Introduction to Service-Learning

The Service-Learning Experience

Service has been a pillar of the Boys & Girls Club Movement since the very beginning. Today, every young person who enters one of the more than 4,100 Boys & Girls Clubs and Youth Centers across the country and around the world is introduced to the concept of service – opportunities to contribute to their communities in meaningful ways. Volunteering provides youth of all ages and backgrounds with exceptional opportunities to build character and strengthen leadership skills. This long-held wisdom is the impetus behind BGCA’s Character & Leadership program portfolio, which includes Torch Club, Keystone, Youth of the Year, and the Million Members, Million Hours of Service (MMMHS) initiative. 

The MMMHS initiative plays a vital role in expanding youths’ lens through which they can see and experience a first-hand role in achieving positive change in their communities through service. The 2016 annual member survey shows that 84 percent of Club members believe they can make a difference in the community, 91 percent want to help when they see someone having a problem, and 92 percent try to help when they see people in need. Service opportunities in the Club show youth that they have the power to act on these impulses to build a better world.

Distinct from one-time service experiences (for example, a Club Clean-Up Day), service-learning projects engage a cohort of youth (approximately 8-15) over a period of time and involve youth in all phases of the planning process. While this service-learning program is designed for teens (age 13- 18), younger youth may also express interest, so remain open and support their participation. Service-learning can be implemented in Clubs and Youth Centers of all sizes and resource levels. It provides an excellent foundation for leadership opportunities and drives interest in other programs.

Service-learning, a component of MMMHS, is a project-based learning model in which youth learn academic content in a real-life, real-world context. In simple terms, service-learning is learning by doing. Service-learning encompasses:

• Investigation – identify community needs and resources
• Planning/Preparation – develop plan/set goals
• Action – fulfill service project
• Reflection – reinforce learning
• Demonstration – showcase learnings & impact of their work

Central to the service-learning process is the incorporation of “youth voice” – the active inclusion and participation of youth in their world. Youth voice occurs when members and their ideas are meaningfully incorporated into all stages of the service-learning process. It provides youth buy-in to the project and an opportunity to see themselves as agents of change in their Club and community.

Overview of Teens Take the Lead: Program Structure

The program’s structure is intentionally designed with sessions that help youth think about, plan, implement and reflect upon their service-learning project. The program takes teens through the process of a sustained service learning project, step by step.

This guide follows a project-based or service-learning approach to support youth through the three-step P + P = P formula.

In partnership with Club/Youth Center staff, youth engage in a three-step process to discover personal and collective passions, identify and address a community problem, and develop a project to activate participation from the community.

This approach puts youth at the center of their own learning and supports their ongoing, active engagement. Service projects become an important part of creating a high-quality Club Experience – by building on youth input and agency, setting high expectations, and establishing caring relationships. These practices contribute to a Club Experience that drives positive youth outcomes.

Passion + Problem = Project

Step 1: Passion

Passion is the basis of all leadership development. The staff’s role involves cultivating youths’ passions, helping them discover interests, strengths and what matters most to them. Passion connects youth to their visions and hopes for the future. It helps them stay engaged when challenges emerge. Find out what drives your youth by asking them the following questions:

1. What is your passion?
2. What is something that makes you happy?
3. What are you good at doing?

Step 2: Problem

As the group explores your community needs, remember to highlight positive qualities that make your community resilient. Consider community needs that no one is addressing by asking youth the following questions:

1. What does your community need?
2. Does the need already exist, or will it arise in the future?
3. Do any of your friends have the same thoughts?

Step 3: Project

Communities face challenges, but these challenges create opportunities for people to come together and collaborate on strategies to improve lives. Find out how youth will tackle the project by asking them the following questions:

1. What will you do?
2. How can you create a team of people who care?
3. How can you engage your friends to take action? 

This guide is written for the Club/Youth Center staff; however, youth play a significant role through the Teen Leader leadership structure, in which teens co-lead the service-learning process (see the Resources section). Staff should allocate time to sit with Teen Leaders and other youth to lead portions of each activity to ensure they have a holistic understanding of the process – from the opening to the closing sessions. Youth voice is a central tenet in the service-learning process

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” - Howard Thurman

Service-Learning Sessions

This guide includes ten sessions aligned to the P + P = P process. These 45- to 60-minute sessions are designed to take place in a program day. Each activity aligns with essential leadership outcomes from BGCA’s Integrated Leadership Development Framework (IDLF) described in the following section. This intentionality provides a holistic leadership development experience for youth – ensuring that sessions are skill-building experiences.

