Research on the effects of youth community service:
- When youth volunteer, adults tend to volunteer.
- Young people who work out on a sports team are 18% more likely to have volunteered than those who work out on their own.
- The community gains a generation of young people who care about where they live and are willing to make a commitment to improvement.
- Teens say that some of the benefits received from volunteering are: Learning to respect others, learning to be helpful and kind, learning to understand people who are different, and developing leadership skills.
- Youth who volunteer are more likely to do well in school, graduate, and vote.
- Young people who volunteer are happier.
- Future Benefits: The skills and development assets gained by young people who volunteer early in life translates to future benefits for them personally and for society. Young people involved in community service are more likely to have a strong work ethic as an adult.
The Challenge:
- Youth statistically get involved in philanthropy less than any other age group. They report they are likely to not get involved because they don’t know how and they were not asked to.
The Solution:
- Maintaining youth interest and commitment to community service by showing them the benefit to the community they are serving and to themselves.
- Youth are 42% more likely to get involved if their friends volunteer.
- Whether it is an award, certificate or thank you acknowledging the fact that youth are doing something positive encourages them to continue to give back to their community and motivates them to get others involved.
Team Up 4 Community is supporting the solution of these challenges.
Sources:
The University of Nevada
Resource Center
Campaign Consultation, Inc.
The Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating
