|
|
October 25, 2012
Volume 19, No. 43
Circulation: 41,000
| | |
|
Save The Date To Serve and Celebrate! GYSD is April 26-28, 2013
|
 Global Youth Service Day starts exactly six months from tomorrow! Start planning now to serve and celebrate in your community on April 26-28, 2013. A few ways to begin:
Download or order free printed copies of YSA's brand new YOUth Changing the World Project Planning Toolkit. This resource for youth takes you step-by-step through planning your service project, taking action on an issue that's important to you, and discovering your power to change the world through service! Access this and many other resources: www.YSA.org/resources
Apply for a $500 Sodexo Foundation Youth Grant to support youth-led Global Youth Service Day projects that bring together young people, families, Sodexo employees and other community members to address childhood hunger. Apply by January 31. Learn more at www.YSA.org/grants/sodexoyouth
Educators, learn about YSA's Semester of Service, a 12 to 14 week program of service-learning that includes Global Youth Service Day. YSA offers free teacher guides and resources to assist in planning. If you're interested in bringing the success of YSA's Semester of Service program into your classroom, sign up today at www.YSA.org/semester
Educators who sign up will receive invitations to upcoming free training opportunities in Phoenix (November 5), San Francisco (November 14), Chicago (November 16), Orlando (November 28) and Washington DC (December 4).
GYSD 2013 is the 25th anniversary of Global Youth Service Day. Stay tuned for more information about special plans for celebrating this milestone GYSD.
|
|
Connect with YSA
  
YSA Funding Partners
|
News From the FielD
|
National Service-Learning Conference Early Bird Registration Ends October 31This spring, nearly 2,000 students and educators will gather to explore how youth - along with educators, policy makers, and community leaders - can make real-world change at Without Limits, the 2013 National Service-Learning Conference®, hosted by the National Youth Leadership Council in partnership with Earth Force. Join NYLC March 13 - 15, 2013 in Denver, Colorado for the most comprehensive service-learning professional development opportunity in the world and the largest gathering of youth and practitioners involved in the service-learning movement. The early-bird rate is dead and gone after Midnight (CST) on Halloween. Don't make a grave error - register today! www.servicelearningconference.org NSLC Service-Learning Showcase deadline extended!Submit an application to display your service-learning project. The service-learning showcase highlights high quality service-learning projects from across the country, and is an opportunity to connect with people and share how a project was implemented, how it was connected to curricular goals, and what made it effective. All applications are due November 16, 11:59 p.m. CST. http://bit.ly/LMNJv0
|
Make A Difference Day - October 27
For more than 20 years, USA WEEKEND Magazine and Points of Light have joined together to sponsor Make A Difference Day. Make A Difference Day is a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. Volunteers from around the world will unite in a common mission to improve the lives of others on Saturday, October 27, 2012. Thousands of projects are planned each year; many of the 250 HandsOn Network affiliates lead projects across the nation. The Make A Difference Day Daytabank website enables volunteers to search, create and sign-up for volunteer service projects closer to the event. http://daytabank.handsonnetwork.orgNewman's Own supports the day by awarding $10,000 to the charities of each of 10 National Honorees and three City Awardees. To be eligible, register your project in the Daytabank and submit a report after October 27. Also, one American university will be crowned as the 2012 Make A Difference Day College Service Challenge Winner for carrying out the best service project on Make A Difference Day. http://bit.ly/TiI1Sz
|
|
|
|
ServiceVote 12 for '12: Engaging Youth in the 2012 Elections Special Series
| |
With just 12 days until Election Day, YSA continues this special 12-part series leading up to November 6.
YSA offers the ServiceVote 12 for '12 - twelve ideas of how young people can serve this election season (and only one of them requires you to be 18!) Get all the ideas, related resources, and let us know how you're getting involved at www.YSA.org/ServiceVote
Each week until Election Day, we'll feature one way young people can get involved during the election, and share partner programs, resources, and events.
|
Mobilize.org #MCE2012 Election Twitter Chat
Are you a Millennial that wants your voice to be heard before the November elections? Wondering what civic engagement opportunities are going on in your local community for the 2012 election cycle and beyond? Join @mob_org for a Twitter Chat on Millennial Civic Engagement on Thursday, November 1st at 8pm ET, lead by our MCE Bloggers! Voice your concerns on the solutions the Millennial Generation are coming up with to support elections and discuss new initiatives from our on the ground reporters + Mobilize.org bloggers. #MCE2012. Learn more at http://bit.ly/PSIfRm
|
ServiceVote 12 for '12:
Organize Get Out The Vote activities.
