Global Youth Service Day

Last year we connected with Youth Service America (YSA), an organization focused on empowering youth to participate in community service. Their mission, “to help all young people find their voice, take action, and make an impact on vital community issues” aligns so well with GCA’s mission and vision. By becoming a community partner with YSA, we have gained access to many useful resources to strengthen our program and outreach.

YSA connects youth with the tools to develop tailored service projects that really encourage them to develop the critical thinking skills needed to become agents of community change. They host Global Youth Service Day every year, which is a three-day weekend of worldwide youth service endeavors, and the largest service event in the world!

We are so excited to announce that each of our Youth Clubs will be designing and implementing their own service project in honor of 2017 Global Youth Service Day! Each club will use YSA’s phenomenal tool-kit to complete a community needs assessment, consider community assets, determine their best strategy, and design a rock-star service project. Their #GYSD project will be the design of the larger program that will take place in July in honor of Mandela Day, a national holiday in South Africa where groups come together to give back to their communities in honor and memory of Nelson Mandela.

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead” – Nelson Mandela