Global Youth Service Day is an annual campaign that celebrates and mobilizes the millions of children and youth who improve their communities each day of the year through service and service-learning.

Established in 1988, GYSD is the largest service event in the world and is now celebrated in over 100 countries. On GYSD, children and youth address the world’s most critical issues in partnership with families, schools, community and faith-based organizations, businesses, and governments.

The goals of GYSD are to:

Mobilize

• youth to identify and address the needs of their communities;
• organizations to provide opportunities for youth engagement;
• media and policy makers to promote and raise awareness of young people as assets and resources to their communities.

Support

• youth on a lifelong path of service and civic engagement;
• schools and organizations through training and technical assistance, grants, and resources that enable them to engage youth.

Sustain

• community improvement through year-round engagement of youth as leaders and problem-solvers.

GYSD is organized by Youth Service America with the National Youth Leadership Council, the International Organizations and National Coordinating Committees and thousands of .

Youth Service America
1101 15th Street, N.W., Suite 200
Washington, DC 20005
U.S.A.

Quick Facts

• Global Youth Service Day is the largest service event in the world. Millions of youth will participate in the 22nd Annual Global Youth Service Day on April 23-25, 2010. Over the past 22 years, Global Youth Service Day has brought together more than 40 million people in thousands of communities worldwide. GYSD is held every year during a weekend every April in over 100 countries in every region of the world.
• The goals of Global Youth Service Day are:
  a. To MOBILIZE youth to identify and address the needs of their communities through service.
  b. To SUPPORT youth on a life-long path of service and civic engagement.
  c. To EDUCATE the public, the media, and policymakers about the year-round contributions of young people as community leaders
• Global Youth Service Day in the United States is coordinated by Youth Service America, in association with the National Youth Leadership Council. State Farm Companies Foundation is the Presenting Sponsor of Global Youth Service Day in the United States.
• Youth Service America founded Global Youth Service Day in 2000 by adapting the successful model of National Youth Service Day, launched in 1988 in the United States of America. Youth Service America now organizes Global Youth Service Day around the world with the Global Youth Action Network as its key partner and a consortium of international organizations and national coordinating committees.

Sample Service Projects From Past Global Youth Service Days

• In West Oakland, California, elementary school students from Rock La Fleche Community School addressed a major community need for knowledge of and access to nutritious fresh fruit and vegetables among low-income and multi-ethnic residents in the westernmost district of Oakland, California. Over the course of the school year, the students completed a service-learning project that culminated with the production and distribution of a map detailing locations of and information about community gardens and access points for fresh produce. The student also presented a traveling exhibit featuring interviews, photographs of the gardens, and their research on the community gardens.
• In Olathe, Kansas, youth participated in an ongoing service-learning project that matches 4-H volunteers with senior citizens, the majority of whom are Meals on Wheels recipients. During the event, volunteers completed indoor & outdoor household chores such as flipping bed mattresses, installing smoke alarms and changing light bulbs and smoke alarm batteries. In addition, volunteers spent one-on-one time visiting with each client.
• In Washington, DC, youth volunteers from various faith communities partnered with D.C. Habitat for Humanity to address the pressing housing needs in a Northeast Boundary neighborhood where public housing has been taken down. Volunteers embarked on boats to perform a shoreline cleanup on Kingman Island in the Anacostia River, Washington's "forgotten river," that runs through historic African-American neighborhoods.
• In New Orleans, Louisiana, youth mobilized by the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans prepared for the city's first mayoral election since Hurricane Katrina by posting official election signage in neighborhoods throughout the city, publicizing the locations of relocated polling places, setting up polling places, and creating an election command center for the Louisiana Secretary of State. On Election Day, volunteers directed voters; provided transportation for elderly, disabled, and other voters to polls; and assisted certified poll commissioners.
• In Tarija, Bolivia, forty youth addressed the public health issues surrounding unsanitary drinking water with the help of a Disney Minnie Grant. They were trained as public health educators and facilitated workshops for the community. The workshops focused on the serious threat of gastrointestinal diseases that can arise through drinking unsanitary water. They integrated art and literature into these workshops and provided participants with easy ways to disinfect their drinking water.
• In Kuchinarai, Thailand, twenty youth and eight teachers engaged fifty-five children orphaned due to AIDS in a week-long summer camp focused on education, life skills, leadership, and self-esteem. The fifty-five youth, ages seven to fourteen, tutored each other in math and literacy skills, organized a talent show, learned more about HIV/AIDS, and participated in academic competitions. The participants returned to their communities as resources with accurate information about HIV/AIDS.

