Youth Service America

Youth Service America (YSA) was founded in 1986 with the mission to strengthen the effectiveness, sustainability, and scale of the youth service and service-learning fields. YSA envisions a powerful network of organizations committed to making service and service-learning the common expectation and experience of all young people in America.

YSA is the founder of Global Youth Service Day (GYSD). GYSD, the largest service event in the world, expanded from a single day to include events on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday of one weekend to alleviate any conflicts with religious activities or school. NGYSD engages millions of young people and focuses national attention on leadership, the positive contributions young people make, and the service and service-learning that takes place in the community year-round. State Farm® is the presenting sponsor for NGYSD.

Existing local organizations are given an opportunity to play a larger role in GYSD by becoming a “Lead Agency.” Lead Agencies are provided planning grants to help activate a citywide, regional or statewide recognition of all the young people providing service and participating in service-learning year round. State Farm funds these planning grants.

Additional State Farm Engagement

Through State Farm funding, YSA administers the Good Neighbor Service-Learning Grants which provide $1,000 grants to students and teachers for service-learning activities.

In addition, YSA has developed tools to promote participation in NGYSD including:

• Tool Kits -- Can be downloaded from the Internet, providing age appropriate suggestions on starting a service-learning project.

State Farm Background

In 2001, the State Farm Companies Foundation provided funds and became the presenting sponsor for NGYSD. That same year it began funding Lead Agencies and State Farm Good Neighbor Service-Learning Grants. Over time, the number of lead agencies increased to 100 and the number of Good Neighbor Service-Learning grants increased to 100. YSA’s work has increased the visibility of service-learning and State Farm as a major supporter of service-learning. YSA has created a number of awards to recognize both the contributions of service-learning practitioners and legislators in promoting service-learning.