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Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Students at St. Joseph of Cupertino school on April 6 prepared sandwiches and bag lunches for the Julian Street Inn, a homeless shelter in San Jose.
Youth finding empowerment in community volunteerism
Students find giving back can be rewarding work
By Sandy Sims
For the first time in many years--maybe since the 1960s--young people became politically active when they mobilized this year against Proposition 21.
This fledgling effort may signal a small shift in the political heart of our youth--a shift from apathy and cynicism to the belief they actually can make a difference. And this change of heart is most likely a direct result of youth volunteerism.
While cynicism about government is rampant among America's youth, voting age participation in national elections has dropped from two-thirds in 1960 to one-third today, even though the minimum vote age dropped to 18 in 1971. What's more, according to Brian O'Connell, professor of public service in the Lincoln Filene Center for Citizenship and Public Affairs at Tufts University, voters aged 18 to 34 are the least involved.
At the same time, the number of young community volunteers has increased. They are receiving awards from local and national government, and community service is becoming an integral part of class work. And agencies are scrambling to provide places for them to serve.
These youngsters are, in fact, becoming part of our infrastructure.
Youngsters sort and handing out food for the homeless, create Christmas for those who wouldn't otherwise have one. They cheer the elderly and help in hospitals and veterinary offices, and they paint over graffiti. The list is endless.
More than 20 students from local schools were recognized during Youth Appreciation Week for their individual efforts and accomplishments of personal leadership and service to the community. Hazel Ang from Homestead High, in addition to school clubs and activities with her church, volunteers at the library, prepares food for the community and escorts children and young people to church services.
Michelle Chang from Monte Vista High School volunteers her time at El Camino Hospital and teaches swimming at area parks. Anna Traina of Cupertino Middle School spends time developing leadership skills and motivation techniques at school and with her church in an effort to increase youth participation in community service.
Countywide, adult volunteer numbers have declined slightly, but youth volunteer numbers are rising dramatically. The numbers have risen so much that in 1998 the Volunteer Exchange of Santa Clara County added a youth volunteer arm to its organization and headed by its own full-time coordinator.
This focus on youth volunteerism is not happenstance. It's part of a bigger picture.
According to Steve Culbertson, president and CEO of Youth Service America, a national nonprofit umbrella agency supporting youth volunteerism, in 1979 communities became alarmed when a U.S. News and World Report article spotlighted the apathy of young people. The article and the growing me-focus of these baby boomers served as a wake-up call to activists such as John Gardner, founder of Common Cause, and his friend Brian O'Connell. O'Connell is Tufts University professor and author of Civic Society: the Underpinnings of American Democracy (University Press of New England).
"Democracy is dependent on citizens being involved," O'Connell said in a telephone interview. "We were concerned about the future of the U.S. democracy." Gardner, O'Connell and hundreds of activists began an organized crusade called Independent Sector to raise public awareness about the importance of civic involvement. Psychiatrist Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled, added his voice as did others. And in the 1980s youth community involvement began to grow.
But the thrust of civic involvement has mainly been volunteerism. And most of the big hitters have supported that focus--President Bush's thousand points of light, President Clinton's Americorps, Colin Powell's America's Promise (a volunteer program dedicated to helping America's young people).
"What we eventually realized," O'Connell says, "is that education is at the heart of good citizenship," the idea on which, O'Connell says, Thomas Jefferson hung his argument for public education. Jefferson meant all citizens could participate effectively in a democracy if they were educated. Today, O'Connell and others are suggesting public education needs to emphasize community service.
However, the old civics classes are long gone, abandoned about 30 years ago. The question? How do we get civic education back in schools?
There was, it turned out, a model already in place.
Private schools such as Saratoga's St. Andrews, Bellarmine College Preparatory and Harker Academy have for years required students to complete community service hours. Some public school districts copied this model. San Jose Unified School District now requires 40 hours of community service for graduation. Other districts concluded that a requirement would mean students might just put in hours without reflecting on what they were doing, and opted against mandatory community service .