The History of Global Youth Service Day

In 1988, Youth Service America and the Campus Outreach Opportunity League organized the first National Youth Service Day, then called "A Day in the Life of Youth Service." Nearly 1,000 programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated. In 1990, YSA joined forces with COOL, the United States Conference of Mayors, the Weekly Reader, and the Jefferson Awards to celebrate the day. More than 1,500 programs, a bipartisan group of 331 mayors, and 13 governors planned special service activities, recognition and awards ceremonies, as well as city-wide youth forums. In 2000, YSA founded GYSD by adapting the successful model of National Youth Service Day in the United States. Since then, GYSD has grown to include over 160 National Partners and International Coordinating Committee members and millions of young people worldwide.  The event is now referred to in the U.S. and overseas as "Global Youth Service Day"

Youth Service America is a national nonprofit resource center that partners with thousands of organizations committed to strengthening the youth service movement. Founded in 1986, YSA envisions a global culture of engaged youth who are committed to a lifetime of service, learning, leadership, and achievement. It's mission is to expand the impact of the youth service movement with communities, schools, corporations, and governments.

How

All schools, faith-based groups, and youth-related organizations are encouraged to plan and highlight youth-led community service projects on Global Youth Service Day. Organizations may want to highlight existing projects to the media and surrounding community, or may choose to organize special projects and events that involve the broader community on GYSD.

At the national level, National Coordinating Committees are being formed to help promote Global Youth Service Day through a network of organizations as well as to the media, the public and private sectors.

Global Youth Service Day was first created by Youth Service America, a resource center and network of 200+ organizations working to engage more young people in quality volunteer opportunities. At the international level, Youth Service America and the Global Youth Action Network, together with the International Coordinating Committee (ICC), are working to promote, organize, and coordinate this event. The ICC supports and coordinates the distribution of the general materials for promoting and organizing the day.

Why

Growing Recognition

Around the world, the confluence of improved information technology, access to education, and the rise of civic organizations has led to an increased awareness by youth and their communities as to their potential contribution through voluntary action.

Around the world millions of young people are becoming involved locally, nationally and globally through new programs and infrastructure. At the local level, numerous programs are being established to provide education, leadership training, and opportunities for youth to serve as resources to their communities. At the national level, a growing number of countries are establishing policies and programs which support on-going service by youth through service and conservation corps, volunteer-based learning reform in the schools, and stipend service. At the international level, foundations, multi-lateral donors, and associations such as the International Association of National Youth Service and the Inter-American Working Group on Youth Development have begun to focus on how to stimulate greater support for methodologies which promote positive youth development and youth volunteering.

Service Works

Research in the US demonstrates that young people involved in volunteering are more likely to become active citizens through voting, participating in civic groups, and giving philanthropically. In addition, young volunteers have been found to have higher educational and economic achievement rates. Likewise, young people who volunteer are 50% less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, become involved in delinquency, or drop out of school. Youth volunteering is an effective strategy for building strong youth and strong communities, while also reducing negative social behaviors.

Mentoring as a Key Resource

Research has also shown the importance of all young people having a caring adult or mentor in their lives as a pre-requisite for their healthy and complete development. Young people who face a number of at-risk situations, but have a mentor in their lives, have been shown to be more resilient and to have better educational and economic achievement.

The Challenge
Nonetheless, only a small portion of the world’s youth between the ages of 10 and 24 have the opportunity to participate in organized volunteer programs that blend effective practices of leadership training, significant service to the community, and reflection. Even fewer have access to a mentor. In addition, there is little sharing of international resources and experiences.

Despite the powerful communication potential of our technological age, most information is fragmented, thus limiting the possibility of organizing strategies for scaling up youth volunteering or sharing effective practices within countries and across borders. The lack of information limits the public awareness as to the importance of investing in and supporting programs that involve youth in volunteerism in many countries.

Experience to Date

In the United States, Youth Service America and 43 national nonprofit partners have successfully organized National Youth Service Day for the past eleven years. In addition, in 1999, National Youth Service Day had the participation of 18 corporate sponsors and thousands of corporate volunteers. The day typically mobilizes over three million young people in thousand of community improvement projects across the country. It also generates over 470 million media impressions per year.