Service News Worldwide - June 2009
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| June 2009 Issue 66 | ||
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Contents
Coming in July! Stay tuned for our upcoming July issue on the International Association for National Youth Service (IANYS)! Want to contribute to this issue? We are looking for analysis and commentary on IANYS, national youth policies and program implementation, profiles of national youth service programs, interviews with national youth service leaders, resources for national youth service. Email contributions to info@icicp.org
Coming in August! Stay tuned for our upcoming August issue on Pathways through Service! Email contributions to info@icicp.org
Want to add a youth service-related event to our calendar? Email events to info@icicp.org
ICP News ICP is pleased to welcome three new interns to the ICP staff: Alice Wu, Melea Atkins, and Michael Lethem. The ICP team looks forward working with them this summer! |
US Trends | |
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Serve America Act Supports
Summer of Service
Innovations in Civic
Participation (ICP) is pleased to
announce that on Tuesday April 21,
2009 President Obama signed the Edward
M. Kennedy Serve America Act into law.
The signing ceremony took place
at the SEED School of Washington, DC, a
public college preparatory middle and
high school. Video of the event can be
viewed here. The President was
joined by First Lady Michelle
Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Dr, Jill
Biden, former President Bill Clinton,
former First Lady Rosalyn Carter,
Congressional architects of the legislation,
and members of the national service
community. Congress moved swiftly to pass
the bill on March 31, 2009 after Barack
and Michelle Obama both expressed their
support for the legislation and desire to
see it passed.
President Obama said, "Programs like
these are a force multiplier; they
leverage small numbers of members into
thousands of volunteers. And we
will focus their service toward solving
today's most pressing challenges: clean energy,
energy efficiency, health care, education,
economic opportunity,
veterans and military families." While funding for SOS has been authorized, Congress has not yet completed the Appropriations process, which determines the actual funding levels. ICP is urging Congress to fully fund Summer of Service at the authorized levels. This should be $10 million through Learn & Serve America in competitive grants for operational funds for SOS programs and $10 million through the National Service Trust for $500 educational awards for students who complete 100 hours of service through SOS programs. It is crucial that SOS be appropriated at the authorized levels to invest in a successful demonstration program. Learn and Serve America, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service that focuses on service-learning in schools, is set to be funded at only $39.5 million in the President's budget, although it is authorized at $97 million in the Kennedy Serve America Act. ICP hopes to see a significant increase in funding for Learn and Serve America's regular programming as well as full funding for the $10 million for Summer of Service programs in addition to regular Learn and Serve funding. "I commend Congress and the President for their leadership in passing the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act," said Susan Stroud, Executive Director of ICP. "This historic legislation plays a crucial role in ushering in a new era of service by creating programs and funding for thousands of Americans who want to serve. ICP is especially excited about the inclusion of funds for Summer of Service, an innovative program we incubated. We hope that this initial funding for demonstration programs will be expanded over time to provide opportunities for millions of middle school students to develop important academic, professional and civic skills while contributing to their communities."