GOTV - or Get Out the Vote - is your chance to make sure that people get to the polls on Election Day or submit absentee ballots. By following up with people, knocking on their doors or calling them before and the day of the election, or offering rides or directions to the polls, you greatly increase the likelihood that people will vote. Even if you can't vote yourself, help remind other people about the importance of going to the polls on Election Day! Get resources at www.YSA.org/ServiceVote#7
|
My Voice National Student Mock Election
Almost half of eligible voters do not cast ballots in presidential elections, and studies have found that many Americans lack basic knowledge about their elected representatives and how government works. With more than 74 million Americans under the age of 18 today, most of these youth will not go to the polls and vote if present trends continue. Pearson Foundation's My Voice National Student Mock Election project aims to encourage young people to share their opinions and concerns about national topics, social issues, education, and their communities. Voting is open October 25 through November 1. www.nationalmockelection.org
|
Grants & Awards 
| |
|
Project Ignition Grants
Deadline: November 15
The National Youth Leadership Council® and State Farm® are pleased to announce the availability of $2,000 Project Ignition grants! Public high schools may apply for the grants to address teen driver safety through service-learning. Car crashes remain the number one cause of death for adolescents. Project Ignition is bringing together students, teachers and communities to create change. And they're saving lives. http://bit.ly/pKcD1c
|
KaBOOM! Spruce Project Grants
Deadline: Rolling
Are you itching to serve? Make a Difference Day is right around the corner on Oct. 27. It's not too late to organize your project and you could be one of 100 projects to earn $750 simply by sprucing up a playground for kids! Organize your friends, clean up a playground, and you can become eligible for $750, courtesy of Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Don't think you can organize in time? Don't worry, these grants are available on a rolling bases. The grant is part of the Let's Play initiative to get kids and families active nationwide. http://bit.ly/IIzZfN
| |
|
Foot Locker Scholar Athletes
Deadline: December 5
The truth is that many deserving students, who have dedicated a great deal of their time to athletics, will not receive athletic scholarships to college. Foot Locker and DoSomething.org will be rewarding twenty incoming college freshmen with $20,000 in scholarship funding for college - not because they scored the most touchdowns, but because of their character and commitment to volunteerism. This is the award for flexing heart, not muscle. http://bit.ly/Qif9UD
|
Sodexo Foundation Youth Grants
Deadline: January 31
More than 16 million children live in food insecure homes, not always sure where their next meal will come from. That's why YSA and Sodexo Foundation are calling on young people to "take hunger personally" and join the fight to end childhood hunger. Sodexo Foundation Youth Grants of $500 grants are available for youth-led service projects that bring together young people, families, Sodexo employees and other community members to address childhood hunger. U.S. young people, ages 5-25, are eligible to apply. Projects will take place on or around Global Youth Service Day, April 26-28, 2013. www.YSA.org/grants/sodexoyouth
|
Everyday Young Heroes
|
Moniyka Sachar
Fremont, CA
YSA recognizes 16-year-old Moniyka Sachar of Fremont, California, as an Everyday Young Hero for her passion and dedication for providing San Francisco Bay Area teens with global health and nutrition resources through her organization, Teens4Teens Health Foundation. Moniyka's organization, Teens4Teens Health Foundation, gives teens in the San Francisco Bay Area access to healthy living resources to include nutrition, exercise, and unique service-learning opportunities. By partnering with her school, local hospitals, and the Red Cross, Moniyka and her organization host health fairs and luncheons on Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service and Global Youth Service Day promoting healthy eating and encourage exercise. We are eager to see the extent of Moniyka's health and nutrition advocacy and awareness work not only in the San Francisco Bay Area, but throughout the state of California. For her commitment and dedication to combatting childhood obesity and supporting healthy teen eating and exercising, we honor Moniyka as an Everyday Young Hero. To nominate a young person who has improved their community through service to be recognized as an Everyday Young Hero, please visit www.ysa.org/awards/hero. |
