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December 6, 2012
Volume 19, No. 48
Circulation: 41,000
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Use MLK Day of Service to Begin Your Semester of Service
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Free YSA Webinar
Using MLK Day to Launch a Semester of Service
Wednesday, December 12 at 3:00om Eastern
Multiply the impact of your MLK Day of Service project, and transform it into a sustainable service program! Introducing Semester of Service™, a service and learning framework developed by Youth Service America through which students learn about, identify and work to address real community problems. Launch your "semester" on MLK Day of Service and build in 70 hours of service and learning activities, culminating on Global Youth Service Day (April 26-28, 2013). This webinar explores how to use YSA's Semester of Service Strategy Guide to engage students through five easy stages of investigation, preparation and planning, action, reflection, and demonstration / celebration. All participants will receive a free printed copy of the Semester of Service Strategy Guide. Register at http://bit.ly/MLKSOS2013
 The Semester of Service Strategy Guide is designed to help educators develop and implement a high-impact, strategic plan of action to engage students in serving and learning in their communities. The Guide provides a student engagement framework through which you can teach required academic standards and curricular goals. Download the 2013 Semester of Service Strategy Guide.
Learn more about YSA's Semester of Service program at www.YSA.org/semester
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Connect with YSA
  
YSA Funding Partners
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News From the FielD
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Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service
January 21, 2013 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?'" Each year, Americans across the country answer that question by coming together on the King Holiday to serve their neighbors and communities. Learn more and get resources to help you plan a project, promote your project, or find service opportunities at www.MLKDay.gov
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Host a Sunday Supper for MLK Day
Join the movement and commit to host a Sunday Supper the weekend of MLK Day. Inspired by Dr. King's vision of people of diverse backgrounds interacting on personal levels, America's Sunday Supper encourages people to share a meal and/or watch a documentary film to discuss issues that affect their communities in order to increase racial and cultural understanding. Points of Light provides toolkits, films, conversation starters and incentives to help individuals and groups organize Sunday Suppers and service projects. Sign up to access resources at http://bit.ly/PFyxev
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Be a Joy Maker this Holiday Season
Care, share, give through December 18!
Volunteers of all ages can be Joy Makers this holiday season! For the third year in a row, Points of Light's youth action network, generationOn, in partnership with Hasbro, is recognizing the thousands of youth serving this holiday season. For every act of service a youth pledges, Hasbro will donate a toy to a child in need - up to 100,000 toys! Pledging takes only second (and an adult can pledge on behalf of a group). Learn more and turn your service into toys for kids in need at http://sharejoy.generationOn.org
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8 Days Left to Register at Reduced Rate for National Service-Learning Conference
Register by December 14 to Save! Join us March 13-15, 2013 at the Colorado Convention Center for the most comprehensive service-learning professional development opportunity in the world. The National Service-Learning Conference is the largest conference of its kind, bringing together nearly 2,000 educators, state and federal officials, young people, program coordinators, policy-makers, and community-based organizations from around the world. Register by December 14 to avoid the late registration increase! http://nslc.nylc.org
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Grants & Awards
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MLK Drum Majors for Service Award
This first MLK Day award option is based on the qualities of the person nominated for the award. Drum Majors for Service are the helping hands who perform extraordinary everyday acts of service with reliability and commitment, but who seldom receive recognition. They are individuals within your organization who are service leaders in the community. With this option your Drum Major is eligible to receive a special PVSA certificate and letter from the President of the United States. Package cost is $3.75 plus shipping and handling. http://1.usa.gov/slIZVh
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MLK Drum Majors for Service Presidential Volunteer Service Award
This second MLK Day award option is based on the number of hours an individual serves over a 12 month period or over a lifetime. With this package, your Drum Major is eligible to receive the PVSA pin in Bronze, Silver, Gold or Lifetime depending on the numbers of hours served as described below, as well as a special PVSA certificate and a letter from the President of the United States. Package costs range from $2.00 to $4.75 each, depending on the items selected, plus shipping and handling. http://1.usa.gov/slIZVh
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Case Foundation #GoodSpotting Prizes
Deadline: January 2
To celebrate the holiday season, the Case Foundation is giving away $25,000 in grants and prizes until to encourage you and your community to spot good, share good, and do good!
First, snap a photo, share a link to an article, or record a video of your friend, neighbor, coworker (or you!) doing something good to help others!
