GYSD 2012 By The Numbers

View GYSD By the Numbers: Millions of Youth, 106 Countries, 6 Continents, 4467 Projects, $1 Million in YSA Grants.   

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News From the Field

YSA List: 25 Most Powerful and Influential Young People

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Almost all of the 25 members of the inaugural YSA List of the 25 Most Powerful and Influential Young People in the world have now been announced on The Huffington Post. Read blog posts from each of the honorees at: http://huff.to/K93I1g  

Honorees announced in the last week include: Kyle Weiss from California, Jeremiah Kimbugwe from Uganda, Grace Li from Texas, Olivia Bouler from New York, DeAndre Roberts from California, Jonny Cohen from Illinois, and Brittany Bergquist from Massachusetts. YSA and The Huffington Post will continue to reveal one honoree a day through May 14. 

Vote to Help Choose Winners of 2012 National Service Impact Awards

The Corporation for National and Community Service seeks your help in voting for 2012 National Service Impact Award nominations that exemplify the best in national and community service in the key issue areas of the Serve America Act and disaster services. Recipients will be announced and recognized at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, June 18-20, 2012, in Chicago. Recipients will be guests of CNCS as conference attendees. This prize includes conference registration, round-trip air fare, lodging, ground transportation, and per diem. View the submissions and vote for who you think should be honored at http://bit.ly/IIjP4Y   

Global Youth Traffic Safety Month 'Million Messages in May' Campaign

The National Organizations for Youth Safety® (NOYS®), joined by celebrities from around the world, announced the launch of the "Million Messages in May" campaign, in support of Global Youth Traffic Safety Month™ observed annually in May. Traffic crashes are the #1 killer of youth in the U.S. and throughout the world. The campaign's mission is to draw attention to Youth Traffic Safety by generating the transmission of one million traffic safety messages in May via Facebook, Twitter, email, and texting. The Million Messages in May social networking campaign supports the goal of Global Youth Traffic Safety Month, which is to engage and empower teens to develop and implement youth-led teen traffic safety projects that provide peer to peer education, support enforcement efforts, and advocate for stronger teen driving safety laws. http://bit.ly/K5XBfT   

2nd Annual National Kids to Parks Day is May 19

Children nationwide will take part in a growing grassroots movement to celebrate America's parks on Saturday, May 19, as they participate in National Park Trust's 2nd Annual National Kids to Parks Day. Recognizing that young people spend far too much time indoors and far too little time appreciating and preserving America's magnificent national, state and local parks - the National Park Trust is mobilizing kids across the country for a nationwide park play-in. Their new website is interactive with links to park activities nationwide and provides a toolkit of ideas and activities for children, families and educators. Families have three weeks to sign up to be counted in the national tally at http://bit.ly/JiUlzO      

Grants & Awards 

Get Ur Good On Grants

Deadline: May 27

If you're ready to make a positive impact in your community, Miley Cyrus and her friends at YSA want to help! With $500 Get Ur Good On Grants, you'll have the inspiration, project support, and necessary funding to turn your idea into a reality. Kids and young adults ages 5-25 worldwide are eligible to apply for a $500 Get Ur Good On Grant to support youth-led projects. Projects must address a demonstrated community need or issue, and must take place during June, July and/or August 2012.  www.YSA.org/grants/gurgo         

State Farm Good Neighbor Student Achievement Grants

Deadline: May 31

State Farm™ is proud to team up with YSA to offer grants of up to $1,000 for programs enhancing student achievement through service-learning in K-12 public schools in all fifty US states, the District of Columbia, and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick. Each grant engages participating teachers and students in a service and learning program that promotes academic achievement, workplace readiness, and stronger communities. The State Farm Good Neighbor Student Achievement Grant requires a 12 to 14 week Semester of Service™. www.YSA.org/goodneighbor  

SparkOpportunity Challenge

Deadline: May 15

The SparkOpportunity Challenge calls on young people to submit videos or text detailing their solutions and use social media to campaign for the ideas that they think can really work. The top-voted winners will receive an iPad, start-up grants of $1,500, and mentoring from recognized business and policy leaders to see their ideas brought to life locally. Organizers are launching this online effort in response to the White House Council for Community Solutions' call for the nation to do more to reconnect young people with the education, training and comprehensive social supports critical for long-term employment and lifelong economic independence. http://bit.ly/HvA70A       

