Pass this along to your school administrators:

A variety of agencies and nonprofit organizations can compete nationally for grants to promote innovation, high quality programming and expansion of the field of service-learning through Learn and Serve America. Funds are used to provide training and technical assistance, evaluate results, and implement local programs. Seventy-five to eighty percent of funds are subgranted to local partnerships between schools and community- and faith-based organizations for program implementation. As part of a Corporation-wide priority, grantees are encouraged to focus on providing opportunities for disadvantaged youth to serve others, through, among other possible activities, intensive Summer of Service programs.

In addition to assisting students in meeting academic content standards and obtaining skills needed for the transition to work, service-learning provides a unique opportunity for young people to develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions of effective citizenship and a lifelong ethic of service.

Learn and Serve America continues to reach diverse and underserved populations, with 35% of its participants from minority populations and 27% of its programs located in schools where at least 50% of the students are eligible for the federal school lunch program.

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