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Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) is the largest and only annual campaign that celebrates youth service and service-learning. Organized by Youth Service America and its Global Youth Service Network, this event mobilizes millions of young people and organizations around the world to participate in a day of service.MORE

On March 3rd, 2011, hundreds of youth across the state of Minnesota gathered at the state capitol to rally in support of issues that affect them. They met with legislators to discuss issues, including homelessness prevention, mentoring, out-of-school time, workforce development, youth intervention, and juvenile justice. The event—Rally for Youth Day at the Capitol—was hosted by the Youth Policy Alliance(YPA), which is a coalition of youth-serving organizations, associations, and alliances that work together to ensure sound policies for youth in the state of Minnesota.

At the rally, youth and many statewide organizations and leaders, including Minnesota Governor, Mark Dayton, spoke on many of the social and fiscal policy issues affecting young Minnesotans. They celebrated the successes of young people, who have benefited from local youth-serving programs and services.MORE

“The program has made me realize the power of teens. I now know that teens are more than willing to work for our community. They want jobs more than they want donations. They want to feel valued.”MORE

Since 1999, Project Cornerstone has been committed to helping every young person in Silicon Valley feel valued, respected, and known. On March 24, 2011, hundreds of community members representing local governments, businesses, schools, community organizations, and the faith community as well as parents and youth came together to honor local Asset Champions and support Project Cornerstone in renewing and revitalizing their community’s commitment to kids at the annual Asset Champions Breakfast which took place at the Fairmont San José. Asset Champions award categories included Positive Cultural Identity, Caring School Climate, Positive Peer Influence, Adult Role Model, and Community Values Youth.MORE

The THRIVE initiative in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri has been hard at work spreading awareness of the 40 Developmental Assets and encouraging asset building in the community. Here’s a recent video produced by youth members of THRIVE.MORE

Congratulations to Children First in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, who recently won (For the fourth time!) the 100 Best Communities for Young People Award, given by America’s Promise Alliance. While Children First should be commended for continuing to build assets and creating strong and healthy communities, we also want to commend them for the innovative way they’ve chosen to live out the honor awarded to them by the Promise Alliance. We recently spoke with St. Louis Park High School Senior and active member of Children First, Leigha Sledge. She shared with us the story behind how she and her colleague, Jackie Adelmann, also a Senior at St. Louis Park and member of the alliance, came up with a creative way to celebrate the award.MORE

Teen Power has a scholarship program for young people to help them take part in extracurricular activities and other empowerment-related opportunities.MORE

Teen Yellow Pages is a website facilitated by Teen Power that connects eligible teens with employment opportunities in the community.MORE

Greenvale Park Elementary School has found creative ways to help students explore and celebrate their individual sparks.MORE

In Mason City, Iowa, young people are making a real difference in their community by working with their city government to protect the environment. It all started after the Mason City Environmental Stewardship Advisory Commission invited the Mason Youth Task Force—a city-appointed community coalition—to help limit the use of plastic bags in their community.MORE