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PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Batenburg
510-750-8998
mbatenburg@yscal.org
Youth Service California Executive Director Issues California Response to Obama’s Call to Serve
Oakland, CA January 12, 2009 — In response to Barack Obama’s call on all Americans to serve the community and the nation, Youth Service California’s Executive Director, Mark Batenburg, has issued this “Call to Serve, California-Style.”
“As Barack Obama calls on all of us to ‘renew America through service to our communities,’ how will we respond here in California? Is there a specifically Californian approach to service, especially service done by young people?
“Many of us who help young people give back to their communities have our own vision: that every young person in California engages in service that changes them and their community. Here’s what the vision looks like: In school, all students perform service that’s connected to the curriculum. All students mentor and tutor younger students. In community centers and afterschool programs young people look at their communities and tackle the issues of most concern to them. In church, temple and mosque youth groups they perform service that integrates with their spiritual and religious lives. On days of service, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, they band together and do as much clean-up, fix-up, and beautification they can in a day. Obama’s call to service is a chance to make all the pieces of that vision happen everywhere in the state.
“In California, our young people are more interested in activism, in making a tangible impact, than in putting in volunteer hours at a non-profit. Service is not your grandmother’s candy-striping anymore. It’s problem solving: teams of kids tackling local problems, banding together with others who share their concerns, taking intelligent action, mobilizing the community, getting things done, evaluating their results and planning their next move.
“This California style of service is creating a new generation of leaders—young people who, through serving, learn how to organize, mobilize, have an impact, recruit their peers, work with adults, learn the issues, get educated, refuse to be silenced.
“As the first majority-minority state in the country we have to face the fact that our schools are failing precisely those students who are poised to become the state’s leaders: Latino and African-American young people. It’s time for service opportunities to be available to all young people, not just those of means. Service is a proven way to empower the young people most likely to drop out, giving them a reason to learn and stay engaged.
“How do we make this happen?
“If you’re a young person:
• Agitate in your school for something called service-learning, which takes what you’re learning and applies it through service.
• Mobilize your peers to take action. Use your networks to create change.
• Educate yourself. What are the issues that impact you and your friends? What are the root causes? What can you do to have an impact?
• Volunteer like crazy. Not because you need the hours, or because it looks good on a college application (you’re better than that), but because it’s the best way to learn about your community, its needs, and what’s already being tried. Be creative in your volunteering and your thinking.
“If you’re an adult:
• Be an example through volunteering, political activism, and community organizing. Show that you care.
• Donate money to an organization that makes it possible for young people to serve their communities.
• Make demands. Tell state legislators to restore funding for the Cesar Chavez Afterschool Service Clubs in our poorest middle schools. Insist on high quality service-learning in all K-12 public schools, especially in the poorest districts. Speak at a school board meeting.
• Get out of the way. Give young people your support, and then let them lead.
“Obama’s call is to renew America through service to our communities. Let us take him up on it, every youth and adult in California, by creating opportunities to serve and to lead in all communities across this state. As Martin Luther King Jr., said, “Everyone can be great, because anyone can serve.”
For more information on youth service in California, to go www.yscal.org or contact Mark Batenburg at mbatenburg@yscal.org
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| Links and Related Resources
National Youth Leadership Council
National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
Search Institute
Corporation for National & Community Service
Points of Light Institute
Campus Compact
Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement
Developmental Assets
Service-Learning, Resilience and Youth Development
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