Youth Service America (YSA) is a global nonprofit organization that helps young people ages 5–25 address community challenges through volunteering, service-learning, civic engagement, advocacy, and youth-led projects. Based in Washington, DC, YSA provides grants, training, educational resources, recognition, and national service campaigns that help children and young adults become active community leaders.
Introduction
Youth Service America works to make youth participation in community service and civic life a common and accessible part of growing up. Its programs encourage young people to identify local problems, develop practical solutions, recruit volunteers, collaborate with community partners, and measure the results of their work.
YSA supports youth participation through grant funding, service-learning resources, public recognition, training, and partnerships with schools, nonprofit organizations, corporations, government agencies, and community groups. Its activities range from small youth-led projects to coordinated national and international service campaigns.
History and Background
Youth Service America has played a long-term role in expanding youth volunteering, service-learning, and civic participation in the United States and internationally. Its best-known initiative, Global Youth Service Day, has developed into one of the world’s longest-running annual youth participation events.
Global Youth Service Day began as a national initiative and expanded into an international campaign involving young people, schools, nonprofit organizations, community groups, and public institutions. The event is designed to demonstrate that children and young adults are not only beneficiaries of community programs but also capable leaders and problem-solvers.
The 2026 campaign marked the 38th annual Global Youth Service Day. The 39th annual event is scheduled for April 23–25, 2027, while Youth Service Month is planned for April 9–May 9, 2027.
YSA’s work has expanded beyond a single annual event. It now supports year-round youth engagement through service days, semester-long service-learning programs, civic participation campaigns, grants, training resources, and awards.
Mission and Purpose
Youth Service America believes that young people, communities, and democratic societies become stronger when people work together for the common good.
The organization’s central purpose is to activate young people between the ages of 5 and 25 by helping them:
- Discover and develop their voices.
- Identify problems affecting their schools and communities.
- Design and lead meaningful service projects.
- Participate in civic and democratic processes.
- Build leadership and problem-solving abilities.
- Develop communication, collaboration, creativity, and other practical skills.
- Create measurable community impact.
YSA views young people as capable contributors rather than future participants waiting to become adults. Its programs therefore place youth voice, youth leadership, and youth decision-making at the center of community service.
The organization supports youth directly while also strengthening the adults and institutions that help young people succeed. These include educators, parents, nonprofit professionals, volunteers, government agencies, schools, community organizations, and corporate partners.
Core Focus Areas
Youth Service America’s work focuses on youth service, service-learning, civic engagement, leadership development, volunteering, advocacy, philanthropy, community problem-solving, and youth recognition.
Its programs may support projects addressing:
- Childhood hunger and food insecurity.
- Education and literacy.
- Environmental protection.
- Health and well-being.
- Social inclusion.
- Community safety.
- Intergenerational relationships.
- Voter education and civic participation.
- Poverty and economic hardship.
- Emergency preparedness and community resilience.
- Remembrance and national service.
- Other locally identified community needs.
Rather than restricting every program to one issue, YSA often allows young people to select challenges that are relevant to their own communities.
Governance and Structure
Youth Service America operates as a nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC. Strategic oversight is provided through its organizational governance structure, including a Board of Directors, while staff members manage programs, partnerships, communications, education, grantmaking, and daily operations.
The organization is led by President and CEO Steve Culbertson. Its senior staff structure also includes leadership roles in programs, partnerships, and education.
This combination of board oversight and professional management allows YSA to coordinate youth-service campaigns, distribute grants, develop educational materials, manage partnerships, and work with participating organizations across different locations.
YSA frequently delivers its programs through a partnership model. Schools, community organizations, local coalitions, businesses, philanthropic partners, and public agencies may serve as implementation partners, grant recipients, sponsors, or youth-engagement networks.
Funding and Grants
Youth Service America combines philanthropic support, charitable contributions, corporate partnerships, program sponsorships, and institutional collaboration to finance its work.