Required or not, the climate for volunteering is strong in schools. Campus clubs are incorporating service in their activities. Rotary and Kiwanis youth clubs have stepped up volunteer activities. College entrance boards give considerable weight to community service.
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Students nationwide are showing a renewed interest in community servce and volunteer projects.
Students who volunteer for 50 or 100 hours in a 12-month period may also receive a silver or gold pin, a presidential certificate, and a letter from the President. And each high school in the country may select one junior or senior volunteer to receive a President's Scholarship. However, the President's $500 must be matched by $500 from the community.
Educators have taken volunteerism a step further. They are weaving community service with an old educational concept called experiential learning--students learn better through hands-on experience. This old concept with a new twist has been dubbed "service learning."
Now there are national, state and local conferences on service learning. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin set up a special task force for the purpose of "linking classrooms and communities." By the year 2004, she wants 50 percent of California school districts to offer all students at least one service learning opportunity at each grade span (K-5, 6-8, 9-12).
San Jose State University has received a $1 million grant for Project Service Learning California, a program for college students who want to teach in high-need schools. These future teachers will volunteer in real settings, Eastfield Ming Quong, for instance, where they can improve skills for working with children with emotional problems.
According to federal guidelines, service learning follows these tenets: it meets the needs of the community, it enhances academic curriculum, helps foster civic responsibility and provides time for students to reflect on the service experience.
Service learning can also be individualized. For example, one fifth-grade teacher had an English-as-a-second-language student reading on a second-grade level. Instead of making him read in front of the class, the teacher paired him up with a second grader as a tutor (study buddy). By helping the second grader, the fifth grader's reading and self-esteem improved.
Nicky Ozer, youth service coordinator for Volunteer Exchange, a clearinghouse for volunteers, says volunteering is very practical, too. Students learn marketable skills. They learn leadership, how to talk on the phone, organize and write, and about technology, people skills and more.
The 15 high school students who volunteer for her office researched, designed and put together a Youth Service Guide booklet of 330 nonprofit agencies that can use youth volunteers. Students who don't do well in school, can be outstanding volunteers. "These kids need to be part of the bigger picture," Ozer says.
Volunteer Exchange holds a Youth Summit each year. This year 350 students will meet to share what they do in the community. Recently, the Volunteer Exchange held a mini-youth summit at A Place for Teens in Los Gatos. The whole group went to Saratoga Springs and took the ropes course as a way of learning to work together. At another training session the students learned the three venues for addressing community issues: volunteerism, media and public officials.
Ozer says it's important for agencies who use these young volunteers to prepare for them, to ensure the work is a good fit for the volunteer, to create time to manage the young person and to find them interesting work to do--not just sorting envelopes for bulk mail.
Youth Service America's Steve Culbertson says, "What's really exciting is kids are starting their own volunteer organizations." YSA currently funds four such programs.
One of them, the nonprofit agency Kids Cheering Kids, was started by 7-year-old Los Gatan John Holland-McGowan's. John's efforts to reach out to children who need a friend was the genesis of KCK. An article in Parade magazine prompted new KCK chapters around the Bay Area.
Another young man, Eric Dawson, a 19-year-old college student in Boston, created a curriculum called Peace Games, a conflict-resolution program for children. He organized 300 college students to teach the curriculum in Boston schools.
Those working directly with young people are noticing a change.
"Young people are realizing the importance of being involved," said Kate Teague of Social Advocates for Youth, a Santa Clara County organization. Students who used to say, "what's the point," are registering to vote. They're getting proactive. Teague says one of the teenagers she works with actually went out and found community services for a friend. "Instead of calling me, she did it herself."
Teague says the young people who protested Proposition 21 were disappointed that it passed, but they saw tangible results for their effort. After their protesting in front of PG&E in San Jose and San Francisco, the utility company withdrew its support from the proposition. The youngsters also noticed that Proposition 21 lost in San Jose, Berkeley and other areas where they had set up information pickets.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