Imagine what such a rite might look like. At age 13, when young teens are leaving middle school for high school, they might spend four weeks of their summer engaged in an intensive service-learning project, working in teams led by older youth, young adults, or even community "elders." This service would be an expectation but not a requirement, and community groups might offer options that would appeal to a wide range of interests. Unfortunately, these kinds of opportunities are the exception, not the rule in America today. Despite the pivotal nature of the early teen years, youth-focused investments tend to emphasize problems, not potential. We spend money to tell teens to stay away from drugs; to keep youth offenders off the streets; to discourage teen pregnancy. Yet research - and common sense - tells us that giving young people something to say "yes" to is an essential part of teaching them to say "no." Nowhere is this policy gap more apparent than during the summer months. Working families may be hard-pressed to pay for adult supervision for young teenagers during the summer, but government funding for child care programs focuses on younger age groups. Summer school is often only for those who are failing, not those who want to expand their horizons. AmeriCorps members must be 16, and limited funding is available for service programs for younger youth. Federal law prohibits young teens from working, and jobs are limited for older youth. As a result, most young people making the difficult transition from middle to high school have no organized activities during periods when they are out of school, and many are left unsupervised, at risk of engaging in potentially harmful activities. To address this perceivable need a "Summer of Service" demonstration program was included in the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. While small, this program could be scaled up in the future to serve the needs of communities and young people across the U.S. It is vital that the necessary funds be appropriated for Summer of Service to ensure a successful demonstration program. A universally available Summer of Service program would create positive alternatives for young teens. Developing a national system to enable all young people to participate in service as a rite of passage would be possible, even in our current economy, if the system were built on the existing infrastructure of service and youth programs. It could be integrated into summer camps, community-based youth organizations, youth corps, AmeriCorps program, or schools interested in service-learning. Over time, a Summer of Service before high school could become a rite of passage - enabling young people to enter their teenage years with a positive experience that reinforces their connections to the community, enlivens their education, and strengthens their personal and civic values. At the same time, communities across America might find an important new resource in their own backyards - young people who are ready to serve, if only they are asked. Collapse Text |
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| Summer of Service
Updates |
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New Visions
for Summer of Service
On April 21st, 2009 President Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act into law. On the same day youth service-learning program practitioners and evaluators gathered at a meeting convened by Innovations in Civic Participation (ICP) to discuss and develop a vision for Summer of Service (SOS) programs. >/p> The Summer of Service Workgroup meeting was organized by Jean Manney and Joshua Truitt from ICP. The meeting was led by Alan Melchior from the Center for Youth and Communities at Brandeis University and Nicole Tysvaer from the University of Michigan, both consultants on ICP's SOS initiative. Melchior was assisted by Sadie Miller, a graduate student at the Heller School at Brandeis. Participating in the meeting were Lisa Bardwell from EarthForce, Ernest Morrell from UCLA and IDEA, Susan Root from NYLC and an evaluator of the WalkAbout SOS Program, and Jon Schmidt from the Chicago Public Schools SOS Program. Adraine McKell and Laura Lockwood from the ManaTeens SOS Program joined part of the conversation via conference call. Read More Nicole Tysvaer presented a draft of the Program Design Toolkit she is writing to assist practitioners in the field with designing and implementing SOS programs. Tysvaer also discussed plans for Program Insights, interactive multimedia presentations on exemplary SOS programs. The group offered excellent feedback from their perspective as practitioners. The group discussed existing programs with an eye to what is working in the field and what needs improvement. This informed conversations and brainstorming sessions led by Alan Melchior about the mission, goals, assumptions, strategies, and outcomes of SOS programs. The group developed an inspiring vision for what these programs could become and their potential impact. These conversations will inform ICP's future work on the SOS initiative. Alan Melchior will create an Evaluation Toolkit to provide programs with a basic understanding of evaluation methods as well as a set of reliable tools that can be used by practitioners to generate data to assess both individual initiatives and the overall progress of programs across the field, and ultimately provide better evidence of program effectiveness. Improvements are coming soon to ICP's SOS Resource Center, which will be informed by the Workgroup meeting as well. High quality SOS programs target authentic community needs through thoughtfully-designed service-learning activities that challenge young people to solve problems, build valuable life skills, reflect critically about their role in society, and pave the way for academic success in high school and beyond. Guided by teams of youth-adult partners, SOS programs require a sustained and intensive commitment over the summer months to plan, execute, reflect and recognize the contributions of young people as leaders in tackling critical community issues. As a result of ICP's work in promoting Summer of Service, the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act authorizes $10 million in funds for SOS programs and $10 million for $500 educational award grants for students who complete 100 hours of service through SOS programs. This legislation makes SOS funding available for programs that serve students in both middle and high school, but prioritizes those programs that enroll students in grades six through nine.
