Building young leaders through service-learning

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Abstract

Youth who develop leadership skills while participating in community service build self-esteem and engage even more people, especially other youth, in service. City Year San Jose/Silicon Valley is developing service-leadership skills in middle and high school students through their "Young Heroes" and "City Heroes" programs. The time-intensive programs structure service projects around leadership skills such as critical analysis, problem-solving, managing diversity, and project management. Excerpted from The Resource Connection newsletter, vol. 5, no.1.

Issue

Identifying elements of service-learning that can significantly advance the development of leadership skills in middle and high school students.

Action

The approach to service-learning adopted by City Year San Jose/Silicon Valley includes an emphasis on learning outcomes specifically geared toward developing participants as leaders capable of addressing community and social issues by engaging others in service. Inherent in these outcomes are certain skills such as critical analysis, problem-solving, communications, managing diversity, building team and community, service project development, and project management. Their program involves group-based service, and tends to incorporate substantial amounts of teamwork and community building.

Young Heroes, a structured youth service corps for middle school students, began in 1994 when a middle school student asked why she couldn't be in City Year. Because the AmeriCorps members couldn't think of a satisfactory answer, they decided to create a City Year-like program for middle school students. In the 2004-2005 program year over 1,000 middle school students in thirteen cities will be engaged in the Young Heroes program. The middle school students must submit a written application and be interviewed. Once accepted, they commit to serving almost every Saturday for five months. They are placed on diverse teams of 8 to 12 led by team leaders, wear uniforms, participate in high energy calisthenics, go through leadership and service workshops, and engage in transformative service projects. The teams are named after local, living heroes who currently serve the community. The Young Heroes have the opportunity to meet these heroes, to hear from them, and sometimes perform service with them.

City Heroes

Drawing upon the model and success of Young Heroes, some City Year programs have a City Heroes program to engage high school students who are either current or aspiring leaders in community service. City Heroes is based on the belief that high school students have the passion and the drive to serve, and to inspire their peers to serve as well.

To better accommodate the busy schedules of high school students, City Year San Jose has implemented a modified routine for the City Heroes program. Students take part in monthly overnight group retreats where they discuss social issues and then lead community service projects related to those issues on alternating weekends. Using a curriculum that includes leadership development, diversity training, and transformative service, the City Heroes complete over 100 hours of service. This helps them become equipped with the tools and confidence to effectively assess the needs of a community and create programs to work towards solving those needs. For the 2004-2005 program year 100 students will participate in City Year San Jose's City Heroes program.

Striving for the Ripple Effect

One of the advantages of programs with an intentional emphasis on leadership development is that the impact and the service doesn't just end with the participants. By its very nature the program is designed to "ripple out" as the participants engage even more people, particularly their peers, in service. Through this approach, five AmeriCorps members could engage 100 high school students who then lead 1,000 more high school students — the ultimate volunteer multiplier effect.

When all of these elements — service, leadership, diversity, community building — are combined into a comprehensive and structured program, it makes for a much deeper, more meaningful and transformative experience.

Core Elements of City Year's Approach to Service-Leadership Development:

Participants not only perform community service, but they develop leadership skills in order to engage others in service.
Learning outcomes are geared toward becoming a better service-leader and include critical analysis, problem-solving, communications, managing diversity, building team and community, service project development, and project management.
The program is time-intensive, often over 100 hours over a very specific period of time with a clear start and finish.
It is very clear whether or not a participant is in the program. There is no floating in and out. Individuals need to apply and get accepted. Once in the program, they identify themselves as being part of the program: "I am a Young Hero."
The program is very structured and involves substantial amounts of group process, teamwork, and community building. Working in groups is a powerful vehicle for transformation.

Citation

Sarvey, John Hoang and Abby Benedetto. "Leadership Development and Service-Learning." The Resource Connection. National Service Resource Center. Vol. 5, No. 1.

The Resource Center published The Resource Connection newsletter in print format quarterly from spring 1995 to fall 2002 to facilitate the exchange of training and technical assistance (T/TA) information, ideas, and resources to those in national and community service.

In March of 2003, The Resource Connection went to a digital format, continuing to highlight information and resources that help programs funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service. Current and archived e-newsletters can be found on our website.