Community Builders

Each session begins with a Community Builder, which is a three- to five-minute activity intended to engage the group. This creates the environment for learning and exploration. It is important that the Community Builder is intentional and connects to the session and learning outcomes in some way. For example, if the session focuses on passion or team building, the Community Builders should embrace those concepts. To access the activities, go to Club Programs and click the Staff Practices tab.

Reflection Activities

Each session concludes with a three-to-five minute Reflection activity. Reflection is the most important part of the learning process. It provides a way for youth to affirm what they learned and carry it into the next part of their day or week. It is important that Reflection activities are intentional and offer an easy way for youth to close the session. The Reflection activities included in this guide can be modified or changed. Open-ended questions are also suggested. For both Community Builders and Reflection activities, it is always important to factor in the group’s energy level and choose activities that align with that. If the group needs more time to talk, an open-ended question makes sense. If group members need to move their bodies, an Energizer may be better.

Group Work Sessions

Group work sessions take place between the service-learning sessions. These give the group more time to work on specific tasks, as well as reinforce their learning experience. The guide includes three group work sessions, but more can be scheduled as determined by staff and youth.

Essential Leadership Development Outcomes

At BGCA, our leadership programs are primarily centered on a long-standing and deep commitment to service, citizenship and character development; but the definition of leadership in the 21st century is evolving, and so is our approach to youth leadership development.

To address this need, BGCA has created a unique Integrated Leadership Development Framework (ILDF) to guide the delivery of a high-quality Club Experience. BGCA’s ILDF is an innovative expression of the developmental experiences and skill-building activities young people need to become leaders. Recognizing that structured out-of-school time activities are the prime space to develop positive personal and interpersonal attributes, BGCA has used the ILDF to drive participants’ journeys toward three key leadership outcomes:

1. Character Building & Personal Branding
2. 21st Century Leadership Skill Development
3. Personal Goal Setting

Your Role in Leadership Development

Staff play an essential role to foster the key outcomes in program participants. There are several strategies you can incorporate into your work with Club/Youth Center members that will help them move toward the essential outcomes of character development and personal brand, 21st century leadership skill development and personal goal setting.

Cultivate Passion

Because passion is the basis of all leadership development in this program, your role involves cultivating youths’ passion, helping them discover interests, strengths and what matters most to them. Passion connects youth to their vision and hopes for the future, and it helps them stay engaged when challenges emerge.

Instill a Growth Mindset

Having a growth mindset means believing that basic abilities are developed through dedication and hard work (Dweck and Blackwell, n.d.). Help youth become aware of messages they give themselves when they don’t succeed at a task or activity. Help them see that learning something new is a process that happens over time.

Develop Social-Emotional Skills

As you implement this program, you’ll help Club youth develop key social-emotional skills: selfawareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship skills and responsible decision-making. Pay attention as Club members develop these skills, and be sure to affirm their growth in these areas.

Apply Different Learning Strategies

Young people have different learning styles, so allow them to develop and showcase their talents in a variety of ways – through community-service projects, leadership opportunities outside the Club and online learning experiences.

Fostering Youth-Centered Learning

As discussed previously, the incorporation of youth voice is central to the service-learning process. Service-learning is based on the principles of youth-centered learning – an approach that places the young person at the center of learning. In partnership with peers and a facilitator, youth find solutions to questions and problems, and gain knowledge independently. Through youth-centered learning experiences, youth become motivated to learn, engage deeply with the material covered, and retain new competencies and skills. The following tips will help you make the most of your Club members’ learning experiences.

Let Youth Take the Lead

Youth-centered learning empowers youth to take the lead in learning, so the facilitator’s role is one of a guide and coach. The program requires little delivery of information. Instead, the focus is on application of knowledge to real-life situations and the development of specific competencies. With this approach, youth remain actively engaged and in charge of their own learning.

Allow Teens to Share in Decision-Making

Teens need a voice in why, what and how learning experiences take shape. Help them understand the value (why) of the skills they are learning and allow them to be involved in choosing the focus of the content (what). If youth have ideas for different ways to practice and demonstrate new learning (how), allow them to propose their own presentations or performances.

Encourage Teamwork and a Learning Community

In a learner-centered setting, facilitators prompt youth to work together to find the answers and solutions they seek, drawing on their own life experiences and those of people they know. By seeing the group as a learning community, facilitators foster an atmosphere of mutual respect in which youth learn from each other and from the leader – who learns from them as well.

Believe in Teens’ Capacity to Lead

Give teens the chance to take charge of activities, even when they may not have all the content skills. Young people know what types of learning experiences work best for them.

Be Willing to Give up Some Control

Teens produce volumes of content through social media, and some of them even earn money in the process, but they don’t get a chance to express this when they go to school. Although it is important to oversee teens’ use of digital devices, it’s also important to recognize that they bring much to the table to engage and deepen their learning journey. Look for a balance between the two.