Partnerships with companies and foundations enable YSA to provide grants for youth-led service projects. Grant amounts, eligibility requirements, project themes, geographic coverage, and application dates vary by program.
YSA funding is generally connected to a defined campaign or community objective. Applicants should not assume that every YSA grant provides unrestricted organizational funding. Many opportunities are designed for specific youth-led projects, service periods, volunteer targets, or social issues.
Youth-Led Project Grants
YSA periodically offers small grants that enable young people to convert community ideas into practical projects.
Examples include:
- Hershey Heartwarming Young Heroes Grants: Offered with The Hershey Company, these grants support young people ages 5–25 in the United States and Canada. The 2026 cycle offered awards of $250, $500, or $1,000 for projects involving service, awareness, philanthropy, advocacy, leadership, and youth voice.
- Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation Youth Grants: These $1,000 grants support youth-led projects addressing childhood hunger. Supported projects are expected to engage at least 100 young volunteers.
- We Serve to Remember 9/11 Day Grants: These $1,000 grants support youth-led service projects organized around September 11. Projects are expected to engage at least 100 young people in meaningful service activities.
Grant recipients may use funding for approved project expenses such as materials, volunteer engagement, community outreach, educational resources, and implementation costs, subject to the rules of each opportunity.
Community and Lead Agency Grants
YSA has also offered larger grants to organizations coordinating youth service across cities or states.
National Days of Service Lead Agency Grants have provided awards of $2,500 or $5,000 to organizations leading coalitions that organize young people for service-learning and community action. These grants have supported coordinated activities around recognized service days and campaigns.
Lead agencies can include nonprofit organizations, schools, youth-development institutions, community groups, or other eligible entities capable of recruiting partners and coordinating large numbers of young participants.
Major Programs and Initiatives
Global Youth Service Day
Global Youth Service Day is YSA’s signature international campaign. It mobilizes young people ages 5–25 to lead service activities, support community organizations, advocate for change, and demonstrate the value of youth participation.
The campaign involves young people, educators, families, nonprofit organizations, schools, public officials, and community partners. Activities can range from neighborhood projects to coordinated national campaigns.
Global Youth Service Day is accompanied by Youth Service Month, which creates a longer period for planning, implementation, public engagement, reflection, and recognition.
Semester and Summer of Service
Semester of Service is a service-learning framework that helps students undertake sustained projects lasting approximately 10–12 weeks.
Students investigate a community problem, study its causes, develop a response, take action, and evaluate their results. Educators can integrate the framework into an existing curriculum instead of treating community service as a separate extracurricular activity.
YSA recommends organizing fall Semester of Service projects between 9/11 Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day and spring projects between MLK Day and Global Youth Service Day.
The related Classrooms with a Cause framework offers a shorter four-to-six-week model that may be used for classroom projects or capstone learning experiences.
ServiceVote
ServiceVote connects community service with civic engagement. The campaign helps young people learn about elections, voter participation, public policy, issue advocacy, and democratic processes.
Activities may include voter education, registration outreach, issue awareness, candidate research, and nonpartisan civic participation. The program enables young people who are not yet eligible to vote to contribute meaningfully to public life.
National Days of Service
YSA promotes youth participation in major service and civic-action dates, including:
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
- Global Youth Service Day.
- 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance.
- Make a Difference Day.
- Election-related ServiceVote activities.
These campaigns give schools and community organizations structured opportunities to engage young people throughout the year.
Everyday Young Hero Awards
The Everyday Young Hero Awards recognize young people who improve their communities through service and civic action.
Nominations are accepted on an ongoing basis. Selected young people receive a certificate and may be featured through YSA’s website, social media platforms, and Youth Service Briefing.
Examples of recognized youth initiatives include projects addressing senior isolation, intergenerational relationships, literacy, language education, and community inclusion. Recognition is separate from grant funding unless a particular award announcement expressly includes financial support.
Youth Service Knowledge Center
The Youth Service Knowledge Center provides free resources to help young people and adult supporters plan effective projects.