|
Resources & Trainings
|
WKCD: 20 Profiles of Politically Active Youth
During the past five months, young journalists at Indianapolis' youth-led news bureau, Y-Press, have scoured the country for politically active youth for whom disillusion is not an option and politics is a passion. Young Democrats and Republicans. Occupy protesters and Tea Party ralliers. Youth delegates to the RNC and DNC. Youth creating their own political organizations. Youth who insist on "No Labels." These are the young Americans whose stories are captured in Profiles of Politically Active Youth: Election 2012. Download: http://bit.ly/P5PWlG
|
MLK Day Webinar: Raising Resources and In-Kind Donations
Wednesday, October 31 at 3:00pm Eastern
The next MLK Day planning webinar will include information about how to raise resources and in-kind donations. Topics include: creating a fundraising committee, utilizing leaders and champions, identifying resource goals, looking for in-kind donations, making the ask, and acknowledging donors. http://bit.ly/R2DGyL
| |
Youth Program Quality Assessment
The Youth Program Quality Assessment (PQA), School-Age Program Quality Assessment and several extensions (STEM, Arts, Academic Climate, Health and Wellness) were designed to assess the quality of learning environments and to identify staff training needs. These are the field-leading quality assessments for out-of-school time organizations. In the past, these instruments have only been available - at cost - from the Weikart Center at the Forum for Youth Investment. They are now pleased to share these tools as free PDF downloads: http://bit.ly/PSNDUD
|
The DoSomething.org Index on Young People and Volunteering
93% percent of teens say they want to volunteer; but a far smaller percentage of young people actually do volunteer. This survey exposes why some teens and college students volunteer and why some don't, and gives insight into how to close that gap. Having friends that volunteer regularly is the primary factor influencing a teen's volunteering habits. 40 percent of young people who volunteered in 2011 did it with clubs, friends, family, or on their own. Get the rest of the survey results: http://dsorg.us/TcQoKY
|
Service Calendars
|
Conferences & Events
YSA's Youth Service Institute
October 17-19, 2012 - Houston, TX
Summer Changes Everything National Conference
October 22-24, 2012 - Pittsburgh, PA
People to People International Global Youth Forum
November 7-11, 2012 - Chicago, IL
24th Annual National Service-Learning Conference
March 13-15, 2013 - Denver, CO
National Conference on Volunteering & Service
June 19-21, 2013 - Washington, DC
|
Seasons of Service
October 2012
Domestic Violence Awareness Month - October
Intergeneration Month - October
National Teen Driver Safety Week - October 14-20
Ally Week - October 15-19
World Food Day - October 16
International Day for the Eradication of Poverty -
Lights on Afterschool - October 18
Food Day - October 24
National SAVE (Students Against Violence Everywhere) Day - October 24
Teen Read Week - October 14-20
America's Safe Schools Week - October 21-27
Make a Difference Day - October 27
|
|
|
|
Song of the Week
| |
Mason Jennings - "Ballad of Paul and Sheila"
10 years ago today, on October 25, 2002, U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife, Sheila, their daughter, Marcia, and five staffers died in a plane crash while campaigning for reelection in Minnesota. Learn more about Senator Wellstone and his legacy in this Minnesota Monthly article.
"Hey Senator, I wanna say
All the things you fought for did not die here today
Hey Senator, I'm gonna do
All the things I can to live my life more like you lived
A story of a love undivided for thirty nine years
Strong when it counted through the hard times and the fears
Together forever, that was always what it was about
No hesitation, there was never any doubt..."
Senator Wellstone spoke at the first National Youth Service Day event I ever participated in at the Minnesota State Capitol in April 2002. A few of his quotes that inspired me:
"The future will not belong to those who sit on the sidelines. The future will not belong to the cynics. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
"I don't think politics has anything to do with left, right, or center. It has to do with trying to do right by people."
"Never separate the life you live from the words you speak."
"The first task in teaching is to bring to consciousness what the students already believe by virtue of their personal experiences about themselves and society."
"We all do better when we all do better." |
The Editor
|
 Mike Minks Director of Outreach and Innovation
Editor-in-Chief @michaelminks |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
