questions, to explain confusing details, or to simply show the audience that they themselves have dedicated this time and effort to an important cause. For these reasons, the in-class presentations have always been a tradition of the Youth Action Senate’s fight against poverty campaigns.

Pioneer students this year have decided to shift the focus from Africa to Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County because they believe students will be able to relate easier to things that happen close to their homes, as opposed to a continent on the other side of the world. Furthermore, the majority of the high school population is presumably unaware of the severity of the poverty issue in the greater Ann Arbor area. The Youth Action Senate at Pioneer believes students will be able to make a more effective contribution to solving these problems if they are more educated and informed about them in both local and global terms.

In order to best serve the needs of the community, it is necessary to get a first-hand look at poverty and how others around the city are helping to fight it. The students are now also using the Youth Action Senate to organize volunteer opportunities for themselves. They have already spent the past two Saturdays remodeling homes with the Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley and will help distribute food and winter clothing to the homeless each Friday night. Volunteering events are being set up and listed on our homepage at www.youthempowerment.com. All students are welcome to sign up for any volunteer opportunities they are interested in.

For more information about the Youth Empowerment Project, click here: http://www.youthempowerment.com/

Beyond Learn and Serve Funding: How can we help you maintain Service-Learning momentum in Michigan?

2011-04-28T09:34:00.001-04:00

Written by: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

In a post from March 2, 2011, we wrote a blog entitled “Why National Service Funding is Important.” This blog post explained H.R. 1, legislation that would make deep cuts in government spending for Fiscal Year 2011, and how it would affect the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). In early April, congress announced the actual $38 billion in cuts that would be enacted for Fiscal Year 2011. CNCS had to reduce its budget by $74.6 million for Fiscal Year 2011. This cut included a $40 million in reduction of Learn and Serve America funding; a deal that eliminated Learn and Serve America funding entirely.

What is the impact of loss of Learn and Serve of America funding in Michigan?

The immediate result of this cut is that the Michigan Community Service Commission, in partnership with the Michigan Department of Education, will not be able to grant nearly half a million dollars in federal funds for its Learn and Serve – Michigan school-based programs like it did in 2010-2011. More than 2,500 teachers and 50,000 students will have fewer resources with which they can meaningfully engage in their community and classroom. Sadly, the infrastructure for service-learning across this country will be compromised.

It isn’t all bad news in Michigan. Across this state there are programs that began with Learn and Serve funds that now have service-learning integrated into the culture and habits of the schools. Through deliberate sustainability planning we’ve worked together to put into place a teaching practice that is so much more than a program. Teachers use service-learning in the classroom because they know it engages students. Community agencies partner with students not just because of the benefits for the students but because they know the partnership is an investment in the civic health of their community. School administrators support the practice because they know it works. In thousands of classrooms across Michigan, service-learning lives and breathes and will be in place well beyond the loss of this federal funding.

The Michigan Community Service Commission remains committed to the growth of service-learning. Meaningful youth engagement is central to our work and to the vitality of our state. While the resources available will be different, we want to work with you to create the next iteration of service-learning. Here is our question to you:

What can we do to help you sustain service-learning without this funding? What are the critical elements of the program that we need to sustain? How can we work together to maintain our momentum in the field? We need your help. We encourage you to comment and respond, as we would love to hear any feedback that you can provide!

For more information on Learn and Serve – Michigan, click here.

Please contact salasa@michigan.gov if you have any questions about Learn and Serve – Michigan.

Michigan 2011 GYSD Projects & Efforts

2011-04-14T12:45:00.001-04:00

Written by: Ellen King, Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA

Global Youth Service Day officially starts this Friday, April 15 and many projects are planned across the state.

The Michigan Community Service Commission, The LEAGUE Michigan, and Youth Service America distributed $11,000 in mini-grant funds to support 2011 Global Youth Service Day projects across the state this April. Thirty-five organizations from across Michigan were selected through a peer review process to receive funds to coordinate service projects that address education, economic opportunity, supporting veterans and military families, health, clean energy and environmental stewardship, disaster preparedness, and public safety.

I helped coordinate the mini-grant review process, and I want to emphasize the importance we placed on incorporating youth voice in both the application and review process. One of the requirements of the mini-grant was that it must have been written by a youth who planned to participate in the planning and implementation of the project. We also wanted to ensure that because the mini-grants were written by youth, the mini-grant recipients would be youth chosen and reviewed.

I realized throughout this process that Global Youth Service Day really is all about mobilizing youth to improve their communities each day. Even though my year of service started in late November 2010, I have already seen the benefits of youth voice, and youth service participation first hand. Each time I started reading a new mini-grant application I became excited and truly inspired by today’s youth, and the value they will be giving to their communities. I look forward to serving alongside many youth in the coming weeks because each time I do, I feel like they are giving me more than I am giving them.

Below is a description highlighting some of our mini-grant recipient’s projects:

Two Service-Learning Youth Council (SLYC) members are coordinating a clean-up day at their local ski area, Hickory Hills, in Traverse City. Volunteers from both high schools in the area will repaint and clean the lodge, repair tow rope shacks, and collect garbage. This project is tentatively set for the week of April 18.

In Lansing, the Allen Neighborhood Center, in collaboration with the Power of We, The Boys and Girls Club of Lansing, The Garden Project, and NorthWest Initiative will construct two “Really Raised” Garden Beds. This project will be held on April 16, and volunteers will construct two accessible raised garden beds to accommodate those who are differently-abled at Hunter Park Garden House.

Calumet High School students, a Learn and Serve Michigan grantee district, will work to improve the Copper Country Artists Association’s gallery space as well as connect with senior artists from the Association. The students will compile a book of interviews, photographs, and art work during the week of April 11, which they will donate to the Calumet Public Library. Calumet is located in the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula.

Youth members of College Prep International in Detroit will provide a workshop on financial aid and financial literacy for college bound students. This workshop is targeted for high school students in Southwest Detroit on Saturday, April 16.

Also on Saturday, April 16, HandsOn Battle Creek – in collaboration with the LEAGUE Michigan, Food Bank of South Central Michigan, and several community school clubs – will host a Fresh Food Initiative to get food into low-income neighborhoods. Students will separate fruits and vegetables into bags to be divided among families in the area.

So far, more than 85 projects have been registered in Michigan on the official Global Youth Service Day Project Map, www.gysd.org. The project map features projects that could be in your area, along with contact information. Check it out and join one of the many projects happening across the state! And don’t forget to register your Global Youth Service Day project at www.gysd.org and by clicking on register in the toolbar at the top.

For more information about the specific mini-grant funded projects, visit http://www.michigan.gov/mcsc/0,1607,7-137-6118_11733-253407--,00.html.

Youth Service: A Panel Perspective

2011-04-06T09:30:00.001-04:00

Written by: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

The Michigan Community Service Commission has a strong commitment to youth service in the state and works hard to propel the efforts of young people and their impact on a larger scale. For many years they've benefitted from youth commissioners serving on their board in an effort to capture the voice of Michigan's young people.
Three of those individuals; two current MCSC youth commissioners and one former youth commissioner, recently sat down together to discuss their commitment to service and the impact it's had on them and others. Please read on to learn more about Ella Kate Wagner, Breannah Alexander, and Kari Pardoe - three leaders in Michigan's youth service movement.

Please introduce yourselves and explain your current involvement with the Michigan Community Service Commission.

- Ella Kate Wagner: This is my first year as a commissioner, but I've worked with the MCSC a lot. I was on the Service Learning Youth Council for five years. I am currently a freshman at Michigan State University studying elementary education.
- Kari Pardoe: I was a commissioner with the MCSC for nine years, starting my freshman year of college and I stayed on after that. I currently work at the Michigan Nonprofit Association as the Director of The LEAGUE Michigan.
- Breannah Alexander: This is the first year of my second term with the MCSC. My first term as a commissioner started in 2007. I'm currently a senior at Grand Valley State University studying public administration and criminal justice.

Why is youth service so important to you?

- Kari: For me, it's important for a couple of reasons. I wouldn't be where I am today without it. As a young person I thought I wanted to go into business and then I got really involved in the youth service movement - from grantmaking to philanthropy - and it totally changed and shaped me into who I am today. As a result, I changed my major in college and totally reevaluated what I wanted to do. Because of my experience, I want to provide those same opportunities to youth throughout the state of Michigan to help them get a taste for what [service] is and how they can integrate it into their lives and continue participating into adulthood.
- Breannah: The idea of youth service is important to me because I come from a family of public servants. My dad was a firefighter and my mom was a nurse, so of course the idea of helping someone else was important. Too often, your community doesn't succeed without its citizens helping those who can't help themselves. Youth service became a special issue for me when I joined the Youth Advisory Council (YAC), which is affiliated with community foundations that grant-makes to the community for youth-driven programs, but also does direct service as well. Prior to that I had never considered what an impact service has on a community until I realized what a group of 20 people could do as a collective unit to have a lasting impact.

How valuable do you believe service will be in the coming years?

- Kari: I think service is going to be invaluable to Michigan, especially as we try to move through these trying times we have and know will continue to have. Service and volunteerism are vital and crucial to the success and turnaround. We need to realize that Michigan is our home and we all need to give back in some way. More young people must get involved to be life-long leaders in this field so our nonprofits and foundations will continue to succeed.
- Breannah: I definitely agree that service will be crucial for Michigan. The engagement piece of young people is so important as our generations get older we'll need new people to pick up where they left off.
- Ella Kate: As time progresses and with budget cuts, Michigan is in some tough times right now - as a result, service will grow. I encourage everyone to get out there and serve with the nonprofits. I work with nonprofits in Lansing that are dying because they just don't have the people to help them get things done - and all they need are volunteers!

To continue reading this transcript, please visit the MCSC’s website: http://www.michigan.gov/mcsc/0,1607,7-137-6113-253421--,00.html

Michigan’s AmeriCorps LeaderCorps and What it means for national service

2011-03-30T09:26:00.001-04:00

Written by Kathleen Egan, Cross-Stream/Inclusion AmeriCorps*VISTA

Hello Learn and Serve Blog readers! My name is Kathleen Egan and I am the current Cross-Stream/Inclusion AmeriCorps*VISTA serving with the Michigan Community Service Commission. During my term of service, I am helping to support and facilitate collaboration between the three “streams” of national service, including AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve, and Senior Corps. I am also doing outreach to various organizations and groups to promote service as an opportunity for people with disabilities. The disability community is a talented, diverse, and largely untapped pool of volunteers that can use service as a way to build skills and explore career opportunities.

I can easily fill this blog up with any number of cross-stream and inclusion initiatives and stories (and maybe I will at a later date!), but today I’d like to focus on telling you about the Michigan’s AmeriCorps LeaderCorps. I am the AmeriCorps*VISTA representative on LeaderCorps and serve as the chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Team.

LeaderCorps is made up of one representative from each of the Michigan’s AmeriCorps*State programs, as well as representatives from AmeriCorps*VISTA and AmeriCorps*National programs. LeaderCorps members meet in person a few times each year and participate in monthly conference calls. LeaderCorps members serve as liaisons between their individual programs and the Michigan Community Service Commission. Each member is required to do two outreach presentations about AmeriCorps, a service project that engages the disability community, and assist with the coordination of AmeriCorps Week (May 14-21) activities in their communities. Members are also charged with promoting and participating in national days of service such as National Volunteer Week, Global Youth Service Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, and Make a Difference Day.

All LeaderCorps members serve on one of three Leadership Teams: Outreach, Diversity and Inclusion, or Alumni and Citizenship Engagement (also known as A.C.E). Each team creates their own goals and works toward promoting AmeriCorps to the general public, and keeping current and past AmeriCorps members connected to their communities and one another.

Each Leadership Team has a number of exciting things going on, but I’ll just share some of the highlights. The Diversity and Inclusion team is gathering photos and stories of service that demonstrate the impact of AmeriCorps members and programs on Michigan communities. These stories will be featured in a print and online publication that will be distributed during this year’s AmeriCorps Week.

The A.C.E team has created a Michigan’s AmeriCorps Alumni Facebook page to keep alumni connected with current news and events, as well as information about upcoming service projects in their communities.

The Outreach team is designing the second Michigan’s AmeriCorps newsletter, which is shared with members, alums, program sites, and friends of AmeriCorps. You can check out their first newsletter, which provides an overview of all Michigan’s AmeriCorps programs at http://michigan.gov/documents/mcsc/Winter_2011_LeaderCorps_Newsletter_347342_7.pdf.

Each member is also responsible for posting to the Michigan’s AmeriCorps LeaderCorps Blog. This is a great way to hear about what’s going on throughout the state from a variety of programs. I encourage you to follow or check in on the blog from time to time at http://miacleadercorps.blogspot.com/, and enjoy the inspiring stories members have to share.

Michigan’s AmeriCorps LeaderCorps is a team of 26 members committed to spreading the word about national service and making their communities stronger. Now I ask of you: how can we adapt this to service-learning in Michigan? At the Service-Learning Sustainability Symposium in February, the idea of a group that supports and encourages Learn and Serve schools and teachers was introduced. Do you believe this model is adaptable for this? Or perhaps it could be re-tooled for your own leadership team at your program?

Toot Your Horn!

2011-03-24T16:29:00.001-04:00

Written by: Sue Wilson, a former Learn and Serve – Michigan grantee, and current District Academic Service-Learning Coordinator at Clarkston Community Schools

On February 25, I had the privilege of meeting with Tony Baltimore and Stuart Pigler, staff from U.S. Representative Mike Rogers’ office, along with Michigan representatives from VISTA, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve programs. We were there with the goal of informing Representative Rogers about the important work that is going on in our state as a direct result of the VISTA, AmeriCorps and Learn & Serve programs. As a Learn and Serve alumni, I know first-hand what a difference service-learning has made in my classroom, as well as our district. Trained teachers are passionate about integrating curriculum and service because they know the importance of creating opportunities for students to be involved in their own community. Students and staff are empowered, needs are met, and the community knows that our school district cares.

I'm a firm believer in the following quote:

"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all." – Aesop

As a result of our meeting in Lansing, we walked away with the understanding that our role in the national service family is to make sure our community, local government, and representatives in Washington need to be aware of what we're doing. It's out of our nature to "toot our own horns" -- however, if we don't toot, no one will know the great things going on in our communities.

So, call your newspapers and local TV stations and tell them the great things that are going on in your VISTA, AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, and Learn & Serve programs!

Learn and Serve – Michigan would love to hear the great things going on in your programs too! Please leave us a comment, and be sure to “toot your horn!”

Creating a 2011 Global Youth Service Day Project

2011-03-16T13:28:00.001-04:00

Written by: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

Global Youth Service Day is a campaign that celebrates and mobilizes millions of children and youth to contribute to their communities every day of the year through service and service-learning. These efforts are especially ramped up this April 15, 16, and 17 – the 2011 Global Youth Service Day, or GYSD.

The Michigan Community Service Commission and Learn and Serve – Michigan are proud to serve as the 2011 GYSD Lead Agency in our state, which means we assist in the coordination of projects and get individuals and organizations connected to valuable resources.
Are you interested in creating a 2011 GYSD project? There’s still plenty of time to do so! Check out the simple five steps below to help you out:

1. Investigation
Identify a local, national, or global need you would like to address. Use a variety of sources to research the need and identify community partners. What are some things you’re very good at that you could use as part of the project? What are some skills your friends or family could bring to the table as well?

2. Preparation & Planning
Develop a strategy for change and a common vision for success. Determine what you will do and then create a timeline, assign responsibilities, develop a budget and an outreach plan, and find a project location. Include your community partners in this process.
Once you’ve finished planning your project, post it online at www.gysd.org. At this website you can also mention whether your project is open to volunteers in your community.

3. Action
Now it’s time to actually conduct the project! Does everyone know where to go and what task to do? Make sure someone is ready to answer any questions from volunteers, the community, elected officials, special guests, or local media. Document your action by taking photos, videos, and notes.

4. Reflection
Include reflection before, during, and after your project. Reflection helps you understand why you are providing the service, what differences you are making, and what you are learning along the way.

5. Demonstration/Celebration
Share what you have done and what you have learned from the experience by teaching others. Draft a report for the community, present your results, write letters to public officials, or send out a newsletter to parents and/or peers. Host a volunteer and partner awards ceremony that recognizes the contributions each person brought to the project.

This information was provided by Youth Service America.

Doesn’t it seem easy to get involved in the 2011 Global Youth Service Day? And even if you can’t plan your own project, it’s easy to get connected to pre-existing opportunities by visiting www.gysd.org and conducting a search.

Join Michigan’s efforts to engage youth in changing the world – volunteer on Global Youth Service Day!

Learn and Serve America Serving Us All

2011-03-09T15:35:00.001-05:00

Written by: Matt Robinson, Education Consultant with KIDS Consortium in Maine

During the last week Learn and Serve America grantees in Michigan and Maine have independently done some incredible work that I have witnessed. Let me tell you a bit about what the dedicated and talented people working on behalf of our youth are doing to make learning an engaging and meaningful experience serving students and their communities.

In Lincoln, Maine, on February 16th and 17th leadership teams of LSA grantees RSU #67 (Lincoln, Chester, and Mattawamkeag) and RSU #34 (Alton, Bradley, and Old Town) met to design assessment tools to help support the continuous improvement of quality service-learning. The ink on the first drafts isn’t dry yet, but already the potential for these tools to help teachers, students, and community partners to have more, clearer, and better results is exciting.