Available materials include:
- Project-planning guides.
- Service-learning frameworks.
- Volunteer recruitment tools.
- Community needs assessment resources.
- Reflection and evaluation materials.
- Project examples and templates.
- Training content for educators and youth workers.
- Age-appropriate resources for younger participants.
The Kids in Action Guide is specifically designed to help children ages 5–12 understand community issues and plan service projects through accessible worksheets, examples, templates, and visual materials.
Youth Service Briefing
The Youth Service Briefing is YSA’s regular newsletter covering youth-service opportunities and resources.
It may include:
- Current grants and awards.
- Upcoming service campaigns.
- Training opportunities.
- Planning tools.
- Stories of youth leadership.
- Everyday Young Hero profiles.
- Resources for educators and nonprofit organizations.
America Gives and National Partnerships
YSA is a founding partner of America Gives, an America250 initiative connected with the United States’ 250th anniversary. The initiative encourages volunteering, community participation, and service throughout the country.
Such partnerships allow YSA to connect youth-led service with broader national civic-engagement efforts while ensuring that children and young adults have visible leadership roles.
How Youth Service America Grants Work
The exact application process depends on the individual grant program, but applicants generally follow these steps:
- Review current opportunities. Visit the official YSA grants page and identify a program matching the applicant’s age, location, project topic, and planned dates.
- Confirm eligibility. Check whether the opportunity accepts applications from individual young people, youth teams, schools, nonprofit organizations, or lead agencies.
- Identify a community need. Applicants should clearly describe the problem they intend to address and the people affected by it.
- Develop a youth-led solution. Strong proposals demonstrate that young people will participate in planning, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation.
- Create an implementation plan. Explain the activities, project schedule, partners, volunteer roles, expected outputs, and intended outcomes.
- Prepare a realistic budget. Requested expenses should be necessary, clearly explained, and permitted under the program rules.
- Submit the application by the stated deadline. Application dates and submission platforms vary between funding rounds.
- Implement and document the project. Selected applicants may be required to track participation, project activities, results, spending, and community impact.
Impact and Examples of Work Funded
YSA’s direct financial impact includes more than $5.8 million awarded to partners and youth project leaders over the past decade.
Its broader impact comes from helping young people acquire practical experience in leadership, teamwork, civic engagement, communication, project management, and community problem-solving.
Examples of activities supported through YSA-related grants and campaigns include:
- Youth-led food drives and hunger-awareness projects.
- Volunteer projects engaging at least 100 young people.
- Community events associated with Global Youth Service Day.
- September 11 remembrance and service activities.
- School-based service-learning projects.
- Youth advocacy and awareness campaigns.
- Citywide and statewide youth-service coalitions.
- Projects promoting kindness, inclusion, and community connection.
- Educational and literacy initiatives.
- Environmental improvement activities.
YSA also highlights a substantial participation gap. The organization reports that only about one in four young people in the United States regularly participates in service and civic action, leaving approximately 64 million young Americans without consistent engagement opportunities. Its long-term strategy seeks to double youth participation over ten years and ultimately move toward universal participation.
Why Youth Service America Matters
Youth Service America addresses two connected needs: communities require people who are willing to solve problems, and young people need meaningful opportunities to develop leadership and civic skills.
Youth-led service can provide immediate community benefits while helping participants learn how institutions, partnerships, public decisions, and social change work. It can also strengthen connections among young people, schools, families, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and local government.
YSA’s age range of 5–25 is particularly significant because it treats civic engagement as a developmental process that can begin in childhood and continue through early adulthood.
Conclusion
Youth Service America is a major youth-service and civic-engagement nonprofit that helps young people move from identifying community problems to designing and implementing solutions. Through Global Youth Service Day, Semester of Service, ServiceVote, national service campaigns, youth grants, recognition programs, and free educational resources, YSA supports both immediate community action and long-term leadership development.
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