Next, upload your photo or link through the Case Foundation's Facebook app or GoodSpotting.org, or share it using the hashtag #GoodSpotting on social media.
As a reward for spotting and sharing acts of good, enter the sweepstakes for a chance to win $500 in holiday spending cash and $5,000 for your favorite charity!
Learn more at www.goodspotting.org
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Sodexo Foundation Youth Grants
Deadline: January 31
Submit your application early to receive feedback!
Submit your application by December 16th and YSA will preliminary review your application and give you feedback by January 4th.
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 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
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Everyday Young Heroes
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Erika Ferguson
Northfield, NJ
YSA recognizes 19-year-old Erika Ferguson of Northfield, NJ, as an Everyday Young Hero for her dedication to ending hunger and homelessness through her organization, Helping 100.
As a young teenager, Erika founded Helping 100, a service-learning club that strikes to end homelessness and hunger. Through her dedication, the organization raised over $25,000 and donated 10,000 food items and thousands of toiletry items to the Atlantic City Rescue Mission (ACRM). Erika continued to fight against homelessness and hunger as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina. There, she co-organized UNC's Campus Y MLK Today event, hosting a panel of experts who spoke of MLK's ideals and their relevance today. This event empowers over 20,000 students to fight against discrimination, lack of access to health care, civil rights, poverty and genocide. Erika dedicates herself completely to the issue, spending her summer combating poverty and hunger in Mississippi. She founded a Living Learning Community on Redefining Homelessness at UNC to help change people's perspective towards homeless people! Erika continues to work on the issues of homelessness and hunger at UNC through her Robertson Scholarship Program as an officer in the Carolina Hunger Education and Activism Project. For her dedication to end homelessness and hunger, we honor Erika Ferguson 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. |
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Resources & Trainings
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The Spirit of Service MLK Day Curriculum from Scholastic
Help students and educators honor Dr. King's legacy and commitment to service with special projects and curriculum-based lessons for grades 3-5 and 6-8. These lessons and projects approach the idea of service through the lenses of language arts, social studies, and science. The materials provide students with the opportunity to experience the joy of service in the classroom. www.scholastic.com/MLKDay/
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MLK Day: A Day On, Not a Day Off Curriculum from The Asset Edge
These three half-day experiences for developing a Martin Luther King Day event help youth engage in activism at three levels as they also explore the meaning of serving, equity, leadership, and justice through advocacy. These outlines are part of the free Seasons of Service: Engaging Youth in Service Throughout the Year curriculum, which you can download at www.TheAssetEdge.net
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Making More Health
Ashoka's Youth Venture and Boehringer Ingelheim are partnering to offer youth a chance to "Make More Health" in their schools and communities. Whether you're passionate about healthy eating, or helping to provide medicine to areas in need, the "Making More Health" partnership wants to help. By entering the campaign, you'll get the opportunity to participate in webinars, help from mentors and staff from Youth Venture and Boehringer Ingelheim, access to a revolving fund for launching your project and a chance to take a college course in Social Entrepreneurship offered by the University of Florida. Share your ideas to make your school and community healthier by December 21 to be eligible for the opportunities listed above. http://yvchallenge.org/makingmorehealth
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International Young Environmentalists Youth Summit
March 8-10, 2013 in Dacula, Georgia
Greening Forward and YSA encourage youth to attend The International Young Environmentalists Youth Summit on March 8-10, 2013 at Rancho Alegre Farm in Dacula, Georgia. Powered by Greening Forward, IYEYS is an entirely youth-imagined, youth-driven, and youth-executed summit aimed at providing young environmentalists the tools they need to take their school and community campaigns to the next level. This is an amazing opportunity to share your charitable work with over 100 young change makers from across the world. Pre-register for $20; Lodging is an additional $20. For more details about the conference,
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Song of the WeeK
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Ne-Yo - "Heroes"
"Worry not, I'll be there
Strength when you feel weak
In the dark when you can't see
Guiding light I will be
All I need all I need
Is for you to do the same for me
Cause...
Even heroes need heroes sometimes
And even the strong need someone to tell them it's all right
Even heroes need heroes sometimes
Will you be my hero tonight?"
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The Editor
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 Mike Minks Director of Outreach and Innovation
Editor-in-Chief @michaelminks |
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