In a February 17th press release two other Maine school districts received Learn and Serve America grants. The Sanford School Department and MSAD #17 (the Oxford Hills School District) have been awarded LSA grants by the Maine Commission for Community Service, the agency responsible for managing LSA funds and supporting Maine LSA grantees.

In Bellaire, Michigan, on February 9th and 10th, planning teams from all over Michigan attended the 2011 Service-Learning Sustainability Symposium with Learn and Serve-Michigan to develop action plans that will support the sustainability of service-learning as a teaching methodology. The enthusiasm and thoughtfulness displayed by the teams was inspiring. For a more detailed description of the goals and the thinking behind what it takes to sustain service-learning visit http://learnandservemi.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-it-takes-to-sustain-service.html.

The common thread, in addition to their Learn and Serve America affiliation, is the commitment of federal and state agencies in concert with local educators and administrators to doing thoughtful work to support service-learning. Through these collaborations, service-learning becomes sustained learning that transforms communities.

Learn and Serve America is a program for the Corporation for National and Community Service that supports K-12 service-learning throughout the country. You can learn more at http://www.learnandserve.gov.

NOTE: This blog originally appeared on Volunteer Maine’s Blog. You can find it here: http://www.volunteermaine.org/blog/learn-and-serve-america-serving-us-all%29. Thanks for letting us repost it!

Why National Service Funding is Important

2011-03-02T08:58:00.001-05:00

On February 19, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1, legislation that would make deep cuts in government spending for the rest of the fiscal year. The measure - which eliminates the Corporation for National and Community Service and its programs - passed 235-189. The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is a federal agency that provides funding for Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America. The current Continuing Resolution that provides funding for programs such as the CNCS ends Friday, March 4. However, the House Appropriations Committee revealed late on Friday, February 25 an extension that would allow most programs to continue to operate at FY 2010 levels through March 18. This excludes $4 billion of cuts and terminations to programs. The CNCS was not among the programs cut at this time. Below are three programs supported by the CNCS and the impact it would have on Michigan if eliminated.

1) Eliminating Senior Corps: The Impact in Michigan
Senior Corps engages Americans age 55 and over to meet a wide range of community challenges through three programs - RSVP, Foster Grandparents, and the Senior Companion program. Without funding made available through the CNCS for Senior Corps, more than 11,000 people would be left without an opportunity to support their communities as Foster Grandparents, RSVP volunteers, or senior companions in Michigan. Senior Corps programs address issues made possible by the funding and if these funds were to be cut, many of these issues would not be able to be addressed. These issues include: more than 2,600 homebound seniors and other adults would not receive companionship to help maintain independence in their own homes, more than 6,100 young people with special needs would not have Foster Grandparents to serve as one-on-one tutors, and more than three million hours of service would not be conducted in communities. Overall, more than 2,000 Michigan organizations would be affected by the elimination of Senior Corps funding. For more information on the impact of eliminating Senior Corps in Michigan, click here: http://www.mnaonline.org/CMDocs/MNA/Public%20Policy/Eliminating%20Senior%20Corps%20-%20The%20Impact%20in%20Michigan.pdf.

2) Eliminating AmeriCorps: The Impact in Michigan
AmeriCorps is a national service program designed to strengthen citizenship and the ethic of service by engaging thousands of Americans on a full-time or part-time basis to help communities to address their toughest challenges. Without AmeriCorps in Michigan, more than 2,000 individuals would be forced to seek alternative forms of employment. Many of these AmeriCorps members serve to address issues because of the funding made possible from the CNCS that would be eliminated as a result of the budget cuts. The impact of losing the funding on these issues include: losing literacy and academic support that is provided for more than 8,418 children and youth, losing foreclosure prevention assistance for more than 5,372 individuals, and lack of disaster relief services for 4,245 individuals after large and small scale disasters in their communities. Above all, 350 Michigan organizations representing 83 counties in the state would be affected by this elimination. For more information on the impact of eliminating AmeriCorps in Michigan, click here: http://www.mnaonline.org/CMDocs/MNA/Public%20Policy/Eliminating%20AmeriCorps%20-%20The%20Impact%20in%20Michigan.pdf.

3) Eliminating Learn and Serve: The Impact in Michigan
Service-learning is a teaching and learning approach that connects meaningful community service to the curriculum. Without these resources in Michigan, K-12 schools in 21 counties across the state would lose their resources to service-learning, and more than 2,500 teachers would not be able to engage 50,000 students in service-learning activities this year. Without these programs, students would lose programs that encourage a life long commitment to civic engagement, improve student motivation for academic achievement, and builds critical thinking and communication skills. For more information on the impact of eliminating learn and serve funds in the state of Michigan, click here: http://www.mnaonline.org/CMDocs/MNA/Public%20Policy/Eliminating%20Learn%20and%20Serve%20-%20The%20Impact%20in%20Michigan.pdf.

For more information on the impact of the elimination of national service funding, check out Michigan Nonprofit Association’s call to action at: http://www.mnaonline.org/servicefunding.aspx.

Meet Danielle, Another Member of the Michigan Community Service Commission’s Service-Learning Youth Council

2011-02-17T09:43:00.001-05:00

Hey, my name is Danielle!

At the beginning of this year my eleventh grade class started a community garden. It was in partnership with the special education class. When we first started I thought; “Why are we doing this?” and “This is so lame!” But then we planted all kinds of fruits and vegetables in the garden.

When all of the vegetables were grown, my class and I made all different kinds of pasta sauce with the help of kids from the special education class. We helped them chop tomatoes, onions, green peppers, etc. Most people in my class looked at the special education kids thinking “They can’t do this” or, “They are not capable of doing that” because of their disabilities.

I did not think it was fair that not one of my peers gave them a chance, so I decided to sit down and have a nice and normal conversation with one of the boys in the class. He was really sweet, and he understood everything I said despite his disability. I felt so good about myself because I talked to him, which was different from my classmates.

When we were leaving, he gave me a hug and told me I made a difference in his life and that I made him actually feel normal. Now, every time he sees me in school he gives me a hug. He even calls me his sister! Some of the kids at my school think I am weird because I associate with these kids. But I know I made someone else feel happy, which ultimately increases my happiness in the end.

Service-learning has taught me a lot just from that experience. Even though I didn’t change the world, I made a difference in one person’s life. This not only made me feel happy but it made me want to become a better person too.

Note: Hear Danielle and another student Brandon’s story, by watching this inspirational video footage taken from the Service-Learning Youth Council Retreat in early December.

About Danielle: Danielle attends Willow Run High School in Ypsilanti. This is her first year serving as a member of the Service Learning Youth Council (SLYC).

2011 Global Youth Service Day – Resources You Can Use!

2011-02-11T14:29:00.001-05:00

Written by: The Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

Efforts in Michigan
The Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC), along with the LEAGE Michigan, and Youth Service America (YSA) are awarding $11,000 in mini-grants to Michigan organizations to host a 2011 Global Youth Service Day Project. Mini-grants will be awarded in amounts up to $500, and applications will be accepted until Monday, February 28. The application must be written by a youth who plans to participate in the planning and implementation of the project. Priority will be given to projects that focus on the following: education, health, clean energy/environmental stewardship, economic opportunity, disaster preparedness, supporting veterans and military families, or public safety. Guidelines and the application can be found at www.michigan.gov/mcsc.

Join MCSC staff on Monday, February 14, 2011 for our second installment of a free webinar on the 2011 Global Youth Service Day. More information will be shared about our mini-grant opportunity, as well as an overview of Global Youth Service Day and the importance of youth service, and ideas for collaborating with other streams of national service. The webinar will be held at 11:00 a.m. To register, click here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/222628098.

Resources in Michigan
The MCSC has provided several great resources culminating in an online 2011 Global Youth Service Day Toolkit for those who are planning GYSD projects this year. Check out www.michigan.gov/mcsc and click on 2011 Global Youth Service Day. As you explore this website, consider exploring the Global Youth Service Day Event Planning Guide. This guide offers a step-by-step method to better conceptualize your project. It includes in-depth details to help you plan your budget, event location, and minute by minute agenda. The Guide starts by asking what goals you would like to set for your project, continues by walking through the appropriate number of volunteers, and even includes questions for the project planner to better prepare for safety and emergency information for the day of the project.

Another great resource provided in this toolkit is the MCSC’s Guide to Engaging Media. Did you know, for example, the media can help build support among individuals, community leaders, and even potential funders? This guide examines what makes a good story-from the media’s perspective, different types of media releases and how to write them, how to create a media policy for your organization, and media “Do’s and “Don’ts.”

Also included in the Toolkit is a 2011 Global Youth Service Day Michigan Flyer. Feel free to print out your own copies! Hand them out and help us spread the word about 2011 Global Youth Service Day in Michigan!

What the MCSC can provide for YOU
If you have any questions related to the mini-grant process, or just need help brainstorming potential projects, please feel free to contact the MCSC. In addition, we can provide support and resources to projects that may focus on accessibility and inclusion for all people. Global Youth Service Day is a great way to introduce youth to the planning and implementing of service and service-learning projects. All youth are encouraged to participate!

Adding Creativity to the Critical Thinking in Reflection

2011-02-02T09:54:00.001-05:00

Written by: Joan Lennon Liptrot, Executive Director of the Institute for Global Education & Service Learning

When I first began helping others understand how to integrate and implement service-learning I embraced the “What?-So What?-Now What?” approach to Reflection. It was pretty straight forward; have students think about their own experience (What?), develop in-depth understandings of related issues (So What?), and finally have opportunities to apply new knowledge (Now What?). In addition, give students a chance to talk, write, read, or do something to express each of those steps before, during, and after the service experience. Along with that, I reminded practitioners to take into account what we learned from our old friend Benjamin Bloom, and his six levels of learning and knowing (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation). Even when working with seasoned, experienced practitioners, I was often surprised how the prompts teachers used fell within the lowest three levels of that taxonomy. So when planning reflection, I encourage teachers to challenge themselves to create opportunities for students to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate their learning. The other thing that became apparent was the most commonly used strategy for conveying this learning through journals. I knew reflection was an exciting and significant part of the service-learning process, we were getting to the critical thinking piece, but I still felt like we were missing something.

Then one day, at the Forum for At-Risk Youth in South Carolina, I attended a workshop by a consultant named Howard Bowden from Kentucky. In 90 minutes he had us revisit Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligence and consider how this applied to Reflection in service-learning. If reflection is when the light bulb goes on for students, this was like a huge Broadway marquee for me! That’s what was missing…I’m a person with definite verbal linguistic strengths (more verbal than linguistic) so journaling just didn’t excite me (in fact the thought of having to keep an ongoing journal made me a little sweaty and nauseous). This idea that if we don’t all learn in the same way, then we don’t reflect in the same way was exciting and I’m not going to lie…it sounded like it could definitely add some creative thinking!

As I began sharing this idea with practitioners through workshops and trainings I was constantly amazed at how the adults I was working with were able to be so creative when asked to reflect in a way that matched their own personal learning style. There were songs, poems, skits, graphs, pictures, puzzles, and more! Everyone was very excited at the idea of helping students reflect in a way that was natural and comfortable for them. As teachers went back to their schools and classrooms and tried to embrace this exciting new idea to re-energize reflection they realized they were really good at creating reflection opportunities that reflected their own multiple intelligence strengths but not so great with intelligences that were not. Oh what to do?
There’s one resource I found “Service Learning for the Multiple Intelligences Classroom” by Sally Berman. It’s full of examples, tips, and tools for basic to advanced projects that are adaptable to a variety of curricular content areas and grade levels, but once again most reflection is focused on a student log.

After talking with teachers and students about what we wanted reflection to be, I decided to create a simple, easy to use resource that would not only incorporate Multiple Intelligences into Reflection, but would empower youth to direct that experience. With that, the Multiple Intelligence Reflection Cards were born. Designed to be used BY STUDENTS, each card identifies the main intelligence focus, a difficulty level, and whether the activity is best suited for before, during or after service. For more information about the cards visit our website www.igesl.org and go to the Resources section.

I’ve gotten great feedback from youth and adults with suggestions for improvements and modifications too, which are always welcome. I just hope that it helps get teachers and youth thinking critically and creatively about reflection!

After-School All-Stars Incorporates Service-Learning

2011-01-26T11:29:00.001-05:00

Written by: Joe Hong, program director for San Diego After-School All-Stars & Aaron Dworkin, national program director for After-school All-Stars

After-School All-Stars (online at www.as-as.org) was founded by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and is a leading national nonprofit which provides free daily after-school programs to 80,000 low-income urban students at 450 schools in 13 cities across the United States. Seventy percent of the students served nationally are in middle school, 84 percent qualify for free and reduced lunch and 90% are students of color.

Service-learning is one of four national program priorities for After-School All-Stars (ASAS) along with Middle to High School Transition, Career Exploration, and Sports-Based Youth Development.

Our vision is to incorporate service-learning in every single enrichment activity that we do; from model cars, to hip-hop, to cooking. For example, one cooking class asked students to research hunger in their communities while they learned to make a meal to serve at a local food shelter. As an after-school program, ASAS is in a great position to show students they can easily connect service to their passions and skills – with activities they choose to do, are good at, and already love to do in their free time. We applaud those who work to connect service to core academic subjects. Overall we believe it is advantageous to help kids get in the habit of connecting service to whatever they love.

After-School All-Stars school sites typically have a student leadership group called Entourage, which takes responsibility for the planning and leading of service and service-learning projects at their school for major days of service; such as Cesar Chavez Day, MLK Day, and Global Youth Service Day. In addition, the Entourage group meets regularly and plans other service projects during the year.

After-School All-Stars is also making an effort to incorporate youth service as a responsibility of all of our sports teams and coaches. For example, we encouraged students on a soccer team to research and decide a cause they would want to dedicate their season to and then eventually create a way to support their cause through their season. We called it “Play for a Cause” and teams were encouraged to raise money from fans at their games, offer direct services to nonprofits instead of practicing one day, raise awareness of their cause by creating posters, and even dedicate a trophy to their charity. We asked these students, “If professional athletes and teams give back – why not middle school athletes too?”
Based on our experience working with Entourage middle school students in San Diego, please find a few key lessons Joe Hong has found in all his work with youth service and service-learning.

Successful service-learning with middle school students requires:

• TIME AND PLANNING

• ACADEMICS

• HEART AND MEANING

• VOICE

• RESPECT

• COMMUNITY

• REFLECTION

• PROGRESS

We have found that success EQUALS:

• Passionate staff

• Start small, see the big picture

• Clear roles and expectations

• Flexibility in schedule

• Link between service and standards

• Give the students a voice; feeling of empowerment

Below are a few examples of successful youth service and service-learning projects currently under way with ASAS San Diego students.

Urban Gardening
The problem of childhood obesity in the U.S. has grown considerably in recent years. The participants of After-School All-Stars Greater San Diego find this epidemic relevant to the community and the children we serve. Like other impoverished towns all over this country, there isn't a lot of access to high quality fruits and vegetables. There are also a disproportionate number of fast food places, which do not serve healthy food, but rather offers food that is much cheaper. Students in our after-school programs are creating an awareness of the community needs and are collaborating with two local community gardens. The students are growing an abundant number of fruits and vegetables that are given to families in need, meanwhile we provide nutritional education. The gardens are giving students access to fresh foods, introducing them to nature, and helping them live a healthier lifestyle.

Compassion for Haiti
Students at Montgomery Middle School in San Diego wanted to lead their school in an effort to respond to one of the gravest humanitarian crises in the Western Hemisphere. The students wanted their voices to be heard and they wanted to create an awareness of what they are doing to help not just in their communities, but in other nations. Not only are they raising money and creating awareness, the students are learning about the history and people of Haiti as well. The projects started the first week of the devastation and will continue until the end of the school year. Our service-learning club (Entourage) is leading the charge and is getting their fellow classmates, teachers, parents and administrators involved. They have collected over $2,000 thus far.

Bridging the Generation Gap
Today we stand on the brink of a national epidemic unlike anything we have experienced before. As the largest number of Americans reaches retirement age, Alzheimer’s and other similar progressive and fatal diseases threaten life as we know it. Our after-school students are reaching out and helping our elders living in San Diego because we have over 90,000 families coping with these diseases every day. The students have made monthly commitments of companionship and friendship to isolated seniors who live in long-term care facilities. The students have been doing arts and crafts and engaging in other stimulating activities for the elders.

Restoring the Wildlife Habitat
Students have chosen to volunteer for the San Diego Audubon Society to help foster the protection of birds, wildlife, and their habitats. The society also offers local conservation and education programs. The students helped restore a special nesting site for endangered California Least Terns. They also worked at FAA Island, a small island just west of Fiesta Island that is used for air traffic control purposes and is usually closed to the public. Unfortunately, this site is full of vegetation and invasive plants and so cannot be used by the terns for nesting and rearing their young. The students worked to clear this vegetation and to prepare the site for the arrival of the terns in late April 2010.

Helping Refugees
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) provides opportunities for refugees to thrive in America. Each year, thousands of refugees are invited by the U.S. government to seek safety and freedom. Forced to flee conflict or persecution, many have survived for years against incredible odds. These refugees step off the plane with next to nothing but their dignity, hope, and determination. In San Diego, the IRC helps them rebuild their lives. The New Roots Community Farm, a project of the IRC in San Diego, was started to provide our refugee clients with land to farm their own food as a way to improve their food security. Our students will volunteer alongside the refugees to learn about the history, the people, and the cultures of so many different countries including: Somalia, Burma, Vietnam, and Kenya.

