Community Service

The United States has seen an expansion of community service programs for children and adolescents since the 1990s. Through these programs, young people participate in typically unpaid efforts to improve the community. The activities included vary considerably, ranging from direct service (feeding the homeless or cleaning up public spaces) to charitable fundraising (raising money for existing causes or organizations), to activism to get resources directed to community needs. These programs may be run through out-of-school organizations, such as 4-H or Boys & Girls Clubs of America, run through school-based extracurricular clubs or elective classes, or integrated into the core curriculum as service-learning. Community service is considered to be an important opportunity for positive youth development and because it plays a substantial role in the maintenance ...