WKCD Graduation Speech Contest

Deadline: June 1

What do you think makes a nation strong? A strong economy and a strong military - these are among the most common answers. This year's WKCD Graduation Speech Contest challenges you to dig deeper - and speak of other factors that make a nation healthy. Think hard, and then send your answers in the form of a speech you'd like to give. You don't have to be a graduating senior to enter the contest. Whether you are a senior or a freshman - or middle-schooler - WKCD wants to hear from you! Winners will be announced in early June. Each of the five winning entries will receive a $100 gift certificate from Amazon.com and their speeches will appear on www.whatkidscando.org. http://bit.ly/IDvfXL     

Resources & Trainings

Seasons of Service: Engaging Youth in Service-Learning Throughout the Year

The YMCA Center for Asset Development is proud to announce that their new Seasons of Service: Engaging Youth in Service-Learning Throughout the Year curriculum is now available, and it has been nominated for a 2012 National Service Impact Award.  (Click on the link to cast your vote for the curriculum before May 15 at 5pm!). "Seasons of Service" is a 3-in-1 curriculum package to engage and equip youth as change agents in the community.  With step-by-step guidance, youth-serving agencies and schools can easily incorporate this curriculum into their programs and put it into the hands of youth for them to lead service-learning experiences.  Download the free curriculum: http://bit.ly/JoXbjs  

"Got Your 6" Campaign Offers Ideas & Resources to Support Veterans

In an unprecedented show of support for veterans and military families, every major Hollywood studio, broadcast and cable network, talent agency, and guild in the entertainment industry has joined together with top-tier non-profit organizations to launch the Got Your 6 campaign. In military parlance, "got your six" simply means "I've got your back, and you've got mine too."  The Got Your 6 campaign is a chance to show veterans that we're all in this together, and that we can work with one another to help reinvigorate our communities. The Got Your 6 website has a number of ways that you can show your 6 to our veterans. http://bit.ly/JoXg6K   

National Conference on Volunteering and Service | Youth Workshops

During the annual National Conference on Volunteering and Service, generationOn will host two exciting opportunities for youth ages 13-18:
*    On Sunday, June 17 from 1 to 4pm, gather at the generationOn Youth Summit with 250 young people for an afternoon of civic dialogue and service-learning including a panel discussion with notable youth leaders! The event is free, but requires preregistration.
*    Get even more involved by registering for the Youth Workshops held on Monday & Tuesday, June 18-19, 2012  from 9am - 4:30pm. During seven sequential sessions, hear from stars in the service field and learn to plan projects, speak publically and raise big bucks for service work. The Youth Workshops cost $250 to attend, however limited scholarships are available. For additional information on both events, please visit www.generationOn.org  

16.8 Million New Youth Eligible to Vote in 2012 - Registration Matters

The pool of young people eligible to vote will look different in 2012 than it did in 2008. A new group of potential voters who were not eligible to vote in 2008 (because of age) will be eligible to vote in 2012. There are approximately 46 million youth eligible to vote in 2012. The number of young people who are newly eligible to vote since 2008 is about 16.8 million (about 36% of the youth vote.) http://bit.ly/INP1P5  

To mobilize this new group of voters, we must first think about youth voter registration opportunities; we know from research that young people are more likely to vote if they are registered (84% of those registered to vote actually did vote in 2008; 87% for college students. Less than 50% of youth who were not registered ahead of time voted.)  For those young people who will be newly off to college in the fall, they may have to register at a new location and/or find information about the absentee ballot process. http://bit.ly/INPLUm   

Service Calendars

Conferences & Events

National Faith-Based Service-Learning Conference 

May 31 - June 2, 2012 - Grantham, PA    

National Conference on Volunteering & Service 

June 18-20, 2012 - Chicago, IL    

International Conference on Service-Learning in Teacher Education 

June 21-23, 2012 - Durham, NC  

International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement Conference 

September 23-25, 2012 - Baltimore, MD

YSA's Youth Service Institute 

October 17-19, 2012 - Houston, TX  

Summer Changes Everything National Conference 

October 22-24, 2012 - Pittsburgh, PA

Seasons of Service

 
May 2012 

National Foster Care Month - May
Older Americans Month - May
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month - May
Global Youth Traffic Safety Month - May
National Preservation Month - May
World Fair Trade Day - May 12
National Family Month - May 13-June 17 (Mother's Day-Father's Day)
World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development - May 21
National Missing Children's Day - May 25
World No Tobacco Day - May 31  

Song of the Week

Bill Withers - "Lean On Me" 

The Editor