The final key thought from ASAS is to remember that we are not training the leaders of tomorrow; we are working with the community leaders of today.

Joe Hong can be reached for questions at jhong@as-as.org.

What It Takes to Sustain Service-Learning

2011-01-21T09:35:00.001-05:00

Written by: Fran Rudoff, Executive Director of KIDS Consortium & Jo Gates, AmeriCorps*VISTA with KIDS Consortium

Service-learning experiences engage students in solving authentic community problems, and there’s plenty of evidence (http://www.servicelearning.org/instant_info/fact_sheets/k-12_facts/impacts) that it’s a powerful strategy for teaching and learning. So what does it take to sustain service-learning, to develop a high-quality program that provides lasting results?

The KIDS (Kids Involved Doing Service-Learning) Consortium is honored to be facilitating the 2011 Service-Learning Sustainability Symposium with Learn and Serve – Michigan on February 9 and 10 at the Shanty Creek Resort in Bellaire, Michigan. (Register by January 27, 2011 at www.michigan.gov/mcsc.) Participating school district teams will explore systemic approaches for embedding service-learning into their organizational culture, including an intentional process to examine the elements of quality service-learning, and the nature and extent of professional development activities for educators that lead to quality experiences for students.

We know from the experiences of hundreds of school districts we’ve worked with around the country that full integration of service-learning into the culture and curriculum of a district and the larger community requires a thoughtful, integrated process. Rob Liebow, superintendent of Mount Desert Island Regional School System (home to Acadia National Park) in Maine, says, “I’ve really come to be a true believer in the value of service-learning. It is the one biggest change that we’ve made in our curriculum that has made the most difference for our kids.” The district’s Educational Vision Framework, developed by a leadership team of administrators, teachers, and community members emphasizes differentiated instruction and includes service-learning. This support has led to a wide variety (http://su98xserver.u98.k12.me.us/U98/Snow/Service_Learning/Photo_Gallery.html) of successful service-learning projects (http://su98xserver.u98.k12.me.us/U98/Joanne/Pemetic_School_S-L/The_Story_in_Photos.html) in the district since 2001.

Developing an educational framework that integrates service-learning into the educational process for all students involves four key elements: leadership and vision; professional development; curriculum, instruction, and assessment; and community involvement. Each of these areas will be explored during the Symposium; teams will leave with tools and strategies to consider their current status, set goals for the future, and identify initial steps for moving forward.

Leadership and Vision

What does it look like when a community and school district have a clear vision and strong leadership for service-learning? There are as many paths as there are educational leaders. However, some major indicators of system-wide support and vision are significant factors:

· Integration of service-learning into a district’s mission or goals statement.

· A broad-based leadership team empowered to set goals, allocate resources, evaluate progress, and make connections between service-learning and other school initiatives

· A strong administrator and team who demonstrate a commitment to service-learning.

Professional Development

A key element of sustaining a high-quality service-learning environment is continuous and varied professional development opportunities for educators. Understanding the differences between service-learning and other forms of community-based learning, and then going deeper and learning tools to implement high-quality service-learning, is fundamental to sustaining a solid program in a district. The KIDS Consortium model (http://www.kidsconsortium.org/learningservice.php) of service-learning stresses three key principles – student ownership, academic integrity, and apprentice citizenship – and also provides a practical step-by-step framework to guide implementation. The framework is consistent with the new national quality standards (http://www.nylc.org/pages-programs-researchleadership-K_12_Service_Learning_Standards_for_Quality_Practice?oid=6453) and includes the following:

· Define service-learning.

· Discover problems and needs in their school or community.

· Investigate the causes and effects of the problems they identify.

· Research various solutions to the problems.

· Evaluate the pros and cons of each solution and decide on the actions they will take.

· Create an action plan and timeline to implement their ideas.

· Implement their plan.

· Evaluate the results of their actions.

While these more linear steps are occurring, teachers also create a collaborative environment in the classroom to foster team work; facilitate on-going reflection (making connections between learning and the project); connect the service-learning project to the curriculum; reach out with students to parents and the public; and celebrate successes along the way.

Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

Academic integrity is one of the key elements (http://www.kidsconsortium.org/kidsmodel.php) of service-learning, highlighting curriculum throughout the process of integrating service-learning into the district’s culture. Initially, the connection of individual projects to academic objectives is often the only focus. As the extent and quality of practice grows, districts begin to expand opportunities for students to have multiple service-learning experiences through all grade spans and multiple content areas. Embedding service-learning in the curriculum at specific points is an overall strategy that often takes years to plan and implement.

Community Involvement

Engaging community organizations and others outside the schools in service-learning projects takes time and effort. As community members work directly with students on projects, see the projects highlighted in local media, and see positive results in the community, these relationships strengthens the students, the schools, and the community.

About KIDS Consortium

Founded in 1992, KIDS (Kids Involved Doing Service-Learning) Consortium is a nonprofit organization that has engaged 300,000+ students in service-learning projects connected to local and national issues. KIDS Consortium education consultants train and assist teachers, administrators, and community partners as they work with K-12 students to identify, research, and address real community challenges with service-learning. To learn more, please visit www.kidsconsortium.org.

NOTE: If you haven’t already, don’t forget to register for the 2011 Service-Learning Sustainability Symposium! Registrations are due by Thursday, January 27 and can be done at www.michigan.gov/mcsc.

The Importance of Youth Service and the Efforts of the 2011 Global Youth Service Day

2011-01-12T14:54:00.001-05:00

By: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

What is Global Youth Service Day?
Although it is only January, it is hard not to think about the 2011 Global Youth Service Day coming up in April. As suggested in the title, Global Youth Service Day is a youth-led service event that occurs all over the world. The purpose, or mission of this national day of service is to mobilize youth to improve their communities and address some of the following issues: education, health, clean energy/environmental stewardship, economic opportunity, disaster preparedness, support to veterans military families, and public safety, just to name a few. Students are encouraged to lead and plan their own service or service-learning project to be held over the course of the weekend of April 15-17. Overall, Global Youth Service Day is a program led by Youth Service America, which encourages youth to engage in volunteering.

Why is Youth Service in particular so important?
Through quality service experiences, youth can develop important skills such as critical thinking, a sense of civic responsibility, and an increased sense of self efficacy that will be useful to them throughout their college and work lives. The sense that they can, and should, participate in their communities creates a strong foundation for their future civic engagement. When service is tied to what young people are learning in the classroom the impact is even more promising. In addition to the civic and academic skills benefits, studies are starting to suggest the connection youth make to community members, their educators, and other classmates can impact their decisions and abilities to graduate from high school. Youth engagement in a community, especially when tied to the curriculum and when the youth are given an active voice, can be an enormous benefit to the path of not only the youth’s future, but the community's future as well.

What is the Michigan Community Service Commission doing for Global Youth Service Day?
The Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC) is again serving as a Lead Agency for Global Youth Service Day. In partnership with Youth Service America and The LEAGUE Michigan, the MCSC will be working to mobilize young people from across the state to make a difference! The MCSC will award mini-grants to organizations in Michigan to host Global Youth Service Day projects. Grants will be valued at up to $500, and applications must be written by youth who plan on participating and implementing the project. Volunteer Centers, 501(c)3 organizations, and K-12 and higher education institutions are just some of the many organizations who are encouraged to apply.

How do I get involved?
Get project ideas, find a project near you, and/or register your project by visiting www.gysd.org.

Apply for the MCSC’s and The LEAGUE Michigan’s mini-grant! Guidelines and the application can be found online here: http://michigan.gov/documents/mcsc/2011_GYSD_Mini-Grant_Guidelines_and_Application_342628_7.pdf. They are due by Monday, February 28, 2011 by 5:00 p.m.

Stay updated! Follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/mcsconline and Facebook at www.facebook.com/MICommunityServiceCommission.

2011 Michigan Mentoring Month: What are you doing to "Pass It On" this year?

2011-01-05T13:26:00.001-05:00

Written by: Katy Timmer, Mentor Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA Member

Hi! I’m Katy Timmer, a second-year AmeriCorps*VISTA serving with the Mentor Michigan team at the Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC). Mentor Michigan is a statewide partnership of more than 250 youth mentoring organizations. Mentor Michigan works to ensure all youth have ongoing relationships with stable, caring individuals. Along with the Mentor Michigan team, my time is largely dedicated to supporting youth mentoring programs across the state through outreach, resources, training and technical assistance, and helping volunteers connect with mentoring programs in their area, among other tasks.

As I approach the halfway point of my second year of service and reflect on the last year and a half, I think of all I have learned as well as the personal and professional growth I have experienced in such a short period. My experience serving as an AmeriCorps*VISTA with Mentor Michigan and the MCSC, as well as volunteering through Big Brothers Big Sisters and Girl Scouts, has altered my path in life, in an unexpectedly positive way. I am about to begin my second semester in the Youth Development Specialist Graduate Program at Michigan State University, a career path inspired by the service opportunities I have been afforded. January is the 2011 Michigan Mentoring Month, which provides a perfect opportunity to celebrate and reflect on our own life-changing experiences, and take time to “Pass It On.”

The annual Michigan and National Mentoring Month – held every January – provides an opportunity to recognize the impact of volunteer mentors, recruit additional individuals to serve, and celebrate the efforts of mentoring matches across the state. The Michigan Mentoring Month theme is “Pass It On” because we believe sharing a little of yourself with a young person can reward both of you with lifelong benefits.

Help us spread the word about the impact of mentoring in Michigan! Visit www.mentormichigan.org to explore the 2011 Michigan Mentoring Month Toolkit, which contains resources and ideas to help promote activities, thank mentors, and recruit new mentors. Make sure to check out the 2011 Michigan Mentoring Month Projects document to learn more about the great events and activities held across the state by local mentoring programs!

In addition to these events, there are three special opportunities to highlight and support mentoring as part of the 2011 Michigan Mentoring Month:

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service on Monday, January 17, 2011. Consider volunteering; creating a service opportunity for your employees, colleagues, students, or community members to participate in; or just build awareness about service with those around you.

Thank Your Mentor Day on Thursday, January 25. On that day, we encourage you to reach out to thank or honor those individuals who encouraged and guided you, and had a lasting impact on your life.

Mentoring Night at the Palace on Saturday, January 22, features the Detroit Pistons and the Palace at Auburn Hills celebrating mentoring and they want you to join them! Come participate in the first-ever "Mentoring Night at the Palace" and watch the Pistons take on the Phoenix Suns at 7:30 p.m. Throughout the evening a special emphasis will be placed on mentoring.

For more information and to purchase tickets at a discounted rate, please visit: http://www.nba.com/pistons/tickets/mentor_michigan.html. For every ticket sold through this website Mentor Michigan will receive $5, which will be distributed through a statewide funding opportunity at a later date in the form of Detroit Pistons mini-grants.

Help us make mentoring count in Michigan!

Why is Detroit Service-Learning Academy Special?

2010-12-22T09:02:00.001-05:00

Written by: Jaylon, Detroit Service-Learning Academy

Hello! My name is Jaylon, I am in the 7^th grade and I go to Detroit Service-Learning Academy (DSLA). DSLA is special because the school has a lot of after-school activities like skating parties and dances. It is also special because the Junior Academy all participate in service-learning together.

Last year I did a service-learning project helping the 8^th graders. The project helped 8^th graders decide what high school they wanted to go to. We did a research presentation on each school, and we helped them to see the kinds of classes each school offered. We then surveyed the 8^th graders to see what they thought about each of the schools. This service-learning project helped them plan their future.

Another special thing about DSLA is that we have SMART boards (interactive white boards) in all of our classrooms, and we use them for service-learning projects. For example, when we did the high school research project we were able to show each of the high school’s websites and navigate right on the board.

I really like service-learning because it teaches me a lot of things and it helps my community. It also helps classes work together where younger students get to work with older students, and vice versa. This allows us to get to know one another both inside and outside of our classroom.

About DSLA: DSLA is made up of three academies; Primary Academy grades K-2, Elementary Academy grades 3-5, and Junior Academy grades 6-8. DSLA practices a “full inclusion” teaching model, which encourages all teachers (both general and special education) to work together for the common good of all students. To learn more, visit their website: http://www.detroitservicelearning.org/.

About Jaylon: Jaylon is one of Learn and Serve – Michigan’s 23 Service Learning Youth Council (SLYC) members. He attended the retreat in early December, and can even be seen rapping in the video posted with last week’s post.

Service Learning Youth Council Retreat a HUGE Success!

2010-12-15T12:07:00.001-05:00

Written by: Ellen King, Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA

In early December, members of the Service-Learning Youth Council (SLYC) joined the Learn and Serve – Michigan team at the Michigan Community Service Commission’s office for a retreat. SLYC is the Michigan Community Service Commission’s youth advisory group. SLYC (pronounced "slick") was created in 2002 to connect young people with the organization’s youth-focused grantmaking program, Learn and Serve - Michigan. Each Learn and Serve - Michigan school-based grantee is eligible to nominate one young person to serve on SLYC. SLYC members work with the Learn and Serve team at the MCSC to further public support for service-learning in schools and communities across Michigan.

The SLYC members are a very diverse group, to say the least. They are students in the seventh to 12^th grades, come from as far as Traverse City or as close as Ionia, and every area in between. Out of 23 members, there are six returning from last year who attended this retreat and they include: Tylar, Jackson, Jackson, Shane, Cinque, and John. There were just three members who did not make it to the retreat. Also of note, one member who did make it recently returned from Europe the day prior to the retreat.

And who am I? My name is Ellen King, and I am the new Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA. As a VISTA, I am supporting low-income communities by providing resources that encourage service-learning. One of my many responsibilities is coordinating the members of SLYC by hosting conference calls, assisting them with outreach, and guiding them in their development of service projects. I am really looking forward to serving these students.

The retreat focused on jump-starting the members on their 2011 Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) projects and helping them get to know each other through several team building and icebreaker activities. One of the first tasks they had was to identify problem areas within their communities which could serve as potential project ideas. This list was eventually narrowed down to child abuse, community violence, education, and environmental stewardship. Members joined the group they were most passionate about in order to brainstorm possible service projects.

SLYC members also discussed the importance of community partners, and how they can contact their teachers, peers, parents, and community organizations for assistance with this service project. They were broken into groups and asked to present valuable service-learning information as if they were presenting to one of those four resources. It appeared to me that after these presentations there was a light bulb that turned on in each of the student’s heads, as if they knew their project could include as many people as they wanted.

As an exploration of how they can use video for outreach and presentations, each student created a video explaining why service-learning is important to them and why others should get involved in service-learning. We distributed Flip video cameras, and asked the members to start recording. Before we got started with this project, I gave a presentation on the different types of leadership styles in Hollywood. This served to allow the students to have an idea of where each person was coming from as they worked together for the video creation project, but also in general, to start thinking about their respective leadership style. The four styles were: Director, Producer, Analyzer, and Editor. For me, it was important to convey to the members that knowing your leadership style is crucial to understanding how you work with other people at home, school, and as a SLYC representative – and for forming roles in their video teams.

The videos from the students were an enormous success. We had two distinctive groups rap about service-learning, one group included an underlying message of paying it forward, and two videos consisted of interviews of why the members participate in service-learning and why it is important to them. These videos, and many more from the weekend will be posted to the MCSC’s YouTube channel in the coming weeks and months. We will be sure to let you know when more are put up! In the mean time, check out the featured video below.

Another of the expectations of the SLYC members is to write a blog for the Learn and Serve – Michigan’s Resources Blog. The blog topics will range from their 2011 GYSD project ideas to telling their story about their interest in service. Stay tuned, because over the course of the next few weeks, you will see blog posts from Jaylon, Danielle, and Christopher. These posts are just the beginning of many to come!

College-Based AmeriCorps Members are GETTING THINGS DONE in Michigan!

2010-12-10T12:34:00.001-05:00

Written by: Renee Miller Zientek, Executive Director of Michigan Campus Compact

There is nothing more inspiring than being witness to people helping one another with enthusiasm, genuine care, and basic kindness. In recent months, Michigan college campuses have recruited and placed campus-based AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps*VISTA members, reminding me of how much support these and other national service members offer to our communities. At any given time there are more than 75,000 national service members around the country working to improve community life in the United States. AmeriCorps members make a big difference by helping others and meeting critical community needs. These individuals are adults of all ages and backgrounds who serve through a network of partnerships with local and national nonprofit groups. Their service helps to make our communities safer, gives our children a second chance, and helps protect the environment. These are volunteers that get things done.

Through strong partnership, close teamwork, and a rich tradition of supporting and advancing civic engagement among Michigan’s college students, Michigan Campus Compact (MCC), with support from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and the Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC) has placed 300 AmeriCorps members on college campuses and in communities across the state through the Michigan Service Scholars AmeriCorps Program.

These 300 members across Michigan are serving to achieve maximum impact in the following three areas:

Teacher Preparation – Student teachers who will implement service-learning through pre-service teacher training in K-12 classrooms.

College Positive Volunteers – Students who will volunteer in youth-serving nonprofits and exposing youth to higher education through College Positive Volunteerism techniques.

Community-Based Service – Students who will serve in community/faith-based nonprofits with a focus on addressing local community needs through direct service and volunteer recruitment.

If you are a student who would like to join with other AmeriCorps members through the Michigan Service Scholars Program to make a difference in Michigan’s communities, please inquire with the community service office at your campus. Only campuses that are members of the Michigan Campus Compact are able to place students through the Michigan Service Scholars Program.

