Your spot for news, tools, and opinions that advance the leadership of youth to become civically engaged and informed global citizens.
Required Service-Learning Hours – What’s in it for Young People?
By: Julie Rogers Bascom, Director, Learning and Leadership High school students might be asking themselves the following: What’s an impressive amount of service hours? How many service hours do I need to be competitive in applying to college? What counts as service hours? These [...]
National Youth Leadership Council Launches New Website to Empower Educators and Transform Communities
St. Paul, Minnesota - National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC), a leading service-learning organization, announced today the launch of its new website designed to empower educators and transform communities. The website, built with the latest technology and designed with educators in mind, provides a [...]
Creating Kindness
Hello everyone, I'm Jaida, I am 12 years old and I came to the SLC with me and my mom's nonprofit KIDS CARE. Being the service people that we are and the horrible Nashville school shooting that just happened, we decided to make [...]
Reflecting on the 34th Annual National Service-Learning Conference
By Grace Chenxin Liu, YAC Member Recently, we wrapped up the 2023 National Service-Learning Conference and celebrated the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC)’s 40th birthday! This experience was incredible and impressive in every way. From the number of enthusiastic participants (even leaders from overseas!) [...]
Celebrating 40 Years of Generating Change!
On March 16, 1983, the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) was founded by Dr. James Kielsmeier to train young people to be servant leaders, originally in response to tension caused by court-mandated school integration. Students were coached to respond to racial injustices [...]
Equity in service-learning
Quality service-learning experiences support contribution and leadership from diverse voices, providing every stakeholder a seat at the table in decision-making. It supports young people in learning to embrace the different perspectives, experiences, and contributions of their peers, as well as those of the [...]
Campus Compact: Telling the story of service in Higher ED
By Congressman Brian Baird, Guest Writer Most colleges and universities have thousands of stories of service to tell, but no public place to tell them. That’s a missed opportunity that can and should be solved in ways that are at once inspiring, affordable, [...]
What’s your definition of youth voice?
Like many complex issues, understanding youth voice can be challenging and confusing. Is it young people speaking their minds? Is it youth addressing an issue they care about? Is it youth deconstructing systems that don’t serve them? Is it a graffiti mural in [...]
What would service-learning be without reflection?
Reflection is a power tool in the practice of service-learning. Often it seems like a simple act - think about what you experienced, write about it, talk about it, create something, but in reality it isn’t simple at all. It requires you to [...]
Nashville, TN Hosts 2023 National Service-Learning Conference
On April 2-5, 2023, the National Youth Leadership Council, with Volunteer Tennessee and the Tennessee Afterschool Network, will convene hundreds of youth and adults at the 34th Annual National Service-Learning Conference®, One Giant Leap for Service-Learning. The National Service-Learning Conference is the largest [...]
Latinx Youth Saving Lives Through Culturally-Specific Service-Learning
When Minerva Garcia and Izabella Varela noticed the effects of COVID-19 on Latinx communities, they jumped at the opportunity to involve the Ascendencia affinity group at Northside College Prep in Chicago to be part of the solution. They joined a national initiative of [...]
