This edition of the SLYPN Quarterly features the National Learn & Serve Challenge (October 6-12, 2008) and the launch of the SLYPN Peer Mentors Directory.

As we gear up for the Challenge, we ask you to Accept the Challenge, and join others from around the country for a week of special projects and community outreach events designed to raise awareness and build support for service-learning.  Through the Challenge, you can spotlight the value of service-learning to young people, schools, and communities; launch service-learning projects; or build support for service-learning among decision-makers.  Join us in moving closer to achieving our 2010 national goals to engage 5 million colleges students in service and to ensure 50 percent of America's K-12 schools incorporate service-learning into their curricula.

The SLYPN Peer Mentors Directory is getting ready to launch! The Directory is designed to provide SLYPN members, particularly young 20-30 somethings, with access to veteran leaders in the field.  Whether you have a question, are seeking guidance, or want to connect with a seasoned veteran leader, the Directory will enable you to quickly search for potential mentors.

Issue Areas

Advocacy
The National Learn & Serve Challenge is just around corner on October 6-12, 2008.  You can participate and giver greater visibility to service-learning in your state by requesting a proclamation or resolution that officially adopts the National Learn & Serve Challenge, or the designation of a Service-Learning month.  Securing a proclamation takes about four to six weeks, so it is the perfect time to get started.  Visit the Challenge website for step by step instructions on what to do, language to use when drafting a proclamation, and for prior years' proclamations. 

Another easy, but important way to participate is to make a presentation to your local school board and/or city council.  Make sure service-learning is not the best secret in your school or community.  Use this opportunity to make key leaders aware of how service-learning is transforming lives and improving schools and communities right in their own backyard.  Download the Make a Presentation Activity Tip Sheet to learn more.

Communications and Visibility
Are you looking for the latest news in the service-learning world? Do you need a place to find informative videos on how to advocate for service-learning? Visit the Service-Learning YouTube Channel, and the Service-Learning Blog - the online voice of the service-learning community.

Also, join the National Learn & Serve Challenge Facebook event page to connect with other participants!

SLYPN is providing more visibility in the social networking community.  Join our Facebook group page and our LinkedIn community!

Constituency Building
As members of the service-learning community, we are always looking for ways to build public awareness and support for service-learning.  Use the National Learn & Serve Challenge as the springboard for educating your community.  Here are some fast and easy ways to highlight service-learning:

1. Organize a service-learning Open House or reception.  Consider holding one during a local school's Back to School Night or PTA meeting.  For instructions, click here. 

2. Feature a service-learning story in your school or community newsletter, or the local newspaper.  The Challenge offers an opportunity for us to showcase the benefits and champions of service-learning.  Visit here for more instructions.

Nonprofit Management and Leadership
There has been a lot of talk about doing more to make service-learning a core expectation in the life and education of all young people.  Last year, the Bush Administration established a new national goal that 50% of the nation's K-12 schools would offer service-learning as part of their curriculum.  But, what will it really take to get us there? And, what can you do to get started in your own backyard?

Nelda Brown offers one theory and approach for our consideration in a brief Power Point presentation.  Nelda is the Executive Director of the National Service-Learning Partnership.  Share your comments or questions to the Nonprofit Management affinity group.  You can also send Nelda a message via the SLYPN online community, username: nelda.

Service-Learning in Higher Education

According to Campus Compact's annual survey, some 30% of college students at member colleges and universities participate in service and service-learning activities organized by their campuses.  These students contribute an estimated $7 billion in service in areas such as education, health care, hunger, and the environment.

The impact on their communities is huge.  Thanks to these efforts, neighborhoods across the country have safer drinking water, skilled reading and math tutors, health screening and care for the under-insured, new after-school programs, and countless other benefits.  The 1,200 higher education institutions that are members of Campus Compact - whose mission is to make civic engagement part of college life - are deeply committed to service-learning, both as a valuable teaching and learning tool and as a means of building strong surrounding communities.  They do so by creating structures and policies to support service-learning on campus.

Nearly all of these campuses have one or more community partnership; most have at least a dozen such partnerships, spanning local K-12 schools and nonprofits as well as other agencies.  More than 80% have an office dedicated to coordinating partnership and service-learning activities.  These offices are the first stop for those on campus and in the community who want to know more about service-learning.

With Campus Compact's help, colleges have developed a wide range of creative strategies for engaging students across disciplines in service-learning activities.  One way to tap into these strategies is to peruse Campus Compact's website.  In addition to syllabi and program models, the site offers related news, events, and more. 

Service-Learning Practice and Professional Development
Making Service Meaningful Through Reflection 

Reflection is at the heart of service-learning.  It connects the service to the learning and participants to the service and to others, creating a greater sense of empowerment and ownership.  Whether you are leading a service-learning activity or participating in a service project, a successful reflection could be the difference between a meaningful service-learning or an ordinary service experience.

Check out this article, "Incorporating Creative Reflection Activities," from the Resources Center's Effective Practices on how to build meaningful, creative reflection into the service-learning experience for all participants. 

New Opportunities
SLYPN Peer Mentor Directory

SLYPN members will soon have access to veteran leaders in the field.  Whether you have a question, need help on a specific topic, or want to connect with someone in your region, SLYPN members will be able to quickly search for mentors.  Currently we have many people committed from across the country:

Atlantic Region 
Nelda Brown, Executive Director of the National Service-Learning Partnership

North Central Region 
Wokie Weah, Vice-President of the National Youth Leadership Council

Pacific Region 
Mark Batenburg, Executive Director of Youth Service California

Southern Region 
Joe Follman, Director of Florida Learn and Serve

Grants and Awards Opportunities

• PepsiCo Foundation Grants
  The PepsiCo Foundation primarily supports nonprofit organizations located in US communities where company employees live and work. 
  Deadline: >$100,000 rolling, <$100,000 September 15, 2008

• Wal-Mart Foundation State Giving Program
  The Wal-Mark Foundation's State Giving Program awards grants at the state and regional level to programs that have a strong impact within the communities the company service.  The program's priority funding categories include: Education, targeting the needs of underserved young people ages 12-30; Job Skills Training, specifically support service to help people improve their work-related skills; Environmental Sustainability, including recycling programs, outdoor classrooms, etc.  The minimum grant size for this program is $5,000. 
  Deadline: September 25, 2008 and December 19, 2008

• Kids In Need Teacher Grants
  The Kids in Need Foundation seeks to engage students in the learning process by supporting creative teachers from across the United States.  Kids In Need Teacher Grants provide K-12 educators with funding to develop innovative learning opportunities for their students.
  Deadline: September 30, 2008

• Support for Cross-Cultural Projects throughout the U.S.
  The Intercultural Harmony Program, an initiative of the Laura Jane Musser Fund, promotes mutual understanding and cooperation between groups and citizens of different cultural backgrounds within defined geographical areas through collaborative, cross-cultural projects.  Funded projects can be carried out in a number of areas, including the arts, community service, and youth activities.  Planning or implementation grants averaging from $7500 to $20,000 are provided for new projects within their first three years of operation.
  Deadline: October 1, 2008

• Please see the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse's Funding Opportunities Page for more grant opportunities and information.

© 2008 Service-Learning Young Professionals Network

SLYPN is administered by the National Service-Learning Partnership at the Academy for Educational Development—with strategic support and leadership from Youth Service California.

If you no longer wish to receive our emails, you may email the SLYPN administrator.