If you are a community member who would like to know how these AmeriCorps members might connect with partners in your community, please contact Michigan Campus Compact. We are more than happy to connect partners in all communities.

For more information about the Michigan Service Scholars Program, contact Shannon Zoet at szoet@micampuscompact.org, Assistant Director of Campus Partnerships for Michigan Campus Compact.

A Service-Learning Success Story

2010-12-01T13:35:00.001-05:00

Written by: Jonathan Orlansky, LA Green Corps Crew Leader

Service-Learning can empower individuals to make a difference not only in their communities but in their lives as well. This story comes from the Louisiana Green Corps, a program that uses service to teach employment skills to disadvantaged youth. It is a great example of how service and learning can change a life.

After Chris Condy received his certificate of completion from Grace King High School in 2006, three years passed. In those years, Chris worked for wages a total of one week, milled around his house, and had social interactions with only a handful of relatives. Chris was stagnant.

“I guess I was just figuring out what I was doing,” he says of the period. “I knew what I liked to do, but I didn’t think I had the experience for a job. I didn’t know how work would be.”

Chris was born with a vaguely defined cognitive disability still referred to as “mental retardation.” He was in special education programs his entire life, and completed school with minimal ability in reading and math. His one job, as a stock clerk at Winn-Dixie, had ended after a confusing and embarrassing argument about sweeping the floor. In some ways, his trepidation about joining the real world was well founded.

Then, Chris caught wind of the Louisiana Green Corps, a program that teaches green deconstruction and salvage tactics to unemployed, underemployed, low income, or other disadvantaged youth in New Orleans. A cousin, aware of his fondness for working with his hands and concerned about his inactivity, alerted him to the program and helped him through the application process. Within a week, Chris and his mother had met with program director Suzy Mason, and he was in. In one month’s time, Chris would begin his first real job.

Chris took all this basically as it came. He was pleased with the idea of working with tools and being around people, and, appreciating the job as an abstraction rather than reality, undeterred by the startling newness of the experience to come. That aspect hit Chris squarely on his first day of orientation.

Chris walked into a room full of strangers; holding notebooks, reading, talking about long-term goals, hours accumulation, wages, and he was staggered. He needed to be prodded and cajoled into attending the week’s training. I met him that week, and along with a few other staff members, feared he might not last in the program.

My initial fears were buoyed in the first week of field work. He appeared listless and bored the first couple days, and outright upset the next few. We took long walks and talked about what was blocking him and how he might get over it. He seemed content, driven even, to go back home and watch DVD’s for the rest of his life. I tried to present the situation in the most dire of terms, that if he didn’t choose to grow up and be independent now, it would never happen. It appeared to be an argument I would lose. Every day he showed up in those first weeks, I was surprised.

Then, a stroke of luck. I figured the only way we could get Chris really involved was to give him the most exciting, involved job our work had to offer, and at what appeared to be the breaking point of whether he stayed or went, we started knocking down walls. I lined Chris up next to me, another crew leader, and two other corps members, and we pushed the west-facing wall of the house we were working on clear off the foundation. Looking up from the shattered glass and cloud of dust, I saw Chris really smile for the first time.

“It was like, when I pushed that wall down, I was knocking down my fears,” he says. “Once I broke through that wall, I was okay. It’s like a metaphor, or whatever.”

The smile didn’t dissipate. A total transformation of character and attitude occurred. Chris was energized. He became the most enthusiastic and hardworking member of not only my crew (the participants with disabilities), but of the entire 20-person corps. He also showed a natural gift for woodworking, and became a mainstay in our shop after hours working with the table saw on personal projects. He earned the universal admiration of supervisors and peers, received multiple accolades within the group, and was the first recommended for a new internship opportunity with TCA (Total Community Action) when it arose.

“It was an absolute joy to watch Chris grow from an unsure, quiet guy who didn’t want me to take his picture on the first day of work into our most productive and reliable crew member,” says Greg Aycock, Chris’s supervisor. “Chris’ work ethic and desire to learn will undoubtedly lead to him being successful in any endeavor he takes on.”

When asked how he felt about his well-earned praise, Chris responded “Probably real good. I have a lot more confidence; a big ego boost. You can never get too many compliments.”

I take heart in Chris’s accomplishments. The fact we could provide a circumstance where a young man discovered an outlet for his potential and is now functioning on a successful and independent level is a source of tremendous pride for my co-workers and myself. As long as Chris’s work ethic doesn’t fade, the compliments are likely to keep coming.

What Happens When You Engage Youth in the Funding Process?

2010-11-29T09:39:00.001-05:00

Written by: Glenn McLaurin; State Farm Youth Advisory Board Member, Mid-Atlantic Zone Representative

Every year, the 30 young leaders from across the U.S. and Canada who comprise the State Farm Youth Advisory Board (SFYAB) convene to discuss how to best promote school-based service-learning and empower students and teachers to conduct outstanding projects that create lasting change in their communities. The Youth Advisory Board does more than talk, however; with the support of the State Farm Companies Foundation, the Board coordinates a $5 million-a-year service-learning funding program, administering grants ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 to support community-based, youth-led service-learning initiatives.

State Farm’s innovative service-learning funding model empowers young leaders to support fellow young leaders. SFYAB members lead every step of the grant administration process, from designing and marketing the annual Request-for-Proposals to reviewing the grant applications and selecting the recipients. This opportunity for an intensive, hands-on approach to supporting high-quality, youth-led service-learning projects is a learning exercise for Board members as well. Members gain insight into the needs and challenges of communities across the U.S. and Canada, and are exposed to the creative, inspiring approaches employed by teachers, nonprofits, and young leaders to find sustainable solutions and reduce social ills.

The Youth Advisory Board funds projects that address a range of community issues. The funding targets for the 2009-2010 grant cycle were financial education, access to higher education/closing the achievement gap, teen driver safety, environmental responsibility, and natural and societal disaster preparedness. Across this range of topics, however, all the projects funded shared several key traits – the initiatives clearly embraced the tenants of service-learning, sought to achieve sustainable solutions through intensive community engagement, partnership building, and a critical analysis of the root causes of the issues they sought to address, and were led by, rather than simply involving, K-12 youth.

The youth-leadership element of the projects funded by the Board is one of the most valued aspects of the YAB’s mission to promote service-learning in schools and communities across the U.S. and Canada. The SFYAB does not just believe in the potential of youth to make a difference, it invests in the ability of young leaders to serve as agents of change.

Allowing young people to lead service-learning initiatives amplifies both the educational and service benefits of the experience. With greater responsibility and a more personal investment in the project, youth gain a better understanding of the root causes of the issues they plan to address, and remain more dedicated and committed to overseeing the successful implementation and sustainability of their initiatives. The State Farm Youth Advisory Board encourages greater youth participation and representation in community and education-oriented organizations and agencies – students will benefit from the opportunity to become more active in their communities and schools, while receptive institutions will gain not just from the passion and energy of youth, but from their creativity and insight as well.

Several organizations exist which promote youth leadership through service and innovative education programs. Youth-led service and service-learning opportunities are routinely funded through Youth Service America and its programs, including Global Youth Service Day, Get Ur Good On™, and Semester of Service. Students seeking to realize their leadership capacity through exploration of their passions would do well to participate in The Roadtrip Nation Experience, an innovative curriculum designed to inspire young people through participant-led interviews with successful athletes, entrepreneurs, and politicians. The SFYAB encourages educators and students alike to explore these resources, and engage in critical conversations about the contributions young people can make to their schools and communities through dedicated service and leadership.

The State Farm Youth Advisory Board is committed to supporting youth-led service-learning initiatives, and invests in the power of young people to create lasting change in their schools and communities. Opportunities for funding will be available on February 1, 2011 and can be found at www.sfyab.com.

What Service-Learning Means for Dropout Prevention

2010-11-16T09:06:00.001-05:00

Guest Blog by: Marty Duckenfield, National Dropout Prevention Center

For nearly 20 years, the National Dropout Prevention Center has advocated service-learning as one of the most effective dropout prevention strategies. Many think students drop out due to academic failure, and this is true, as many do. Service-learning provides a way to learn that is engaging and meaningful for young people, and thus academic success follows naturally.

But there are other risk factors as significant as academic failure, and these have a huge impact on student dropout. Interestingly, service-learning meets the needs that are implicit in these risk factors: students who are disengaged with school, who don’t participate in extracurricular activities, who are involved with high risk peer groups, and who show patterns of misbehavior. There are students who don’t come to school since they don’t feel safe there. Many come from families that don’t value education, are unsupportive of the school. And many of these families are often dealing with challenging issues such as drug or alcohol abuse and frequent disruptions, such as moving or divorce.

By looking at these and other risk factors, we can readily see how participating in meaningful service-learning can provide the kinds of experiences that foster resilience and develop those characteristics in young people where they can overcome. And so, the National Dropout Prevention Center looked at all the research on resilience – what are the characteristics that young people have that enable them to succeed even when the odds are stacked against them?

Service-learning provides experiences that foster those characteristics of resilience; relationships, independence, competence, creativity, and optimism (RICCO). These characteristics, when enhanced through service-learning, have provided the edge young people need to help them become successful in school and in life.

There are no silver bullets in dropout prevention, but I have to say, service-learning comes pretty close!

Animal Tales: Inspiring Humane-Themed Service-Learning

2010-11-10T09:32:00.001-05:00

Most educators know that students of all ages are often captivated by both stories and animals. Stories have been used since ancient times to awaken the imagination and impart community virtue by creating powerful visual images and connections with the characters. This connection takes the listener or reader to a new place. A place where it is OK to "try on the shoes" of another and contemplate new morals or actions. We can harness the power and passion inspired by both stories and animals to create humane-themed service-learning projects.

First, let’s examine exactly what encompasses humane education. Humane education includes animal welfare, environmental issues, and social justice. At the present we will be discussing the animal welfare aspect of humane education and how humane-themed realistic fiction can inspire service-learning in any academic subject area.

Buddy Unchained, the story of a dog who was rescued from a life chained outside and now lives with a loving family, is a perfect example of humane-themed realistic fiction. The reader gets to understand Buddy and his body language and see how he struggled to stay out of the weather, to have water to drink and food to eat, and to have companionship. Buddy is not anthropomorphized or personified; we get to see him as a sentient, companion animal in need of care. We get to relate to the idea of being cold, hungry, and lonely. And what makes the story perfect for inspiring service-learning is that by the end of the tale the reader is excited about Buddy finding a new home and the reader wants to help other dogs have the same outcome. This natural transition gives project ownership and a real voice to the students and lets them choose how they can share the message of responsible pet care in their communities. The academic and social-emotional skills used during the project act to reinforce multiple areas of intelligence and there are numerous activities that can be part of the service-learning work.

Examples:

Create Public Service Announcements about why dogs should not be chained outside and air them on the school or local radio.
Write letters to newspapers and legislators asking for anti-tethering laws and explaining why tethered dogs not only suffer from a lack of care, but also why it endangers the community.
Create a presentation or puppet show about proper pet care that older students can perform for younger students.

There are many ways you can create a community partnership with an animal welfare group who can help with or benefit from projects. Contact local shelters, wildlife conservation groups and rehabbers, environmental organizations, and national animal welfare organizations to find out their needs and how they can be part of your service-learning project.

If you would like to incorporate humane-themed literature into your service-learning work, a great place to find book titles is http://www.humanesocietyyouth.org/awards/best_books.asp. You can obtain free service-learning projects and ideas at http://www.humanesociety.org/parents_educators/mission/ and http://www.humaneteen.org/?q=node/694.

To learn more about this powerful teaching tool, please email youth@humanesociety.org with the subject line “Stories and Service-Learning.”

Why We Want Your Story!

2010-11-03T13:28:00.001-04:00

Written by: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

You may notice it seems like everyone wants your story. From the Corporation of National Community Service to NPR to here at Learn and Serve – Michigan, people are begging to hear your story. Why? Because stories are powerful! They can teach us, empower us, and change our minds. They connect people to the mission and vision of an organization. Your stories are some of the best resources an organization can have!

We have heard people tell us again and again they don’t have a good story to share. That can’t possibly be true! The truth is we are all have stories, but probably share them in different ways. A story, like a piece of art, is simply a product of our experience, hopes, and ideas. The building blocks can be found in anyone. Perhaps some of us have more technical skill to document them, but all of us have the ability to produce them. We all have stories to share; it is just getting ourselves to find the right words and the courage to share them that is the trouble.

We all have stories that define us. We just have to bring them out. One way to do that is to answer the question “Why do you do what you do?” In fact there is a worldwide art project [http://www.wdydwyd.com/] to answer the simple question “why do you do what you do?” The project combines an image and text in a creative way. It can be a great way to help you find your story. Take out a piece of paper and free write for five minutes on Why you do what you do. At the end of it see what comes up. You might just find the beginnings of a great story.

Once you have a story, consider your main message. What is your message? For instance in our message about the Michigan Community Service Commission [http://michiganslyc.blogspot.com/2009/12/michigan-needs-recruits.html] the message was “Service is the solution to move Michigan forward.” So what is your message? Is it “Youth should have a voice in the community?” Is it “Service-learning can reach children currently being left behind in the classroom?” What do you want to tell us?

Everyone wants your story and you should want to tell it to them! A good story can help you get funding, support from key stakeholders, and new volunteers. So develop your stories and once you do tell us so we can get them out there!

If you have a good story to share about service-learning or youth service, email it to Angelia Salas at salasa@michigan.gov.

Grand Blanc’s Native Garden

2010-10-27T11:36:00.001-04:00

Written by: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

Grand Blanc Community Schools do a lot of partnering between schools for their service-learning projects, so it came as no surprise when the elementary school and the high school decided to partner to build a native Michigan garden.

Elementary students helped with the garden by learning each plant had a particular purpose. They talked about the garden in their history classes and discussed what plants were used for what in relation to different time periods.

The elementary school and high school students then came together for a solar picnic to celebrate the environment and to share what they had learned. They intended to cook hot dogs with a solar cooker but subsequently learned that solar cookers take a while to cook food!

The garden is an ongoing service-learning experience that can be used year after year to teach students about Michigan and the environment we live in. Asa result, students have a sense of pride and ownership. They are willing to share with the Grand Blanc school board and the local community everything they have learned in relation to working with plants and working with their peers and other students.

Going green is so important. Michigan is focused on green initiatives and green jobs. It is in the forefront of our education. Recently, the state has taken on a leadership role in the field and around the state there are more and more service-learning projects involving the environment, solar energy, and the green movement.

Service-learning is great at incorporating real-world relevance into academics. It builds relationships and takes the classroom out of the school and puts it into the community.

Hear the story of Grand Blanc Community School’s Native Garden below:

Learn and Serve Challenge

2010-10-20T13:11:00.001-04:00

Written by: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

Learn and Serve Challenge [http://www.learnandservechallenge.org] is here! This week the Learn and Serve – Michigan team is giving you three ways you can celebrate Learn and Serve Challenge.

1. Present to Your School Board

Your school board can be an important ally for your service-learning program. Present to your school board and show them the power of service-learning to increase academic achievement and strengthen school and community bonds.

Before any presentation it is important to know your audience. Luckily there are good resources out there that can help you develop your presentation. Take a look at this guide: http://nslp.convio.net/site/DocServer/TalkItUp09.pdf?docID=182 on how to make your school board your ally. Here is an excerpt:

“Because today’s school boards are focused on standards, testing, and accountability, advocates have to convince them that service-learning is an important vehicle for achieving both district and wider social goals.”

Show your school board research that service-learning can help increase academic achievement, attendance rates, and other important indicators. The National Service-Learning Clearinghouse has great fact sheet [http://www.servicelearning.org/instant_info/fact_sheets/k-12_facts/impacts] compiling the research on service-learning. Once you are ready to create your presentation they have a guide for presenting to school boards [http://www.servicelearning.org/filemanager/download/bll_tipsheets/Present_SL_to_your_School_Board_or_at_Another_Public_Meeting.pdf] as well.

Engage Your Local Media

Let your community know about the good work your school is doing. There are a lot of resources out there that will help you tell your service-learning story and build relationships with the media.

Perhaps the best resource is Sharing Your National Service Story [http://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/Media_Guide.pdf]. This guide walks you through how to build relationships with reporters, draft press releases, deal with different mediums, and more.

Use Social Media to Promote Service-Learning

This week Learn and Serve – Michigan is celebrating Learn and Serve Challenge online. We’re using Twitter, Facebook, and this blog to get the message out. You can do that for your school as well.

Social media is a free way to promote your service-learning efforts but you need marketing know-how to make a splash. Take a crash course in promotion with the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse’s guide to Marketing 101: Using Social Media and Web 2.0 to Highlight Your Program [http://www.servicelearning.org/instant_info/marketing_101].

Learn and Serve Challenge is a great week to go out and show the world the great things you are doing in your service-learning programs. You don’t have to exhaust yourself with planning ambitious events and programs. Just choose one thing to do to help promote service-learning this week.

Speak Out for Understanding

2010-10-05T08:57:00.001-04:00

Written by: Maureen Charron-Shea, speech-language pathologist in South Duxbury, Vermont

A few years ago, my friend Maura told me a story. That story planted a seed that changed my life.

