What Is Learn and Serve America?

America’s young people – from kindergartners to college students – have the desire, energy and ability to make a real difference in their communities. Service-learning offers a unique opportunity for them to get involved in a tangible way by integrating community service projects with classroom learning. Service-learning engages students in the educational process, using what they learn in the classroom to solve real-life problems.  Students not only learn about democracy and citizenship, they become actively contributing citizens and community members through the service they perform.

Learn and Serve America supports and encourages service-learning throughout the United States, and enables over one million students to make meaningful contributions to their community while building their academic and civic skills. By engaging our nation’s young people in service-learning, Learn and Serve America instills an ethic of lifelong community service.

Learn and Serve America provides direct and indirect support to K-12 schools, community groups and higher education institutions to facilitate service-learning projects by:

• Providing grant support for school-community partnerships and higher education institutions;
• Providing training and technical assistance resources to teachers, administrators, parents, schools and community groups; and
• Collecting and disseminating research, effective practices, curricula, and program models.

Principles that Guide Learn and Serve America

Learn and Serve America helps over one million students make meaningful contributions to their community while building their academic and civic skills. Our support and encouragement of service-learning projects is guided by four principles:

Meet the Nation’s Needs.  Service-learning projects put the talents and energies of America’s young people to work solving real issues in their communities; taken together, these programs make a significant national contribution. Learn and Serve America is committed to addressing the nation’s education, public safety, environmental and human needs through its service-learning grants and services.

Improve Participants’ Lives. Students’ lives are enriched through service-learning as they become engaged in their own educational process, see the work they do benefit those around them, and become actively contributing citizens and community members. Learn and Serve America is dedicated to ensuring that our programs improve the lives of every participant, building academic, civic, and character excellence – and that participants develop a lifelong commitment to public service. Our programs and participants are highly diverse and we make every effort to increase the participation of disadvantaged youth in our programs.

Strengthen Communities. Service-learning projects bring together students, teachers, parents, and organizations to improve their community. By working together towards common goals, participants build trust and strengthen community ties. Learn and Serve America is committed to stimulating strong, sustainable partnerships among local schools, colleges, and organizations in order to improve communities’ abilities to meet their ongoing needs.

Continuously Enhance Management. Learn and Serve America is committed to improving the quality, reach, and sustainability of service-learning programs. We will continue to initiate improvements to our management structure that increase accountability, strengthen performance measurements, provide for an effective workforce, and put the needs of our educational partners first. 

What Is Service-Learning?

Service-learning offers a unique opportunity for America’s young people — from kindergarten to college students — to get involved with their communities in a tangible way by integrating service projects with classroom learning. Service-learning engages students in the educational process, using what they learn in the classroom to solve real-life problems. Students not only learn about democracy and citizenship, they become actively contributing citizens and community members through the service they perform.

Service-learning can be applied across all subjects and grade levels; it can involve a single student or group of students, a classroom or an entire school. Students build character and become active participants as they work with others in their school and community to create service projects in areas like education, public safety, and the environment.

Why is Service-Learning Important?

A national study of Learn and Serve America programs suggests that effective service-learning programs improve grades, increase attendance in school, and develop students’ personal and social responsibility. A growing body of research recognizes service-learning as an effective strategy to help students by:

• Promoting learning through active participation in service experiences;
• Providing structured time for students to reflect by thinking, discussing and writing about their service experience;
• Providing an opportunity for students to use skills and knowledge in real-life situations;
• Extending learning beyond the classroom and into the community; and
• Fostering a sense of caring for others.

Service-learning also strengthens both education and local communities by:

• Building effective collaborative partnerships between schools or colleges and other institutions and organizations.
• Engaging parents and other adults in supporting student learning
• Meeting community needs through the service projects conducted
• Providing engaging and productive opportunities for young people to work with others in their community