Summer of Service Online Resource Center ICP's Summer of Service Online Resource Center provides a forum for information exchange on Summer of Service program design, implementation, and evaluation. The SOS Online Resource Center provides users with information and technical assistance in the design and evaluation of high quality SOS programs. Available resources include tools for program management and curriculum design, information about funding opportunities and resources, published reports and research, featured exemplary SOS programs, and an Online Discussion Forum for users to share ideas about programming, materials, and improvements to the Resource Center. Access the Resource Center at: http://www.icicp.org/sosrc
ICP is seeking to gather more information about Summer of Service programs and policies to add to our searchable database of youth service programs and policies. If you would like to add your program to our database, please complete the Summer of Service survey at http://www.icicp.org/sossurvey. ICP is continuing to develop and expand the Resource Center, and welcomes any and all suggestions. If you have materials to contribute, information to share, or other suggestions for improving the Resource Center, please email Joshua Truitt at truitt@icicp.org. Updates are coming soon, including Program Insights - narrative and reflective multimedia presentations on successful SOS programs; a Program Design Toolkit to assist practitioners in the field with designing and implementing SOS programs; Toolkit Training; an Evaluation Toolkit to provide local programs with a basic understanding of evaluation methods and reliable tools for generating assessment data and better evidence of program effectiveness; and an improved Resource Center.
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| Spotlight: "Hands On Manatee! ManaTEENS" | ||
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Interview: Adraine McKell from
Hands On Manatee!
ICP: How was ManaTEENs founded?
Adraine McKell: Laura
Lockwood, when she was 12, she walked
into the volunteer center and she was
with her sister and two other friends.
She said we just went to [a local service
organization] and asked to volunteer:
"and they looked at me and said I was a
baby and had nothing to offer. You're
the volunteer center, can you put us to
work because we have something to
offer." Originally they were Meals On
Wheels "jumpers" who jump out of the car
to deliver the meal. That's how ManaTEENs
got started. At the time the
volunteer center served 203 organizations
[in 1994] with all adult volunteers.
Before the end of 1994 there were already
about 300 ManaTEENs from 6th
grade to 12th grade. By the end of 1997 we had 8,000
members and by
the end of 2000 we've maintained 10,000
volunteers since. Today we serve 716
organizations and they all utilize
ManaTEENs. Now we don't even give them a
choice [to accept teens. They all want
them].
ICP: Please tell us about your Summer of Service program. AM: Our first year was last summer. We were part of a consortium of Eastern sea board Summer of Service states; 6 states and 14 sites. We applied as a consortium to the [Corporation for National and Community Service] for funding. We were the trainers for the consortium. We decided to focus on environmental efforts because that was what the manaTEENs decided to do last year. 792 students volunteered at least 50 hours of service. We used summer of service as a launching effort for many new programs that are sustainable year round. It gave us the opportunity to bring the kids together on a daily basis for 6 weeks, which we'd never done before. We do lots of different trainings where we'll bring them together for 4 or 5 days at a time and trainings lead to projects. It gave us the opportunity for the first time ever to bring groups of youth together for intensive [full time youth led] volunteer work. Sometimes we didn't have agendas that tied up every waking hour they were with us, which allowed for brainstorming.
AM: Last year we implemented a program to deploy artificial reef balls made of concrete. Students were certified in SCUBA and went out to deploy the balls. We had been certifying kids in SCUBA for years but there was not full implementation. We also started the FISH ID program. We're in the grouper fish region. In recent years the kids learned through their [7th grade] science class that their reproduction cycles had stopped because there was so much debris that the groupers couldn't spawn. 200 kids got certified in environmental snorkeling. They can dive where there's coral reefs and not damage the reefs. They went out and picked up all the fishing lines and the debris. This was a 3 day a week project. In addition we were able to start a program to save the sea birds and shore birds from the fishing line... that was strangling about two hundred birds a summer. They only documented 16 deaths last summer whereas the summer before it was 237.
Kids launched these projects and now they continue them.
AM: All of [our programs] are service- learning. The youth identify a need in the community and then mobilize their peers, develop a plan, implement a plan, and reflect on it to solve that particular need. As far as tying in the learning part we do service-learning backwards and we've always been known for that and that's why all the schools love us around here. The students write whatever curriculum their plan is doing and then bring it in to the teachers to implement.