Maura, whose son has Down syndrome, told me how heartbreaking it is when she hears the word “retard” used as a putdown. I thought about that and I knew things had to change. Around the same time, I discovered service-learning, an instructional approach through which students research and address real issues by applying skills and knowledge from their school curriculum. This approach enables students of varying abilities to work and learn together in meaningful contexts. It also gives students’ learning relevance. So, I gathered a group of high school students and asked:

What if students with disabilities told their stories?
Would they be treated differently?
Would they be better understood?

The students decided to create a film to raise awareness about the challenges facing individuals with disabilities. The result was an award-winning documentary titled Speak Out for Understanding.

The film centers on four students who told their own stories for the purpose of bringing about change. It explains their challenges as students identified with Attention Deficit Disorder, Dyslexia, Down syndrome, and other disabilities. Problems with discrimination, stereotyping, difficulty learning, and social isolation are brought to light and students suggest actions to overcome these challenges.

Speak Out has been credited with starting a movement at our high school. Students are writing books, creating another documentary, composing rap music, and sharing their stories publicly and with pride. Thank goodness times have changed!

Disability awareness has now become my passion. My hope is for this project to be replicated to benefit and empower others. I see Speak Out as more than a learning experience and using communication skills to raise awareness. It’s about citizenship and engaging our community in meaningful dialogue. It’s about advocacy and speaking out for yourself and others. It’s about social justice and promoting a culture of tolerance and equity. Yet, at its heart, Speak Out for Understanding is about the power of individual stories to bring about change.

Maureen Charron-Shea, MS, CCC-SLP, speech-language pathologist at Harwood Union Middle/High School in South Duxbury, Vermont; and her students, winners of the 2009 State Farm National Service-Learning Excellence Award, have presented around New England, at the National Service-Learning Conference, and received awards and accolades for their creative service-learning work. For more information or to obtain a copy of Speak out for Understanding, check out:

http://speakoutforunderstanding.pbwiki.com/

http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-36-fall-2009/speak-out-understanding

Email: charronm@harwood.org

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

2010-09-30T11:52:00.001-04:00

Written by: Pamela Gent, Author of Using Service–Learning and Differentiated Instruction to Help Your Students Succeed

The Beatles sang, “How do I feel by the end of the day? Are you sad because you're on your own? No, I get by with a little help from my friends.”

At the end of the day, many students with disabilities are sad because they are alone. We all know of the benefits of service-learning in terms of academics, school attendance, and development of character traits. What we often don’t think about is that service-learning can help develop friendships. Developing friendships in school is critical for students with disabilities. Research shows many students with disabilities have no friends and are often rejected by their peers in school and, as a result, grow up to experience profound, soul crushing loneliness as adults. While we can’t make students befriend students with disabilities, we can make the situation ripe for the development of friendships by using inclusive service-learning where students without and with disabilities work together in service.

Experts tell us friendships are more likely to develop when students see each other as competent and similar, when they are in proximity to each other, when opportunities exist for continued interaction, and when appropriate supports are in place. Students without disabilities may have done a lot of helping of students with disabilities. This “helper/helpee” relationship unfortunately reinforces the idea that students with disabilities are not competent.

By jointly carrying out the same service, students without disabilities begin to see the abilities of the person with disabilities and the perception of competence is enhanced. By jointly carrying out the same service, students with and without disabilities have opportunities for sustained interaction and conversation. This, in turn, can help students see how they are similar. By using the support of structured reflection, students can see how they share many of the same feelings.

Inclusive service-learning doesn’t guarantee friendships will develop, but it does greatly increase the opportunities for the friendship seed to be planted. If we continue to use inclusive service-learning where students with and without disabilities share equally in the service, we can literally change the life stories of people with disabilities. Instead of lives overwhelmed by profound loneliness, people with disabilities will be able to say, “I get by with a little help from my friends.”

Inside the Outdoors

2010-09-23T16:40:00.001-04:00

Written by: Kim Casey, Orange County Department of Education

Early in my junior year of high school, I tentatively raised my hand to become project leader for a service-learning project. The project was vaguely described to me in less than two minutes by representatives of an environmental education and service group, Inside the Outdoors as “essentially creating scavenger hunts in local parks.”

My high school, Sage Hill School, has melded service-learning into school curriculum and has students partake in projects ranging from cleaning up local beaches to avocado gleaning. Determined to find a project I would be passionate about, I jumped at the chance to do something with the outdoors. Four other students joined me and, along with our faculty advisor, we began with no idea where our efforts would lead us as this project was far more elaborate than simply picking up trash or packing food into boxes. Almost two years later, NSI (Nature Scene Investigators) has blossomed into a program that has been implemented in 11 Orange County, California parks and is complete with guide books, rubbing posts, a website, and prizes. (http://www.getoutdoorsoc.com/nsi.php)

The project’s success is due to a number of factors. It was created in collaboration with many other groups like Orange County Parks; the Orange County Health Agency; Orange County Libraries; the Latino Health Access; Friends of Harbors, Beaches, and Parks; and REI. The ability to harness all these different groups’ help was instrumental.

Orange County (unbeknownst to many who only know of the area in context of shows like ‘The OC’) is home to great and diverse parks with the potential to be used as locations for fun family activities. The balance our small group of dedicated students possessed really played a big part in our success. We had a strong, effective group dynamic and the right combination of people with various talents, including public speaking and art.

Being involved in the development of this program from day one has been an incredibly gratifying experience and taught me valuable lessons of how the real world functions. Coordinating efforts between private and public groups gave me great insight into bureaucracy and how nonprofits and government agencies function. Previous service-learning projects I had been involved in had obvious service components but always left me questioning whether I had actually learned anything from the experience. This project proved very educational and at times left me feeling like I was gaining more from the project than what I was putting in.

The most important lesson I learned is the key to any project’s success – in service, business, or anything else – is passion about what you are doing and willingness to see the project through to success.

Surfing AND Serving

2010-09-15T14:16:00.001-04:00

Written by: Andrea Yoder Clark, Program Manager of SurfAid International U.S. Schools

SurfAid International is a nonprofit, humanitarian organization, whose mission is to improve the health, well being, and self-reliance of people living in isolated communities connected to us through surfing.

In 1999, physician and surfer Dr. Dave Jenkins went on a surf charter to the Mentawai Islands with one goal in mind: to find perfect waves. The surf was everything he hoped for, but he also found the Mentawai people dying from the ravages of malaria and other preventable diseases. Dr. Jenkins was unable to walk away. It was a defining life moment. He sought support from Dr. Steve Hathaway, an epidemiologist friend, and in January 2000 they co-founded SurfAid International.

Today, SurfAid develops health projects that enhance local capacities and promotes community-based self-help solutions, guided by the aspirations of its beneficiaries. SurfAid believes development should be sustainable; encompassing the social, spiritual, cultural, and economic well being of its beneficiaries.

SurfAid's primary programs include the Malaria Free Mentawai program, the Community Based Health program, and the Emergency Preparedness program.

Prior to SurfAid, malaria control and treatment in the Mentawais was virtually nonexistent. In 2001, SurfAid began piloting the Malaria Control Project in one village. By 2004, SurfAid had expanded the project to more than 13,200 people in 17 villages led by 24 local field workers. Today, SurfAid's Malaria Control Project has resulted in a 90 percent reduction in malaria-related death and suffering in target areas.

Now schools can get involved in these important efforts through the SurfAid Schools Program. This program offers service-learning opportunities for schools through free online curriculum targeting teachers in grades fourth through 12^th. This curriculum uses SurfAid International as a case study for examining global health issues and integrates service-learning with global issues such as malaria, environmental education, and global citizenship.

The best part is the curriculum is available for free! For more information contact the SurfAid International US Schools Program Manager, Andrea Yoder Clark at andrea@surfaidinternational.org. Or visit the SurfAid Schools Program website at http://schools.surfaidinternational.org.

Seeds for Change

2010-09-08T13:42:00.001-04:00

Written by: Kathrine Levensailor, Inside the Outdoors

In November 2008, the Freeway Complex Fire burned 30,305 acres of land between Corona and Brea, California. More than 350 structures were destroyed, including buildings at Brea Canyon High School. As a result of the fire, both Brea Canyon and Brea Olinda High School campuses lost all their landscaping. It was the goal of the school administrators and 50 members of the Friends for Change Club at Brea Olinda High School to restore the schools’ landscaping with California native plants. But there was only one problem: where would they get the 4,000 plants needed to complete the restoration project?

Less than a year later, more than 4,000 native California plant seeds were being planted by VoluntEARS at Disney’s D23 Expo. During this Disney Fan Convention, thousands of VoluntEARS worked with Inside the Outdoors, a program administered by the Orange County Department of Education, to get the planting done. Disney donated more than $2,000 to provide the seeds and planting materials. The intent was to use some of these plants for a teaching garden for Inside the Outdoors while the remaining plants would go to local schools to introduce students to native plants and their role in the local ecosystem.

Shortly after the event, The Friends for Change Club at Brea Olinda High School contacted Inside the Outdoors as a result of a newspaper article about the D23 Expo and VoluntEAR project. The club members wanted to develop a student-led service-learning project to restore a portion of the Brea Olinda and Brea Canyon High School campuses. The timing could not have been better! The students’ idea for the restoration project matched the mission of Inside the Outdoors. The project would create awareness and knowledge about the environment and give the community a chance to put the knowledge into action. Working with Inside the Outdoors, the connections were made once again with Disney.

Once Disney heard about the club’s goal they jumped on board as a partner to support and facilitate this large scale restoration project. On March 28, 2010, more than 100 volunteers, including Disney VoluntEARS, came together to work on this project. The event was put on with the support of the Brea Olinda High School Friends for Change Club, Inside the Outdoors, Disney’s Friends for Change: Project Green, Disney VoluntEARS, Village Nurseries, Tree of Life Nursery, and California Native Plant Society.

Even Nicole Anderson from Disney’s “JONAS” came out to get these plants in the ground!

Approximately 2,000 plants that had started out as seedlings at the D23 event were planted on the once burnt hillside. Looking at the hillside, there is no doubt these plants are where they were meant to be. Inside the Outdoors is currently working with the Brea Olinda High School Friends for Change Club’s presidents: Lauren Kelley, Andrew Daedler, and Jacqueline Cortes to finish planting the remaining 2,000 plants. The work of these students is inspirational and sets a high standard for future service-learning projects.

When Students See a “Call to Action”

2010-09-02T09:27:00.001-04:00

Written by: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

Three years ago the community of Inland Lakes was not recycling. Other communities were but Inland Lakes had opted out. But the town was holding a vote to discuss this, and the students of the community saw this as the perfect call to action.

As a result, the students started to recycle in their school. They handed out signs and cookies and attended the meeting. They put up signs in their schools. They raised awareness about the impact recycling could have on their community.

When the township board voted it was passed overwhelmingly – thanks in part to the work of the Inland Lakes students. But their work was not done yet! Now they have to get people to use the system. They encourage their parents to recycle and teach their peers about the value and importance. As a result of their work Inlands Lake is now recycling.

Service-learning brings kids’ studies home and it makes it real. Even the students who have trouble engaging on a day to day basis do better when they’re getting hands-on learning. The students of Inland Lakes learned they could make a real difference and that inspired them to take action.

Hear the story of Inland Lakes’ Recycling Project:

A History of Service-Learning

2010-08-25T13:57:00.001-04:00

Written by: Julia Sewell

At seven years old, I was introduced into a world that has now become my source of light, passion and inspiration. Service-Learning entered my life at an early age, when I began to see the many issues that affected my inner city community of north Minneapolis, Minnesota. I noticed the disparities that existed among our inner city youth. I began to volunteer my time and my service and realized these actions were the things that made my heart throb and pump.

Following my heart, I began making lunches for the homeless, volunteering at soup kitchens, and then began writing and performing poetry on these issues and reading about the issues my community faced. From here, I was invited to attend the National Youth Leadership Training in Sandstone, Minnesota, at the age of 14. This training is held every year by the National Youth Leadership Council and is designed to bring the top youth leaders together for a week-long training on youth leadership, service-learning, and prominent social issues. At this camp, I learned the true meanings of service-learning and how I, as a young agent of change, could fully and effectively utilize it.

After attending this training, doors began to open up nationally and internationally. I became involved in an international leadership program called Youth Leaders International (YLI). This program brought together top leaders from across the world to delve into creating effective youth leadership strategies in our home countries. I represented the U.S. and was able to travel to France and Great Britain to discuss major social change and leadership issues with my counterparts. Following this, I was selected to be on the National Youth Leadership Council's Youth Advisory Board, the State Farm Youth Advisory Board, as well as the Youth Partnership Team for America's Promise Alliance. Through my participation with these boards, I had the opportunity to assist in granting $5 million to service-learning projects across the U.S. and Canada, I was able to travel and perform at service-learning conferences, and acted as a consultant to major national organizations. All of this was done before I was 18-years-old. I had found, at a young age, my passion. Working with and for young people was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

At the age of 15, I began motivational speaking and spoken word performing. Through this endeavor, I have traveled the globe, giving engaging and life-changing presentations on a variety of topics (i.e. poverty, service-learning, educational reform, domestic abuse, youth voice). I recently started my own not-for-profit, E.M.P.I.R.E., which is an organization that allows young people from around the country to use their voice and arts as a motivation to their own communities.

Service-learning, to me, is the examining of the issues that affects one's community and then creating a youth led project to address these particular issues. Service-learning has truly transformed my life because it has helped me to realize my specific art and how I can utilize it to truly navigate and more so motivate local, national, and international change.

I am now a 22-year-old college graduate of Augsburg College. I am currently doing a year of service in Detroit through the City Year program. Following this, I have plans to do research on resilience in Jamaica through the Fulbright Program and then to pursue my speaking, performing and training full time. Long term, I have plans to obtain my PhD in educational psychology and urban schooling.

For more information about the work that I do or the services I provide, please feel free to look at my following websites: www.sewellspeaks.com or www.empireproductions.org.

See Julia Sewell’s work below:

Also, for more information about service-learning and available projects including this, please check out www.nylc.org.

Community Records – A community partner with a beat

2010-08-20T09:50:00.001-04:00

Written by: Justin Fenwick, CRL3C

As a community partner, we are eager to work with service-learning programs. Community Records L3C (CRL3C) focuses on building communities through music. The built-in learning goals of a service-learning program fit well into the educational outcomes and connections to community issues we strive to make while taking individuals through the creative process.

Our Healthy Habitats project with the Willow Run School system through Learn and Serve - Bright Futures was a prime example. Our project involved Elementary, Middle, and High School students. (This includes gifted students, advanced placed students along with regular education students). The goal was to help the students develop awareness that they can impact the community and environment around them.

By focusing on a creek in the Huron River Watershed, the students investigated to find out what was needed to make it "healthy," including a process of taking water samples. CRL3C helped the students put music to their learning. By encouraging students to use their creativity in music, they begin to develop the internal power and skills needed to change the world. This works well with any issue that is tangible to a student, like the rivers in their own back yard. Music and songwriting provides a creative process that allows youth to better express themselves and learn from the project at hand.

“Creativity is more than a component of coping; it is a facet of our inner selves that enables us to develop perspective & flexibility, both of which help us to be more resilient. As I have watched my children grow, I have seen first-hand how creative expression can give kids a voice to articulate their emotions as well as a way to lose themselves in the act of creation.”

- Kenneth Ginsburg, MD from Building Resilience in Children & Teens
(American Academy of Pediatrics, 2006)

The ability to collectively write, record, and share music pairs responsibility and learning with fun.

CRL3C has partnered on other service-learning projects; including topics of community gardening and the respect of animals. We use music as a tool to better reach youth and give them voice into a community, often for the first time.

CRL3C is a social mission organization that builds local community, inspiring and creating relationships by bringing together diverse populations through collaborative participation in music & music education. This includes songwriting and music production, artistic collaborations, supporting local music, consulting using the creative process, and a deep commitment to community involvement and events. We create relationships with people, organizations, and communities to produce creative solutions to social barriers using art. We promote positivity in music workshops, producing music that is suitable for young people and families.

"We support you creating the most beautiful image of your world."

CRL3C can be reached at (734) 213-2733 or info@crl3c.org.

Grand Blanc Poetry Garden

2010-08-04T17:24:00.001-04:00

By: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

Situated between the upper and lower elementary was a plain patch of grass. Well…sometimes there wasn’t even grass. The students and teachers at the elementary schools wanted to turn the space into a place their community would want to spend time in, but the right idea hadn’t been proposed. While attending a professional development on service-learning one of the teachers hatched an idea. The plain patch of grass could be a poetry garden and it could be integrated it into their literature curriculum!

Today the garden is thriving and features trees, benches, and podiums where the children’s poetry is displayed. It has become a place of inspiration. They have a strong sense of pride and ownership of the garden. Their strong connection with the garden remains long after they have moved on to middle school and compels them to keep coming back to see how their garden grows. It holds memories for them and pride that their poetry was recognized in such a powerful way.

An authentic audience is always a motivating force for learning. It gives them relevance for their writing exercises. They know their poetry can have an effect on the world outside of the classroom. The poetry garden has become a place of creativity. They have turned a patch of grass into a wonderful learning environment.

You can hear the story of Grand Blanc Community School’s Poetry Garden below:

Read about additional service-learning projects at Grand Blanc – including their Michigan Native Garden – in the Michigan Community Service Commission’s December 2009 e-newsletter: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs090/1102444973205/archive/1102849297554.html.

H2O for Life – We have a project for YOU!

