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Welcome to AddService!
July 14, 2010AddService is YSA's official blog. What exactly does AddService mean and why should you read our blog?Well, for one, AddService is simply adding service to your daily life. Love arts? Add service by creating a community mural. Love computers? Add service by teaching inner city youth the ins and outs of technology.
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Never Alone
May 3, 2010As youth voice advocates many of us tend to emphasize young people's contributions and achievements as if they were working on their own. We refer to youth-adult partnerships, but to persuade the skeptics that young people - even the youngest ones - are indeed ready and able to make substantive contributions to social issues, we focus the attention on the young leader alone.
I'd say that many young leaders often do the same.
I'm thinking especially of large scale, very visible social initiatives that were started by kids. We highlight them as examples of what young people can do, we invite them to speak at our events or to join our boards, and they get well-deserved press coverage. But in many of those cases, we only tell part of the story: how the child came up with the idea, how she got her peers involved, how he raised funds, how they were invited to speak at large forums, and how that catapulted their project to involve thousands. The adults who listened without judging, who supported without imposing, who brought other adults and their resources on board to help the program grow as the child envisioned it often remain in the background.
Lisa Frank, a young leader and student currently working at YSA with whom I shared these ideas, brought up a good point: the American culture of individualism and “self-made” entrepreneurship has a lot to do with our tendency to focus the lens on individual achievements - either of youth or adults –
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Public officials support 22nd GYSD
April 14, 20102010 is an exciting year for support from elected officials. Across the United States, leaders in government are recognizing the positive contributions children and youth make in their communities.
28 State Proclamations (Plus 1 Letter of Support)
Alabama – Governor Bob Riley
Arizona – Governor Jan Brewer
Arkansas – Governor Mike Beebe
Colorado* – Governor Bill Ritter
Connecticut – Governor M. Jodi Rell
Delaware* – Governor Jack Markell
Georgia – Governor Sonny Perdue
Illinois – Governor Pat Quinn
Indiana* - Governor Mitch Daniels
Iowa – Governor Chet Culver
Kentucky* – Governor Steve Beshear
Maine – Governor John Baldacci
Maryland* – Governor Martin O’Malley
Michigan* – Governor Jennifer Granholm
Montana – Governor Brian Schweitzer (Letter of Support)
Nebraska – Governor Dave Heineman
Nevada – Governor Jim Gibbons
New Mexico* – Governor Bill Richardson
North Carolina* – Governor Bev Purdue
Ohio* – Governor Ted Strickland
Oregon* – Governor Ted Kulongoski
Rhode Island – Governor Donald Carcieri
South Carolina – Governor Mark Sanford
Tennessee – Governor Phil Bredesen
Texas – Governor Rick Perry
Utah* – Governor Gary Herbert
Washington* – Governor Chris Gregoire
West Virginia* - Governor Joe Manchin
Wisconsin* – Governor Jim Doyle1 Mayoral Proclamation Chicago – Mayor Richard Daley
25 Co-Sponsors for
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The Census: A Once in a Decade Service Opportunity
April 8, 2010I eagerly awaited its arrival. I had received postcards telling me it was coming. I had heard news reports that it was on its way. I had promoted it to others in the National Service Briefing. I was ready for it.
What’s the it I’m referring to? My 2010 census form. You read that right – I was excited to finally get my census form in the mail. I know, I know, most people usually don’t get too excited about forms coming in the mail, especially government forms. For me though, Census Day (April 1) was nearly as exciting as Election Day. The Census is as essential to our democracy as voting is, and since this is my first census as an adult, I looked forward to it almost as much as I did my first time voting.
I was first hired at Youth Service America to manage ServiceVote 2008, our election year program that is based on the idea that even if youth aren’t old enough to vote, they can and should still play a critical role in elections and the ongoing public policy process by connecting their service to civic engagement and participating in elections in other ways besides voting. It’s just as important that young people are engaged in the process of the census. For me, filling out the census is a kind of patriotic act of citizenship. I’m standing up and being counted.
Why is the census so important? Elections depend on the census. U.S. House districts, most state legislative districts, and many local district boundaries depend on census data
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How You Can Help Haiti on Global Youth Service Day
March 31, 2010More than two months have passed since the devastating earthquake in Haiti, but the struggles continue. People are still suffering from lack of housing, food, water, and medical care. Haiti needs our help now more than ever, but the quake that shook Haiti also shook the hearts and minds of young people such as the East Brunswick, New Jersey Chapter of People to People International. These students decided to host a Charity Coffee House during Global Youth Service Day (www.gysd.org). I was also excited to see young celebrities like Miley Cyrus calling on their peers to take action. Watch her video on the Get Ur Good On website (www.geturgoodon.org/video/help-haiti-1) and explore the GURGO community to see how youth across the globe are making a difference (www.geturgoodon.org).
As an intern at Youth Service America, I get to hear about all the amazing things people are doing to help, like hosting Playathons, serving with their sports teams, and using service-learning to connect their classrooms to the Caribbean. Check out their ideas and I guarantee you’ll be inspired to take action!
One easy way to help out Haitians (and victims of natural disasters in any country) is to fundraise. I know fundraising can be tough so I found