AM: We see ourselves at Hands On Manatee! as just the resource center. All our programs are youth led and youth driven. It can happen anywhere. I'm just as concerned about liability and risk management but I've been able to prove that if you want it bad enough you can make it work. It's just a matter of making sure you take every precaution with safety training.
AM: We sent out a survey to ManaTEENs and their parents on February 20th - about 600 former participants and 2,000 ManaTEENs who have joined since the summer program last year - to ask if they would be interested in participating in an intensive Summer of Service program that focused on disaster preparedness and if so would their parents be willing to offer funding to offset the cost if we didn't get funding. 96% said yes, they wanted to redo it this year and commit to 4-6 weeks and were willing to pay up to $50. So the impact is now we just piece together and try to do the best we can with our [existing funds]. It's certainly nothing intensive like it was last year. We hate to launch something that was so successful and so popular and not be able to offer it again next year.
AM: 96% of ManaTEENs are continuing through college and beyond to be philanthropic. Several ManaTEENs have completed terms in AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA. Those are all the direct result of getting involved early and staying involved.
"The youth identify a need in
the community and then
mobilize their peers, develop a plan,
implement a plan, and reflect on it to
solve that particular
need."
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A Penny for Your Thoughts
Participate in the SOS
Discussion forum by responding
to the new question below, or post your
own!
What outcomes for
youth participants do you expect or
hope to expect from Summer of Service
programs?
To post your response
please visit http://www.icicp.org/sosdiscussion
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IANYS seeks to facilitate continued networking and information sharing among members and interested participants. We have updated our website to make information from the IANYS conference more accessible, and to promote discussion and interaction between IANYS members between conferences. If you visit our website now, you will find:
Also stay tuned – the location of the 9th Global Conference in 2010 will be announced soon! We encourage you to visit our site and explore the new IANYS resources that we have available at www.icicp.org/ianys. If you have any articles or youth service news that you would like us to include, please send it to Veronika Schlecht.
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Once a
month, join our Student
Peer Advisors,
Talloires Network staff, and students
from around the world to discuss
topics related to civic engagement and
students’ experiences in
initiating and managing community
outreach projects. First discussion: Wednesday,
June 17th, beginning at GMT 13h00 and
running for 24 hours
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| Connect with ICP |
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Innovations in
Civic Participation 1776 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Suite 201 · Washington, D.C. 20036 USA Tele: +1 (202) 775-0290 · Fax: +1 (202) 355-9317 info@icicp.org · www.icicp.org |
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The Edward M. Kennedy
Serve America Act reauthorizes and strengthens
the
programs of the Corporation for National
and Community Service and provides
funding for new innovative programs,
including Summer of Service. You can read
a summary of the legislation 
In many cultures, the transition from
childhood into the
teen years is marked by a rite
of passage in which the
young person engages
deeply in learning and self-reflection,
and takes on new adult
responsibilities. These rites of passage
are a central way in which groups of
people pass on their values, culture, and
history from generation to
generation. 
Adraine
McKell is the Executive Director of Hands On
Manatee! a volunteer program based out of
Manatee, FL. ManaTEENs, a program of
Hands on Manatee! ran its first Summer of
Service last year. In this interview
McKell discusses the history and
philosophy of ManaTEENs, the success of their
Summer of Service program, and the need
for more Summer of Service funding in
the future. 
The Talloires Network
and the MacJannet Foundation presented the
first annual MacJannet Prize for Global
Citizenship at an award ceremony on June 6 at
the Tufts European Center in Talloires, France.
Representatives from the first and second place
winners attended the ceremony and participated
in capacity-building workshops. The Talloires
Network wishes to thank the MacJannet
Foundation, Tisch College, and the Tufts
European Center for their support in organizing
a very successful and worthwhile ceremony
weekend. For more information, including the
winning programs please visit the