2010-07-28T11:36:00.001-04:00

By: Patty Hall, Executive Director of H20 for Life

H2O for Life, a United States based nonprofit, provides service-learning opportunities for schools, service clubs, and church groups to partner with schools around the world that are in need of WASH in Schools projects (water, sanitation, and hygiene education). Schools select a global school partner from a list generated by our non-governmental implementing organizations and begin studying the issues surrounding the clean water crisis. With the help of our NGO’s, we are able to share photos and a WASH project summary to our U.S. school partners. Students are able to experience a global connection through photos, and we also provide the opportunity for students to communicate through pen-pal letters.

H2O for Life provides curricular resources and ideas for teachers to raise awareness about the global clean water crisis, and also provides a variety of engaging fund-raising activities. Students not only research and study the issues prevalent in developing countries around the world; but also study issues we are facing in the United States. Conservation and good stewardship of the earth’s resources are very important issues addressed through our school connections. Perhaps the most exciting part of our project is the creativity we see from every individual school. With more than 160 schools participating with us this year, all are providing unique learning experiences.

Once U.S. students have investigated issues surrounding water, they ramp into action to raise funds to help provide a WASH in Schools project for their partner school. Our NGOs have generously agreed to find donors to fund half the project costs while H2O for Life Schools provide the rest of the funds. Project costs include “sweat equity” provided by the local community, and ALL projects are planned with in-put from the local community. Use of appropriate technology, sustainability, and local “ownership” are priority goals.

Teacher Celina McGee, from River Road Middle School in North Carolina, has the following to say:

“In our rapidly changing world, it is more important than ever for students to become globally aware and socially responsible citizens. Our students have increased their compassion for others and recognize THEY can, and have, made a difference. We are so very proud of them.”

Her students raised $2,450 for Sipili School in Kenya. Another U.S. School, Skyview Middle School in Colorado, also raised funds for Sipili, contributing another $2,400; while Wisconsin Middle Schools filled in the gap with a contribution of $2,100. Schools working together can raise a significant amount of funds!

Students plan and implement a variety of fund-raising events to raise money. The Principia in St. Louis, Missouri held a talent show complete with singing, dancing, and comedy. They single handedly raised $6,950! Teacher Bob Yeates summed up their project with the following comment:

“We love that the day our water project is operational, we start saving babies’ lives, we keep young girls in school, and personal hygiene will become a reality. This project is a ‘real-time’ project. It is living in the ‘now’.”

A consortium of schools in Wisconsin banded together and raised more than $11,000 for water. Some schools held “Drop in the Bucket” days, where students brought in coins. Many students walked miles carrying water to experience what their partner school students must do daily. It was a learning experience for all, and their efforts will make a big difference in the lives of students at recipient schools.

The First Presbyterian Church’s Junior and Senior Youth groups in Newton, Kansas, also raised $6,950 for Ndururi School in Kenya. Following a PowerPoint presentation given by the youth, the group sent home an empty water bottle with each member of the congregation. The label on the bottle explained their project and challenged each person to drop a nickel in the bottle each time they used water – washing hands, flushing the toilet, washing clothes, etc. This continued for six weeks! A lot of money was raised, but they also raised the awareness about the amount of water being used. The bottles were returned on “World Toilet Day,” November 19, which was celebrated with a festive meal and games. The games all focused on water and sanitation. For example:

· Throwing a roll of toilet paper through a toilet seat hanging from the ceiling.

· Guessing the distance to the nearest bathroom, as measured by the number of squares of toilet paper needed.

· Decorating a toilet seat.

The room was decorated with toilet paper streamers and centerpiece stacks of toilet paper that held facts about sanitation. A local plumber donated a new Kohler water efficient toilet that was used as an auction item. It was a very successful event.

The students continued to host a church dinner every month that had a theme – with proceeds supporting their WASH project. Students were engaged with the project, and worked hard to raise all the funds needed for Ndururi School. Youth Advisor, Michelle Coffman, relayed:

“The experience was a good one, not just for the youth, but for a sleepy congregation who needed to perk up and support a cause!”

The mission of H2O for Life is two-fold and both missions are extremely important. Educating the youth in the United States about the water crisis, and providing them with the opportunity to take action and make a difference is something we know will change their lives! We also know that by helping to provide WASH in Schools projects around the world, we are helping to provide opportunities for students in developing countries to have access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene education that will change their lives as well. Water = Peace, and we hope this generation of children will make that happen! H2O for Life is proud to partner with reliable NGOs and all of our schools, groups, and individual donors in their efforts to provide safe drinking water, sanitation, and hand-washing facilities at schools. We hope to continue our joint efforts to allow ALL children access to a clean drink of water!

For more information, visit: http://www.h2oforlifeschools.org/.

Learn and Serve – Michigan’s Resource Blog Author Wins National Award

2010-07-19T11:34:00.001-04:00

By: Robyn Stegman, Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA

As I’ve said before, helping with this blog has been one of my favorite parts of my service year. I get to hear so many great stories, ideas, and models of service-learning. So it is my great pleasure to share that June 23’s guest blogger, Janis Klein-Young, won the 2010 Learn and Serve Spirit of Service Award, a national award given to one exemplary Learn and Serve grantee each year. I was in attendance at the “It’s Up To You” Awards Ceremony where the award was given as part of the 2010 National Conference on Volunteering and Service. I was so excited to see this amazing woman get the recognition she deserves.

Janis Klein-Young has taught for 30 years and has built the amazing program at MacArthur South where 98 percent of the students have juvenile justice records. During the awards ceremony they shared the amazing success of her service-learning program. Over time, school attendance of participating students has rose 15 percent. Their GPAs have gone from an average of 1.02 in 2008 to 2.57 in 2009. This past academic year approximately 90 percent of participating 12 graders graduated an unheard of percent for this population.

“Being needed by others helps these young people understand they do have a purpose,” said Philippe Cousteau when he presented the award.

Janis Klein-Young proves the power of service-learning is not just that it can engage students and empower them to reach new heights of academic achievement, but it can also grow them as a person and change their lives for ever. It is a powerful story and I am happy to see it receive national attention.

“Without service-learning my students would become victims of their past. Instead they become victors of their future,” Janis Klein-Young said. Her story proves the life-altering effects of service-learning on some of our country’s most disadvantaged students.

You can watch the entire “It’s Up To You” event and awards ceremony at: http://www.volunteeringandservice.org/.

MacArthur South – A Service-Learning Academy

2010-06-23T10:09:00.001-04:00

By: Janis Klein-Young, MacArthur South & Robyn Stegman, Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA

Recently I came across an amazing school in Florida: MacArthur South, an alternative school and service-learning academy. Many of the students of MacArthur South have committed serious criminal offences such as fighting, substance abuse, gang activity, and truancy. They enter the school impulsive, aggressive, and hostile with failing test scores and serious attendance problems.

MacArthur South is located in Homestead, Florida, a community that has seen many troubles. The youth of Homestead make up for 75 percent of the crime rate, a result of their struggle with substance abuse and gang violence. Sixty percent of students drop out of Homestead’s schools, which ranks far below others in academic performance.

In 2005 MacArthur South was selected to totally restructure its curriculum under the districts “Secondary School Reform” initiative. The school decided to expand their pre-developed arts-based service-learning program and transform the entire school into an alternative high school emphasizing service-learning.

In one program students attend weekly workshops with local artists-in-residence who teach them South and Central American indigenous art techniques. They learn sculpting, painting, quilting, pottery, and more. These students become responsible for keeping these dying art forms alive.

The students revitalize their community with these skills. Their artwork is used to revitalize their abandoned downtown district. The body of work of these young people reflects profound statements about social change, legacy, and cultural enrichment. Their work has become a catalyst for Homestead’s resurgence. It has stimulated tourism, employment opportunities, and economic development.

Throughout the year these students teach these vanishing techniques, as well as create their own original artworks that inspire others to pick up these art forms. The students conduct workshops in homeless shelters, special education schools, hospitals, and assisted living facilities to help people with brain injuries, mental illness, and disabilities.

Other MacArthur South classes also work with local partners. Spanish classes read a local Hispanic newspaper to the elderly. The Language Arts classes read books to the local individuals and interview and help write their biographies to share in the school newspaper. The culinary arts class has opened an intergenerational café after being trained by a nationalist to provide age-appropriate food to the elderly. Science classes raised a travelling amphibian petting zoo to bring to each center. Math classes plan and sew quilts, build kites, and play interactive math games designed and built by the woodshop class. Physical education students conduct adaptive exercise classes for immobilized partners at the park. Horticulture students plant a campus butterfly garden. Art students have constructed a ceramic butterfly mural alongside the garden where all students can spend time reflecting in their service-learning personal diaries.

The students integrate lessons learned with art into lessons learned at school. The student’s have been shown to have higher grades, better test scores, and improved behavior. A fewer number of students in this program drop out. These students are changing the way the community perceives its youth by changing the way they see themselves.

Rethinking the Process of Qualifying Service-Learning Partner Sites

2010-06-16T16:46:00.001-04:00

By: Gary Kosman, Founder & CEO of America Learns

My friend Andrea is a high-powered, super smart lawyer and do-gooder in Los Angeles who cringes at the idea of working for a small, community-based nonprofit.

When Andrea was engaged in service-learning, the site where she was placed provided her with an incredibly exciting project that was supposedly going to add a ton of value to the organization. While Andrea’s supervisor loved Andrea’s deliverables and while Andrea’s professor awarded her with an “A” for her service, the project Andrea spent countless hours on was never actually used at her organization. Why, thought Andrea, should I spend my time somewhere when the organization doesn’t have the capacity or formal plans to implement the “really important project” they asked me to work on?

This experience led her to steer clear of the idea of working for a community-based organization.

The Problem Doesn’t Stop with Andrea
Last year; a university approached America Learns with a problem: its students were living Andrea’s service-learning experience. Students were being placed in nonprofits, completing supposedly important projects (databases, implementation plans for special initiatives), and then finding that while their projects received rave reviews, their host sites never asked themselves, “Do we really have the capacity to implement what these students create for us?” Nor did they ask, “What steps are we going to take to ensure the projects these people work on will truly help us to realize our mission while giving our those in service-learning a meaningful experience?”

The Host Site Qualifying Process
After listening to the concerns of the university, we spent some time creating this document. Here’s what happens when this document is used:

1. The host organization confirms, even pledges, the project the service learners will work on has real value for the organization. By doing this, we take steps to ensure those involved in service-learning walk away from their experience with the knowledge they really made a difference, hopefully inspiring them to continue making a difference in their community.

2. We try to make sure the host site has the student’s interests in mind. We ask the organization to clearly define the purpose and intended outcomes of the experience for those in service-learning, not just for the organization.

3. The host organization holds one person accountable for the project being successful, both for the organization and for the student. The organization identifies the one employee who will be held accountable for the student receiving everything that’s needed to achieve the project-based and student-focused outcomes described earlier in the application. By holding one person accountable in advance for the student’s success, we make sure the organization itself is not only held responsible for its commitments to the student, but that there’s a single face, a real person, that teachers and professors can hold accountable for how the student is treated on-site. Setting up group meetings or calls to figure out “what happened” should problems arise shouldn’t be necessary.

4. The organization states up front that it has already developed a plan to implement the student’s project (so long as it meets expectations and other variables affecting the organization have not changed). The organization actually submits that implementation plan as a part of the application, and also lists any factors that may hinder the project’s implementation.

This qualifying process would obviously need to be modified for non-project based service experiences (e.g., providing tutoring or mentoring services), but we encourage the organizations we serve to qualify their partners in a similar way by:

· Making sure a student’s service has the potential to deliver real value to the organization;

· Making sure the organization has the capacity to really benefit from the student’s service and has created a plan to really benefit from the student’s service; and

· Making sure the organization’s team members are committed to ensuring that the student truly benefits from the service experience.

Bonus!
Once you have this document, you also have clear criteria that can be used to evaluate the project’s impact.

Technology Integration in 21st Century Service-Learning

2010-06-09T15:04:00.001-04:00

By: Heather Wells

“Education is the foundation of our democracy -- the stepping-stones for our youth to reach their full potential.”
- George Lucas

It may not be an obvious fit for some, but technology integration and service-learning go hand in hand. Both capitalize on the 21^st Century Skills our students need to reach their potential to individually grow, socially develop, and create a better world.

At this year’s National Service Learning Conference there were clear examples of how students were embedding technology into their service-learning projects. Pioneer High School was one of the leading schools for utilizing technology and social media. As part of the onsite service-learning projects they promoted a mobile phone application to students and the conference community called Cause World that allows people to log “Karma Points” when visiting participating businesses. The points are then converted to dollars backed by corporate sponsors Citi, Kraft, and Proctor & Gamble the user can donate to charitable organizations, such as Carbonfund.org. This is just one example of how one technology tool can be used for service but it has the potential to go much deeper then that.

When thinking about technology integration, educators must think about changing the way they teach. The George Lucas Education Foundation, Edutopia, has some great resources to begin rethinking the process. Project Based Learning (PBL) is just one area Edutopia supports and provides one way for creating a richer experience for students. PBL offers the opportunity for educators to create lessons that are hands on and relevant to the students’ lives. Both technology integration and service learning are key components to successful PBL. Where traditional education is often irrelevant, applying both Service-Learning and Technology Integration gives students the 21^st Century Skills they need to be successful in the future economy.

There are many technology-enhanced, service-learning opportunities out there. Two projects that utilize h.323 videoconferencing are Alex’s Virtual Lemonade Stand and Stand up. Speak Out. Lend a Hand! These projects are coordinated by the Mid-Atlantic Gigapop in Philadelphia for Internet2 (MAGPI) and open to all schools that have h.323 equipment.

Global Kids is another fantastic organization that has some great tools and offerings for using technology with service-learning. They are on the cutting edge for the tools they integrate and are proponents for video game development that approaches global situations differently and with depth that engages students to creatively solve problems.

Other popular social media tools such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Flickr all are great for communicating and sharing resources. They are popular tools and utilizing them will get the word out to a larger community at a faster pace. There is a plethora of tools out there; it can be daunting to try to tackle all of the information at once. My advice to teachers just starting and considering the use of technology is to start with one tool for one purpose. And remember that your greatest resource for learning is your students – and also remember that all of this will not just go away, technology is here to stay.

Engaging Families in Service-Learning

2010-06-02T16:58:00.001-04:00

By: Jenny Friedman, Executive Director of Doing Good Together

Horace Mann was an educational reformer, so it’s not surprising the school in St. Paul, Minnesota that bears his name is leading the way on school wide community involvement. Working with Doing Good Together (www.doinggoodtogether.org), a nonprofit I began in 2004 to encourage family service, Horace Mann Elementary created a Family Service Committee charged with organizing events and providing resources to enhance service-learning efforts, build school community, and support local nonprofits.

The school’s annual winter Family Service Night, for example, consists of six to eight “stations” scattered around the building where families can work on a service project together, such as making sandwiches for a local shelter or creating blankets for a local hospital. Each station is stocked with materials to enrich the experience – including talking points to jumpstart family conversations, children’s books on issues like homelessness, and suggestions for other community volunteer projects to delve into.

The Horace Mann program is just one example of how parents and families can be a valuable component in a school’s service-learning efforts. Family-centered programs are great for modeling service for students, encouraging student participation in service, contributing time and talents to current initiatives, and deepening the culture of service. In turn, service-learning offers parents and families the chance to become engaged in schools and community organizations in unique and powerful ways. Yet it can be difficult to find meaningful roles for parents and to encourage busy families to weave service into their lives – two essential ingredients for engaging your students’ families as partners in service-learning. Below are a few tips for getting started:

• Introduce families to the concepts of service and service-learning through simple in-house events such as Family Service Night. (To learn more about holding this event, visit http://www.doinggoodtogether.org/index.php/resources-and-services/family-service-night/)

• Act as a resource for families by providing simple ideas for how they can integrate service into their lives. The Blake School in Hopkins, Minnesota, posts a list of family service opportunities on its website each month. One school has students add a loop to a paper chain for each service project their family completes. This “chain of caring” circles the cafeteria, a visual reminder of all the community work families are doing.

• For a richer experience for families, incorporate service-learning principles into your family service efforts, include families in planning and celebration, and encourage reflection.

• Consider using surveys and interviews to determine the talents and skills each family could contribute and how they’d like to be involved. Options could include: assisting with service-learning planning, networking with community organizations, providing transportation to service sites, helping with fundraising or promotion, documenting projects, and acting as mentors to youth. More experienced parents could also act as resources and mentors for new parents and families.

These resources (some the result of my organization’s own experiences) can be helpful as you contemplate ways to engage families as service-learning partners:

• Doing Good Together (www.doinggoodtogether.org)

• Engaging Families in Service: Broadening Service Learning’s Reach, Impact and Support (National Service Learning Clearinghouse, 2009) by Gene Roehlkepartain and Jenny Friedman http://www.servicelearning.org/instant_info/fact_sheets/cb_facts/engaging/expanded.php.

• What Is Service Learning? A Guide for Parents (National Service Learning Clearinghouse, 2007) by Cathryn Berger Kaye http://www.servicelearning.org/filemanager/download/What_is_service-learning_guide_for_parents-updated2009.pdf

• Doing Good Together: 101 Service Easy, Meaningful Service Projects for Families, Schools and Communities by Jenny Friedman and Jolene Roehlkepartain
(Free Spirit Publishing, August 2010; available for preorder at www.amazon.com or www.freesprit.com)

You’ll find that with a little focus and effort, enlisting families as partners in service-learning will enrich your service-learning programs, build community, and help nurture compassion and community involvement in young people. If you’d like information about engaging families into your service-learning efforts, you’re invited to contact me at jenny@doinggoodtogether.org.

