Important Statistics and Facts
General facts
- Twenty-four million children ages 5-14 spend unsupervised time during out-of-school hours. These hours represent time that could be spent volunteering. (American Youth Policy Forum)
- 73% of America's 60 million young people believe they can make a difference in their communities. (Do Something Young People's Involvement Survey /Princeton Survey Research, 1998)
- Teenagers volunteer 2.4 billion hours annually. (Independent Sector/Gallup, 1996)
- Teenage service is worth $34.3 billion to the US economy. (Independent Sector/Gallup, 1999 value of service)
- Youth who volunteer just one hour a week are 50% less likely to abuse drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, or engage in destructive behavior. (Search Institute, 1995)
- Youth who volunteer are more likely to do well in school, graduate, vote, and be philanthropic. (UCLA/Higher Education Research Institute, 1991)
- Numbers of Youth Involved in Youth Service in California
K-12 schools:
- Twenty percent, or 202 of California’s 994 school districts have community service or service learning requirements. The Los Angeles Unified School District is the nation's second largest district, with a K-12 enrollment of more than 722,000, is creating plans for implementing a district-wide service learning requirement.
- CalServe funded partnerships engage more than 86,000 students at all three grade spans (amounting to as many as 1/4 of the total number of students in participating districts). Typically these students contribute 10 hours of service each, for a total of 860,000 hours annually. These service hours provide the equivalent minimum wage value of approximately $4,945,000.
- Volunteer Centers referred 94,000 youth in 2000 - 38 Volunteer Centers partnered with K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. Cesar Chavez Day of Service and Learning distributed almost $5 million to support students in service to their community in 2001.
K-12 After School:
- 435 young people were each involved with 50 hours of service learning through the California After School Service Learning Initiative.
- Though no numbers are gathered on after school youth service activities, the YMCA has a national intitiative promoting service learning and has two major programs at Los Angeles and Santa Clara YMCA.
- Similarly, the Boys and Girls Clubs of California have integrated community service as part of statewide middle school and high school programs.
Higher Education:
- California State University: over 135,000 students at 23 campuses performed a total of 33.6 million hours of community service annually.
- Private Colleges: California Campus Compact estimates that 20,205 students at 10 private colleges participate in community service or service learning.
- Community Colleges: 2,283 AmeriCorps members; of them, an estimated 1027 are between the ages of 18-25. There are 47 programs at 35 campuses.
- University of California: All 8 campuses offer community service and service learning opportunities for students.
Out of School Youth:
- Local corps: Over 2,000 young people provide environmental service.
- AmeriCorps: 6882 members working in education 4000 members; 500 environment; health and human needs; 1500 in 68 programs.
- AmeriCorps & VISTA: an estimated 100 VISTA members in California for 20
The Impact of Youth Service
- The value
of service carried out on National Youth Service Day exceeds $171 million.
(Youth Service America estimates based on Independent Sector value of
service, 1999)
- Youth who volunteer are three times more likely to volunteer as adults.
(Independent Sector/Gallup, 1996)
- Teens say the benefits received from volunteering are: Learning to respect
others; learning to be helpful and kind; learning to understand people
who are different from them; developing leadership skills, becoming more
patient, and acquiring a better understanding of good citizenship. (Independent
Sector/Gallup, 1996)
Reasons
Youth Volunteer
- Almost
78% of people who volunteer report that volunteering is important because
it "allows me to gain a new perspective on things." (Report
on a Statewide Dialogue on Service and Voluteerism in California,"
The James Irvine Foundation; 1998.)
- More than 80% of people who volunteer agree with the statement that,
"it is within my power to do things that improve the welfare of others."
("Report on a statewide dialogue on service and voluteerism in California,"
The James Irvine Foundation; 1998.)
- Teens rank volunteering, the environment, and eating healthy, as top
three activities they consider 'cool'. (Teenage Marketing and Lifestyle
Study, 1998)
- 73% of young people think their efforts can have a positive impact on
their communities. (Do Something Young People's Involvement Survey /Princeton
Survey Research, 1998)
Service Learning Activity
- 48 states
are administering service learning programs through their state education
agencies. (American Youth Policy Forum)
- The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department
of Education conducted a the "National Student Service Learning and Community
Service Survey" in the spring of 1999 and released the following results
in September:
- 64% of
all public schools, including 83% of public high schools, had students
participating in community service activities recognized by and/or arranged
by the school.
- 57% of all public schools
organized community service activities for their students.
- 32% of all public schools
organized service learning as part of their curriculum, including nearly
half of all high schools.
- 83% of schools with
service learning offered some type of support to teachers interested in
integrating service learning into the curriculum.
- Among California’s 994 public school districts:
- 56 are working to implement district-wide service learning initiatives
- 72 include
service as a graduation requirement
- 168 have
received CDE-CalServe funding to support service learning
- 361 report
some kind of service program ("Report on a Statewide Dialogue on
Service and Voluteerism in California", The James Irvine Foundation;
1998.)
