MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY OF SERVICE (JANUARY 18, 2010)
to GLOBAL YOUTH SERVICE DAY (APRIL 23-25, 2010)
About Semester of Service
Semester of Service links prominent national service events - such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service and Global Youth Service Day - through an extended service-learning framework of at least 70 hours. Young people ages 5-25, spend the “semester” addressing a meaningful community need connected to intentional learning goals and/or academic standards. Throughout, the teacher or facilitator supports the emergence of “youth voice” as young people guide the process.
Service-Learning is a teaching and learning strategy integrating meaningful community service with academic study and reflective practice to enrich learning, build civic engagement, and strengthen communities. Semester of Service emphasizes “duration and intensity”, enriching the experience by providing participants with enough time to incorporate the five stages of service-learning: Investigation, Preparation & Planning, Action, Reflection, and Demonstration/Celebration.
Semester of Service Blog
Youth Service America offers a variety of resources to help you implement your Semester of Service project, including grants and planning materials. The Semester of Service Blog features news and resources from Youth Service America and stories from Lead Agencies and grantees organizing and leading Semester of Service projects.
This legislation greatly increases federal support for youth service and service-learning, raising authorized spending levels for youth service programs from 43 million to 97 million and creating several new service-learning programs, including:
Youth Engagement Zones - competitive grants for local school-community partnerships that commit to engage a majority of K-12 youth-and all high school students-in a comprehensive continuum of service-learning
Summer of Service - program that engages middle and high school students in volunteer activities in their communities and allows them to earn a $500 education award to be used for college costs.
Service-Learning Impact Study - a ten-year longitudinal study to measure outcomes of service-learning programs
The legislation includes several items called for in YSA's Nine for '09 policy platform. Of particular interest to Youth Service America, the legislation also:
Establishes a Semester of Service Program, modeled after YSA's Semester of Service, that allows K-12 youth to earn academic credit for service-learning programs tied to academic standards and of at least 70 hours in duration with a third of the time spent in the community opportunities in school and community-based programs.
Recognizes Global Youth Service Day and authorizes the Corporation for National Service and other federal departments and agencies to organize activities and make grants to public or proviate nonprofit organizations to organize activities on GYSD.
Senator Dodd speaks in support of the Serve America Act, including the Semester of Service program he proposed:
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