Why I Do Service-Learning

2010-05-24T09:38:00.001-04:00

By: Robyn Stegman, Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA

“30 years ago, I never expected to like being called a blogger.”
- Nick Holton

The Guest Blogging program has been one of my favorite parts of my service here as the Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA. I get to invite people to blog for us who have never blogged before. I get to share ideas and opinions from people all over the world of service-learning. Over the next few months we have blogs lined up from all over the United States. Blogs from youth innovators, involved parents, service-learning professionals, and leaders in the service field, not to mention blogs from the awesome service-learning practitioners we have right here in the state of Michigan.

I’m always looking for first time bloggers. We want you to share your stories, so I am pleased to announce that we will be starting a new blog series:

Why I Do Service-Learning asks Michigan service-learning practitioners to tell their stories and dreams from the field. Over the next months we’ll share inspirational stories from across the state that provides an answer to the question: why engage in service-learning? To kick off this series I decided to share my own story of why I do service-learning.

Empowering Change: Why I Do Service-Learning.

When I was in the third grade my teacher asked us all to imagine that we were in medieval times. Each student received a piece of paper that told us what our role was to be. I was to be a serf and I quickly learned this was not a good thing. While the King and Queen got to snack on cupcakes, the serfs were given saltine crackers. While the lords and ladies could color with the brightest and most beautiful markers we were given yellow and brown crayons. We were told that in medieval times things were not fair, and on that my teacher and I agreed. So what does a third grader do in the face of medieval oppression? Strike.

That’s right. I got all of my fellow serfs together and we took construction paper and our yellow and brown crayons and made signs. We marched around the room through the sections of the classroom reserved for the upper crust, through our own imagined serf village, refusing to do our work until equality was restored. In the third grade I learned how to successfully lead a revolution.

Children are full with the energy and spirit that can change the world and they shouldn’t have to wait until they are 20 to do something about it. That day in the third grade I knew I wanted to change the world, even if it was an imaginary one. Imagine what my peers and I could have done in a service-learning classroom. What impact might we have had on the real world?

When I do site visits with Learn and Serve – Michigan grantees I see the same fire that ignited my third grade classroom. I see students, who by the fifth grade, have changed more lives then they can count. I meet middle school students who can speak more eloquently about homelessness then most adults. I meet kids who already, at the age of 10 or 17, have come up with a plan that will revolutionize the world, and it is because of their teachers and their classes.

Years later my third grade teacher still tells that story of the classroom strike. She once told me “That day I didn’t teach you, you taught me.” Now it is my turn to learn from students. Last month I was talking to fifth graders at the Detroit Service-Learning Academy about creating a community garden with them next year. One student raised his hand and asked, “Will we use organic seeds?” The truth was I hadn’t even thought about that. The students then engaged in a conversation about healthy recipes and ways they could use organically grown vegetables to make juice to replace the overly sugared juice beverages most kids drink. They were already making plans to change their community and we hadn’t even started the garden yet.

When I have a bad day at my service site, I think of those students and other students I have had the pleasure to meet. I think of their stories and accomplishments. Learn and Serve – Michigan students have contributed millions of hours of service to communities all over the state. They are transforming their community, becoming change makers, and leaders that are transforming the world today. That’s why I do service-learning: because kids are powerful forces for change and service-learning unleashes their potential.

Tell your story! Let us know why you do service-learning at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/whyidosl.

Collaboration – Here’s How!

2010-05-13T15:45:00.001-04:00

By: Matt Reaume, Michigan Community Service Commission Cross-Stream AmeriCorps*VISTA & Robyn Stegman, Learn and Serve – Michigan AmeriCorps*VISTA

Have you ever had trouble coordinating academic service-learning projects for your students? The task is no small endeavor. Imagine your relief if you were given access to an organization or a group of individuals who had experience implementing similar service projects in your area.

Think about what could come from having the ability to utilize an already established network of volunteers. How much easier would it be to get an event off the ground if key community partnerships were already forged; if funding could be diversified; if resources, best practices, energy, and idealism were in no short supply? What if?

On the surface, the sample scenario described above may sound like a pipe dream. But on the contrary, this depiction illustrates the potential that exists for Learn and Serve -Michigan grantees to collaborate with other local national service programs like AmeriCorps and Senior Corps in our state.

What is AmeriCorps?
AmeriCorps is a national service program that strengthens communities by involving people in service to meet local challenges. Through AmeriCorps, individuals can serve with community and faith-based organization, higher education institutions, and public agencies in many ways. If you are interested in seeing firsthand the type of projects that AmeriCorps members are completing in Michigan, look no further than your local community, as this week marks the Fourth Annual AmeriCorps Week!

AmeriCorps Week is an opportunity for AmeriCorps members, alums, grantees, program partners, and friends to celebrate the service and powerful impact that AmeriCorps has had on local communities. AmeriCorps Week events are taking place all throughout Michigan between May 8 and 15. What better way to explore the potential for collaboration than by participating? For a list of current AmeriCorps Week projects taking place, be sure the visit the Michigan Community Service Commission website at www.michigan.gov/mcsc.

What is Senior Corps?
Senior Corps is a network of programs that tap the experience, skills, and talents of older citizens to meet community challenges through Foster Grandparents, Senior Companions, and RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) programs. More than 11,000 seniors in Michigan contribute their time and talents to one of three Senior Corps programs. More than 1,800 Foster Grandparents serve one-on-one as tutors and mentors to young people who have special needs. Senior Companions help homebound seniors and other adults maintain independence in their own homes. RSVP volunteers conduct safety patrols for local police departments, participate in environmental projects, tutor and mentor youth, respond to natural disasters, and provide other services throughout Michigan.

How do I get in touch with programs in my area?
At the Michigan Community Service Commission, we are looking for ways to connect each stream of service. Schools in Michigan are already using Senior Corps and AmeriCorps members in their area to strengthen their service-learning programs. How can you find these volunteers? Check out the MCSC website to see a map of the locations of the various service sites for each Michigan’s AmeriCorps program. And be sure to check back with the site in the coming months as a new interactive, online database will be launched, allowing visitors to conduct a more comprehensive search by location, program type, and program focus for all of Michigan’s national service programs!

The Legacy of Rural Service-Learning

2010-05-04T13:16:00.001-04:00

By: Nicholas Holton, Service-Learning Coordinator at Kirtland Community College

In my third decade as a service-learning teacher, I often wonder, what were the underpinnings of my commitment to service as a pedagogy? I keep coming back to the strong rural traditions of my small country school. My teachers didn’t use terms like civic engagement, community service, or service-learning, but they did tell us we could help others. They did explain to us we had a responsibility to make our community a better place. Finally they did show us through service projects how to make our community better. Service-learning and civic engagement was alive in our small rural school back then, and it is even more vibrant today.

Rural areas in general and rural schools in particular are seen in one of two ways. Some think rural places are filled with peaceful bucolic towns of slow moving happy people. Others think of back woods filled with ignorant bumpkins ready to shoot anyone coming near. In fact, rural areas are filled with people who have the same problems as any large city. Poverty, crime, homelessness, domestic violence, and any other issue faced by large urban areas are also found in rural America. Helping our students to recognize the problems, and start to alleviate their effects is the mission of rural service-learning programs.

The challenge for rural service-learning teachers is to overcome the special challenges of rural areas to create meaningful projects that enrich student learning, Students, some reluctant at first to do service projects, embrace this as an alternative to the lecture-test method often found in our classrooms.

Just one example of a challenge faced by rural areas is the large geographical area of many rural districts. My local school district covers an area of approximately 500 square miles. Getting students to, and from, service projects is always an obstacle. Successful teachers find ways to overcome this through class trips, developing projects students can do at home, and using technology to reach out to others across vast distances. Similarly, other challenges unique to rural service-learning can be addressed through creative solutions.

My passion for service-learning can be traced back to my earliest classroom experiences in rural Michigan classrooms. My teachers knew an engaged citizenry was the best hope for the future of our country. Their commitment to students created adults ready for college, the workforce, and the responsibilities of a democracy. Today’s rural service-learning teachers are carrying on this tradition quietly down the back roads of Michigan, creating rich service opportunities for students and creating the next generation leaders.

State Service Commissions – Making a Difference

2010-04-28T09:11:00.001-04:00

By: Michigan Community Service Commission

There are organizations across America that are tackling the critical issues many communities face – and they’re doing it through service and volunteerism. We’re talking about State Service Commissions, governor-appointed public agencies or private nonprofits that are leading some of the nation’s broadest service efforts.

There are 54 State Service Commissions located across the country, including in all 50 states and in American Samoa, District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands. Their efforts are widespread as they leverage local, state, and federal funds and provide service opportunities to millions of Americans.

Here in Michigan there is the Michigan Community Service Commission, or MCSC. The MCSC acts as the state’s lead agency on volunteerism and promotes service as a strategy to address Michigan’s toughest challenges. In 2008, more than 2.3 million adults volunteered more than 325 million service hours. The MCSC looks to increase these efforts and their overall impact.

The Michigan Community Service Commission has four major initiatives: Michigan’s AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve – Michigan, Mentor Michigan, and Governor’s Service Awards. It also supports a variety of other initiatives related to service and volunteerism – such as National Days of Service. The MCSC receives funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service to provide AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve in Michigan – which are National Service programs. These funds then leverage millions of dollars in local communities, making the investment in service strong in many areas of the state.

The MCSC believes strongly in the impact citizens can have when they give their time and talent to service. The Commission believes communities can be strengthened through volunteerism and strives to do so by:

Providing leadership to support, promote, and expand volunteerism
Securing and delivering resources to expand programming and excellence in volunteering and service
Focusing on the critical community needs identified at the local, state, and national levels

If you’d like to learn more about the Michigan Community Service Commission, check out their 2010 Informational Sheet or visit www.michigan.gov/volunteer.

Also be sure to connect with them online by finding them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MICommunityServiceCommission or following them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MCSConline.

Get Ur Good On

2010-04-15T10:32:00.001-04:00

By: Portia Obeng from Youth Service America

When I was in high school, I had to complete a certain number of service hours for National Honor Society. I vividly remember trying to find a volunteer activity I would really enjoy, but I never found the perfect activity for me. Back then, I wish I had access to a website like Get Ur Good On (www.GetUrGoodOn.org) to help me find my service passion and learn how to turn that passion into action.

Get Ur Good On is Youth Service America’s youth engagement partnership with singer and actress Miley Cyrus. This is a social networking site where young people upload pictures, videos, and blog postings about what they are doing to make a difference in their communities.

This site is much more than your typical status updates and pictures of people’s vacations. Almost 9,000 teens from around the world have created an online community where they share pictures from service trips in southern India, blog about ways to save the environment, and upload videos they’ve made addressing teen suicide prevention.

Most recently, I have been amazed by the way Get Ur Good On users have responded tremendously to the call put out to “Get Ur Good On for Haiti.” Pat wrote a blog post about how his school in Indianapolis, Indiana is going to collect shoes and clothes at a clothing drive for Haiti during prom. Kassandra uploaded pictures of her school’s fundraiser in Charlotte, North Carolina called “Hearts for Haiti” where they sold paper hearts to raise $1,500 in donations. Pat and Kassandra are only two of the dozens of Get Ur Good On users that exemplify what Get Ur Good On is all about; they not only answered the call to action, but shared their story on the site and inspired other young people to suggest Haiti service projects in school too.

What I love about Get Ur Good On is that young people are inspiring each other to change the world and showcasing that doing “good” is the cool thing to do. Getting your good on is so easy; take pictures or record a video of your next service project or write a blog post about an issue you’re passionate about and share it on the site. Also encourage other people in your life to do good too by educating them and inviting them with you on service projects.

But most important, make sure to go Get Ur Good On!

2010 Global Youth Service Day – What We’re Doing!

2010-04-08T17:37:00.001-04:00

By: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

This year Learn and Serve – Michigan is honoring Global Youth Service Day with Conservation, Celebration, and Education.

Conservation: We’re joining hundreds of people this year to clean up Lansing’s Grand River during the Spring 2010 Adopt-a-River Clean-Up. The Adopt-a-River Clean-Up is an annual, all-day event held on April 18 and centered around the Grand River and water conservation. This year, Learn and Serve – Michigan is partnering with the organizers of the project, Impression 5 and the Board of Water and Light, to engage youth in long term service to their community.

Education: The Adopt-a-River Clean-Up has long engaged people from the Mid-Michigan area in a day-long service project. This year we will draw additional youth from around the state to assist in this service project and encourage environmental stewardship. Learn and Serve – Michigan members will distribute resource materials with ideas of how young people can take the momentum of the day and become lifelong environmental stewards. Each youth will have the opportunity to pledge to protect, clean, and preserve Michigan’s waterways, and become an environmental steward for their community. Learn and Serve – Michigan will also have resources available on how to use service-learning to bring environmental stewardship into the classroom.

Celebration: The Service-Learning Youth Council members will spend the day recording video and blogging about the event. We’ll use their images and stories during the week leading up to Global Youth Service Day to celebrate their efforts and encourage more of you to participate in your own Global Youth Service Day projects on April 23, 24, and 25.

Join Us: We encourage everyone to get involved. If you are in Lansing on Sunday, April 18, come and volunteer at the event and pledge to become an environmental steward. For more information and to register for the event click here.

If you can’t make it…at least try and celebrate Global Youth Service Day in your own way. Organize a service project or volunteer during April 23, 24, and/or 25 and prove youth can make a powerful difference in the world. If you are planning an event…make sure to register it online so we can tell the world about the great things Michigan youth can do! You can register by filling out this survey. (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LP8ND2X)

Make sure to follow our Global Youth Service Day event on Sunday, April 18, 2010 online!

Twitter: www.twitter.com/learnandservemi

Facebook: www.facebook.com/learnandservemi

YouTube: www.twitter.com/mcsconline

To find out more about Learn and Serve – Michigan’s involvement and our Global Youth Service Day efforts contact Robyn Stegman at stegmanr@michigan.gov or (517)241-0214.

Global Youth Service Day – How Are YOU Getting Involved?

2010-04-01T11:15:00.001-04:00

By: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

The Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC) and Learn and Serve - Michigan are excited to mobilize youth across the state through volunteerism this April as part of the 2010 Global Youth Service Day. This annual opportunity, held on April 23, 24, and 25, encourages children and young people to address the world's most critical issues by partnering with families, schools, community and faith-based organizations, businesses, and government.

Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) is led by Youth Service America, with the MCSC serving as a GYSD Lead Agency to encourage service locally. As part of the MCSC's efforts, we have invited members of the service-learning community across Michigan to get involved!

Commit to support the 2010 GYSD in Michigan in the following ways:

Plan a Global Youth Service Day event in your community. Try and focus on an event that incorporates youth in the planning and implementation of service.
Post information about the 2010 GYSD on your website - if applicable.
Encourage the young people in your network to create and post their own GYSD projects.

Need help getting involved?
Youth Service America’s resources; available at no charge, are useful when planning youth-service opportunities in your community. Available at www.gysd.org, they include:

Informational posters
Planning toolkit
Strategy guide
Media training manual
Fundraising and support tips
And much more!

Join Our Efforts!
There are already 14 projects planned across Michigan for the 2010 Global Youth Service Day with the possibility of engaging more than 980 youth. Won’t you join these efforts?

And please note, although the 2010 GYSD is scheduled for April 23, 24, and 25 – any service project planned this spring can be considered part of this large-scale effort. Whether it’s an event occurring as part of the annual National Volunteer Week, or a project slated for the end of this school year, please consider submitting it as a 2010 GYSD event.

Get involved in this unique opportunity – for more information visit www.gysd.org or www.michigan.gov/volunteer.

State Farm Companies Foundation is the Presenting Sponsor of Global Youth Service Day. The State Farm Companies Foundation is a tax-exempt private foundation that was established in 1963 and is funded by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. State Farm Companies Foundation provides charitable support for K-12 public education initiatives that are national in scope in the areas of systemic improvement, service-learning, and teacher excellence. For more information about State Farm Companies Foundation, please visit www.statefarm.com/about/part_spos/grants/foundation_grants.asp.

Youth Serving – Your Community’s Best Kept Secret?

2010-03-26T16:08:00.001-04:00

By: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

Global Youth Service Day is coming up this April (23, 24, & 25) and many people are looking for new ways to get young people involved in their communities. Many of Learn and Serve Michigan’s blog readers know how important youth are to our communities and benefits they receive and give when they are engaged in service. What you may not know is that people like Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, and Usher recognize youth potential as well and are part of great organizations that encourage and recognize young people to serve their communities.

There are a lot of opportunities out there for young people to get engaged in service and service-learning. There are organizations that give grants, prizes, and awards solely to teens who volunteer. Here are five great websites built to empower young people to serve their community:

DoSomething.org
DoSomething.org aims to inspire, empower, and support a generation of doers. Their website provides valuable tools and resources for teens who want to take positive action in their community. Perhaps the coolest feature of their site is the Act Now Matrix. Young people enter the issue they want to take action on, who they are working with, where they will take action, and the amount of time they have…the Act Now Matrix provides a list (usually 10-20 suggestions) of ways they can take action. DoSomething.org also offers a lot $500 grants for young people to take action. For instance, if a young person wanted to start a club or service program they could apply for a $500 start-up grant to get the ball rolling. There are dozens of these grants youth can apply for to get money to fuel their call to action.

