By Nadia Kruzel, AmeriCorps Vista
As the Youth as Solutions 2023-2024 program comes to a close, we want to take a moment to honor and celebrate all of the amazing ways that our young changemakers have generated positive change in their communities! Throughout the school year, we supported 38 Youth as Solutions teams nationwide, empowering 78 youth leaders and 40 adult leaders to address a pressing issue in their community utilizing our service-learning IPARD process. The impact speaks volumes: nationwide, over 800 youth engaged in service, impacting the lives of 68,000 individuals from communities big and small, and making waves with over 1,000,000 social media impressions!
The number of individuals impacted by our Youth as Solutions teams is impressive, however the real-world impacts and stories of transformation are even more remarkable. These students used their drive and passion to leave a lasting impact on their communities, and we want to shine a spotlight on their work! Here are a few of the amazing projects our young changemakers embarked on this year:
“5 Hour Free Friday” Campaign: Through their community investigation, the St. Lawrence County Youth Bureau Community Health team uncovered the negative impacts that social media use was having on their peer’s self-esteem and mental health. Their response? They created “5 Hour Free Friday”, a bold initiative encouraging teens to unplug from social media and technology for five hours every Friday to promote a healthier balance in their lives.
Fun Finance Initiative: Natalie Chen, the leader of the Girl Scouts of Northern California’s Education Equity team, discovered that their local community lacked financial literacy education for middle and elementary school students. In response, Natalie’s team founded “Fun Finance” as a way to provide free financial education trainings and curriculums to students and teachers, helping to break cycles of financial instability and generational poverty.
Revolutionizing Road Safety: Jackson City School’s Project Ignition team focused on distracted driving and seatbelt use among both students in their district, and others in the community. They launched a creative and multifaceted approach that included hosting engaging community events to share information about safe driving with attendees; a social media campaign to reach other young people with messages about staying safe; conducting seatbelt checks in the school parking lot; using a distracted driving simulator with event attendees; and encouraging individuals to sign a safe driving pledge!
H2O Heroes: From their community investigation, Kittatinny Regional High School’s Environmental Justice team discovered that students in their school rarely used or recycled single-use plastic water bottles, while lacking knowledge about water issues. As a result, they launched the “H2O Heroes” campaign to provide students in their district with reusable water bottles while educating them about how they can help conserve water. They hosted an educational water summit for 5th and 6th graders, educated community members through informational posters and displays throughout the school, and designed their own reusable water bottle. Their efforts culminated in a celebration of World Water Day!
As we close out this school year, we are reminded of the power of youth-led initiatives to drive positive change! We believe that young people are uniquely equipped to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems, starting in their own communities.
Do you want to empower your young people to make change while building their leadership skills? Applications to join our 2024-25 Youth as Solutions cohort are now open – don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity! Learn more and apply now.