Get Ur Good On
Get Ur Good On is an online community of young people engaged in service. Started by Youth Service America and Miley Cyrus, this community gives teens a place to post photos, videos, and blogs about their service as well as provide advice on ways young people can get involved. This is a great resource for youth to share and promote their projects and gain some national attention for the good work they do while interacting with other young do-gooders from across the country.

Powered By Service
Powered by Service was launched by recording artist Usher at the Clinton Global Initiative to get young people involved in the world’s most important issues. Not only does Powered by Service call youth to action, but it gives them the tools they need to make real change. They strive to make ideas into action by providing toolkits, grants, and other resources to youth who have the drive to make a difference.

Best Buy @15
This is a really cool site from Best Buy where teens get to decide where Best Buy spends its money. Teens earn points by participating in the site’s forums, polls, and discussions. Those points are then used to decide where Best Buy should give money. This past January, Best Buy decided how to split a $250,000 grant between four organizations by asking the teens to put their points toward the organization that should get the majority of the funds. Teens can also vote on which schools should receive grants, which students should get scholarships, and all sorts of giving challenges. If your teens need more incentive they can also get an exclusive look at Taylor Swift’s current tour at the site and capitalize on opportunities to visit important political conventions and events including sending teens to the inauguration of the President last year.

YouthSite
This month the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse announced the debut of YouthSITE a new section of www.servicelearning.org devoted to resources created for youth, by youth. YouthSITE stands for Youth Sharing Ideas and Tools for Engagement. It will be a platform for students of all ages to tell their service-learning stories and inspire each other. Young people can contribute to the site by emailing the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse at nslc-info@servicelearning.org.

Do you have a youth service resource? Post it in the comments section!

Inclusive Service-Learning

2010-03-16T12:13:00.001-04:00

“Be open, acknowledge the difference, and remove the human made barrier and stigma.”

By Shana Holet: MCSC Inclusion AmeriCorps*VISTA

My name is Shana Holet and I am the Inclusion AmeriCorps*VISTA serving at the Michigan Community Service Commission (MCSC). My role here at the MCSC is to serve with AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve, and Senior Corps programs in Michigan on disability and inclusion efforts. I provide support; such as resources and information, outreach, and needs assessments. I also serve with our state’s disability community doing outreach and promoting the opportunity for service as an option for people within that community.

As I reflect back to my school experiences and preferred learning-style I was never a participant in a formal grant-funded Learn and Serve program, but I received a similar experience last year as I was finishing my degree requirements at Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU). During my internship requirement, I was placed in a nonprofit agency, the Arc of Midland, and applied concepts from the classroom into the daily operation of this nonprofit. Specific competencies had to be met. Within this experience, I gained a first-hand perspective on how important it is to have the correct supports in place for anyone in all facets of life. Specifically, the Arc of Midland works with individuals who experience intellectual disabilities.

Whether at a social gathering, in a service-learning program, at an internship, in a classroom, or at your place of employment, it is crucial for the correct supports to be in place, in order for a meaningful experience to occur. For individuals with disabilities it is important to acknowledge the differences and then acknowledge how full participation can occur, in whatever facet of life may be up for discussion. Far too often, society is resistant to try something that is unfamiliar to them or venture to working towards including all members of a community because the difference is not understood. The fact is people with disabilities are different, but it is not the disability that prevents full-inclusion. It is the barriers put up by society and the stigma that surrounds disability.

For example, during my internship at the Arc of Midland, my supervisor asked that I assist with facilitation of a night class for people served by the organization. I am an individual who does not drive and the public transportation between Midland County and Saginaw County where I traveled to and from SVSU is very limited. Yes, it is due to a disability that I do not drive. And it was due to limited resources that another way had to be found so I could fully participate in the internship experience and have the opportunity to practice facilitation. The solution was that I would be provided a ride after the night class by a personal assistant who helps one of the individuals served by the Arc. The individual served by the Arc was able to provide a taxi service for individuals who were not adequately served by the traditional services in place. This service was provided because of his own need for personal assistance and support as a result of a disability.

It was not my disability that made the prospect of travel during a specific time of day difficult, but the lack of funding, acceptance of public transportation, and the fact that Michigan is an automotive-driven state. Relying on others does have a stigma, but as demonstrated here, creativity, willingness, and lack of a stigma allowed for a full and meaningful learning experience. This concept of creativity can be applied to any situation. All one has to do is be open, acknowledge the difference, and remove the human-made barriers and stigmas.

Service-Learning: A Perfect Fit for Me

2010-03-09T10:56:00.001-05:00

By: Sue Wilson

It seems like community service has always been a part of who I am as an individual. I grew up in a rural community and was taught the importance of helping others in our neighborhood. As a high school student, I belonged to clubs that focused on servicing local organizations. After I was married, my husband and I passed on these values to our children. They too learned and embraced the importance of giving back. For many years, our summer vacations were spent helping others on mission trips to Detroit, Pittsburg, Kentucky, West Virginia, or border towns in Mexico.

When the opportunity to work on a second career became available, I decided to become a teacher. Five years later in my new teaching position, I was introduced to service-learning at a workshop led by my soon-to-be mentors and friends, Renee Weaver-Wright and Deb Wagner. Service-learning was a perfect fit for me. I was excited to be able to combine classroom learning with community service. I couldn’t wait to get started!

My first project was a hit with my eighth grade language arts and social studies students. The class novel we were reading focused on the time era of the Great Depression. My students expressed interest in learning more about that time period from those who actually experienced it. (Talk about youth voice!) So we did some investigating and discovered a vibrant Senior Center in our community that had seniors that were old enough to remember some stories about the Great Depression. My students wanted to interview them and create Legacy Booklets about the senior’s life. After bringing in a newspaper editor to teach us how to interview others, we then contacted the Senior Center. We asked Mrs. Bartoes, the Senior Center director, to talk to us about senior citizens and how they might react when interviewed about the Great Depression. Students worked with their peers to write interview questions, then practiced interviewing each other before they met with their seniors. What resulted was an incredible intergenerational experience with eighth graders and senior citizens listening, learning, talking, writing, and laughing. Their final products, the Legacy Booklets, were presented to the senior citizens and their families at an Ice Cream Social held at our school. My eighth graders were empowered and learned more about language arts, history, and serving their community than any textbook could have taught them.

I continue to use service-learning (the Clarkston Community Schools district calls it Academic Service Learning or ASL) in my classroom to give my students the opportunity to take their learning to the next level. ASL is a tool not a program that I use to teach skills in language arts, civic responsibility, and leadership. All students, no matter what their background or learning level, can benefit from experiencing ASL. I can’t imagine teaching without it!

P.S. Cathryn Berger-Kaye taught me the importance of surrounding my students with inspiring service-learning quotes. My favorite:

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”
- Aristotle

Sue Wilson is a teacher with Clarkston Community Schools, a former Learn and Serve – Michigan grantee. She also received the 2010 Outstanding Service-Learning Award for a K-12 Teacher/Practitioner.

Service-Learning – A Strategy to Keep Kids Engaged

2010-03-03T08:54:00.001-05:00

By: Cathy Berger Kaye

Seeing service-learning as part of a viable strategy to improve high school graduation rates makes good sense. Increasingly, high quality service-learning is seen to improve attendance, test scores, and lessen disciplinary referrals. I also see service-learning adding meaning, purpose, and relevance which kids (and teachers) crave. In the February issue of Principal Leadership, a magazine of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, I wrote the lead article “Work that is Real.” The opening paragraph includes these lines: “Like adults, students want a significant reason to turn off the alarm clock in the morning, get out of bed, go to work or school, and learn. They crave purpose to their lives like everyone else. And they want relevance—they want to know that what they are studying, practicing, researching, and remembering can be put to use.”

About six years ago the Los Angeles Unified School District asked me to develop a program that could be used as a summer transition experience to help keep kids invested in school as they move in or out of middle school. Having many years of working with kids often seen as being on the brink of dropping out, I was thrilled by the opportunity and the challenge (I had three weeks to develop the original version). This grew to be Strategies for Success: A Learning Curriculum that Serves, a comprehensive program that we implemented with more than 40,000 students in Los Angeles with most favorable results. This research-based approach integrates high level literacy skills and social and emotional development with service-learning opportunities integrated throughout. Now the program, in its fourth edition, has found a home in many states and districts from Hawaii to New York to Florida to Texas. And Michigan! Implementation varies from a summer experience to being integrated into existing academic classes during the school year to being a program for every seventh grader in a New York district. Adaptations have been made for students as young as fourth grade and all the way up through tenth.

What makes this approach unique, desirable and effective? Several key elements include:

• Engaging teaching methods modeled during the professional development create a platform for bringing learning to life and encouraging even reluctant participants to give their all.

• Incremental skill development that breaks down complex skills into their discreet parts allowing transparency into the learning process so students learn HOW to learn; this aligns with all current ideas about the value of metacognition. Keep in mind also that once you know how to learn you can learn again and again and ... you get the idea!

• Worthwhile experiences that move the acquisition of skills and knowledge straight through to application (service-learning). This improves retention and makes good sense if you agree with educator Ralph Tyler who said, “Learning is like fish. If you don’t use it, it won’t keep.”

• Transforming the entire learning process from “Do I have to?” to “I want to!” replacing boredom in school that can lead to dropping out with staying in school!

Of course this approach is part of a larger response to the dropout issue; however I am certain this approach works. What’s also fun (for me) is how the professional development provided for Strategies for Success with Literacy is a pure pleasure to lead. I have the best time watching teachers light up as they go through the processes, remember the best teaching methods we all too often forget as they acquire new knowledge that rejuvenates them as professionals. The well-articulated and designed curriculum materials, the integrated literature approach, the cross-curricular possibilities, and examples of what students have achieved inspire and prepare teachers to effectively take the process to their kids. And teachers of all grade levels K-12 attend due to the learning theories and how so much of what is presented can be adapted to improve teaching across the board.

Come to the Michigan Strategies for Success with Literacy Summer Institute hosted by Ionia this summer – August 10-12. Find out more by contacting me at cbkaye@aol.com or Deborah Wagner at dawagner@ioniaisd.org. Other institutes are being held in western Massachusetts in later June and another in the Chicago area in late August with yet another still being planned. Please let me know if you are interested in finding out more, or in bringing these ideas and the program into your school or district.

Thanks to Learn and Serve – Michigan for asking me to blog on this subject and share ideas about this program!

All the best in service,

Cathryn Berger Kaye, M.A.

CBK Associates
Author of the revised The Complete Guide to Service Learning, Second Edition (Free Spirit Publishing, March 2010)

Contact her at: cbkaye@aol.com or www.abcdbooks.org

14th Annual Institute – Reaffirming Youth Impact

2010-02-16T11:48:00.001-05:00

Post written by: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

Last week more than 350 higher education and K-12 teachers, administrators, students, and others came together at The 14^th Annual Institute: Service-Learning and Civic Engagement. The Institute is a two-day event recognizing the achievements Michigan has made in service-learning and sharing new ideas and information from the field.

This year’s Institute offered a lot of great opportunities for young people to get involved. Students from local schools in the Traverse City area were invited to join participants at day one’s Opening Plenary as Sam Singh, of Public Policy Associates, talked about his travels around the world and what he learned from his time abroad. After the session the youth participated in a youth-only networking and informational workshop with Sam. They learned how to take meaningful action and how to sustain the work they do for their own causes.

Michigan Community Service Commissioner and Superintendent of the Traverse Bay Intermediate School District Michael Hill spoke at day one’s Lunch Plenary about investing in young people to strengthen our communities. Mike spoke to the crowd not just as someone dedicated to strengthening service in Michigan, but as an educator. Specifically he discussed how relationships between students and teachers fill the gaps in educational policies and help our students achieve greatness.

We also introduced a Youth Track to this year’s Institute, which provided opportunities for young people to learn about everything from leadership styles, to social media strategy, to how to plan meaningful action. Learn and Serve – Michigan’s AmeriCorps*VISTA, Robyn Stegman had the opportunity to spend time with the Youth Track where the young people participating showed dedication and a willingness to learn. The Youth Track was certainly a great addition to the conference and the presence of young faces and bright ideas enhanced the Institute’s experience for all.

This year two of Learn and Serve – Michigan’s Service-Learning Youth Council members lead a workshop on the achievement gap. Youth, as well as adults, attended this session that helped identify the issue and provide great ways young people can get involved to tackle the achievement gap. It was a powerful workshop and will hopefully pave the way to more youth-led sessions at future Institute conferences.

As part of day one’s evening festivities, Learn and Serve – Michigan recognized individuals and programs accomplishing great things in service-learning from across the state. It was a great time to show the world the wonderful work our grantees are doing. During the ceremony awards were given to:

An Innovative Program Award were given to the Detroit Service Learning Academy for their school’s commitment to excellence in Service-Learning
An Innovative Program Award was also given to the Environmental Studies Program at Onaway Area Schools.
A Student Award was given to Ella Kate Wagner from Belding High School who has been active in service-learning since middle school.
A K-12 Teacher/Practitioner Award was given to Sue Wilson an educator and service-learning champion in Clarkston Community Schools.

To find out more about these wonderful programs click here.

These are only a few highlights from a wonderful two days spent with people from across the state who share our commitment to service-learning. We can only hope the excitement and energy of this year’s Institute resonates beyond two days and charges Michigan with a commitment to service-learning and the amazing impact it has on our youth.

Michigan’s Dropout Crisis

2010-02-04T17:04:00.001-05:00

Post written by: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team

This week Learn and Serve – Michigan has been doing a week-long focus on the dropout crisis on our Facebook and Twitter accounts. We have been sharing resources, information, facts, and solutions, in an effort to spotlight the problem and express how service-learning can be one solution to turn this problem around.

Make no mistake, it is a dropout crisis. Every 29 seconds a teen drops out of school. That means nearly 7,000 students drop out each day totaling 1 million students a year. Nearly one third of our public high school students fail to graduate.

The crisis takes a toll here in Michigan. Diplomas Count in 2008 calculated the high school graduation rate for Detroit to be 37.5%, one of the lowest rates in the nation. Michigan has the worst rate nationally for graduating black males, only 34.6%, compared to the national average of 48.2%. We need to find a solution.

But these rates don’t convey the true nature of this problem as high school dropouts have a long uphill battle that plays out over their lifetime. According to the Silent Epidemic, dropouts are more likely than high school graduates to be unemployed, in poor health, living in poverty, on public assistance, and single parents who have children who drop out of school. Every year high school dropouts will earn $9,200 less than high school graduates, missing out on $1 million dollars over their lifetime.

Studies show the lifetime cost for each youth who drops out of school ranges from $1.7 to $2.3 million as a result of the life of crime and drugs dropouts tend to lead. Not only that, but we would reap $45 billion extra in tax revenue and reduced costs of health, crime, and welfare payments simply if the number of dropouts in the Untied States was cut in half.

To Learn and Serve - Michigan these thoughts are troubling. It is difficult to think of people as liabilities to the community instead of assets. It is hard to imagine we are producing so many high school-age youth who will not see the opportunities they deserve. This crisis has to make us rethink the way we are preparing our youth, valuing our youth, and helping them become the future leaders of our community. By engaging and educating them we can help their communities understand they are assets instead of people who drain on their community.

I encourage you follow us for the rest of this week as we look for solutions to this problem and ways to help our youth become the beacons of light instead of the dark underbelly of our community.

Check us out on Twitter at www.twitter.com/learnandservemi.
Check us out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/learnandservemi.

Become a Guest Blogger!

2010-01-26T10:31:00.001-05:00

Post written by: Learn and Serve AmeriCorps*VISTA – Robyn Stegman

In my service I learn something new everyday and most of it is from you: our readers, our Facebook users, those out there in the “Twitterverse”, and don’t forget our fabulous grantees. I wish the world could get an opportunity to hear some of the wonderful words I hear everyday and I want to give them a chance to do so.

That is why Learn and Serve – Michigan is starting a guest blogging initiative. We want people from the field to share their stories and wisdom, right here on the Youth Service Blog!

Think of the possibilities! You could blog about a student who has really turned around as a result of a service project. You could discuss how service-learning has changed your classroom, your community, and/or your school. You could talk about a successful reflection activity or service-learning project. You could give your perspective on topics like duration and intensity, youth voice, or diversity. We want to hear whatever you can bring to the conversation!

Over the next couple of months we will be using our network to find and encourage individuals to spend a couple minutes and write a blog post about the topic of their choice. In the coming months you will see wisdom and insight from all around the state – and we want you to be a part of it!

We want to hear from students, teachers, administrators, and community partners; everyone who is a part of the service-learning process. If you are interested, contact me, Robyn Stegman, at stegmanr@michigan.gov to discuss how you can lend us your voice and tell us all about what you do best!

But wait! There’s more! At our grantee meeting we began capturing people for our Great Stories program. This is an effort to capture service-learning stories from around the state! Next month we will post our first round of Great Stories on YouTube and we will continue to post monthly stories about service-learning in Michigan!

This is another great opportunity to let your voice be heard. If you are coming to the Service-Learning Institute in February (9 and 10 in Traverse City) let me know before the event and we’ll find time to record your Great Story! Or if you have an event at your school contact me and I’ll try to make it down to produce a video of your event. Already we have highlighted the Detroit Service-Learning Academy with a great video of their Learn and Serve Challenge event and we want to include you!

Act now! Seize these opportunities! We can’t wait to hear what you have to say!