The Generator Blog

Your spot for resources, opinions, and tools that advance the leadership of youth to become civically engaged and informed global citizens.

This is a reprint of an article that originally appeared in 2010’s Growing to Greatness, an annual report on the state of service-learning from NYLC. The article was originally written by […]

By: Julie Rogers Bascom, Director, Learning and Leadership The holiday season is a time when the spirit of giving and community engagement is at its peak. Many students, teachers and […]

By: Amy Meuers, NYLC CEO Service-learning is an exceptional teaching strategy that involves students in practical, hands-on learning experiences, while equipping them to become informed and engaged members of a […]

By: Julie Rogers Bascom, Director, Learning and Leadership Service-learning is a powerful educational strategy that bridges classroom learning with community engagement. Its impact on personal growth, academic development, and community transformation is […]

By: Julie Rogers Bascom, Director, Learning and Leadership “One more thing” ….maybe that’s what you’re thinking when you opened this blog. We recognize that implementing the service-learning process with your young people […]

By: Julie Rogers Bascom, Director, Learning and Leadership Over the past 2 years, we’ve been collecting reflections from practitioners on why they use service-learning. We’ve captured responses from K-12 teachers, district administrators, […]

The National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC), a leading advocate for youth development and service-learning, is proud to announce the release of its latest report, “Pathways to Impact: Service-Learning as a […]

By Bella Sullivan, NYLC Intern Zahra Ali, a current senior at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, has been working with NYLC in many capacities for several years. She aspires to be […]

By Bella Sullivan, NYLC Intern I’m the daughter of a service-learning practitioner, so I’ve had my fair share of volunteer experiences. For many years, I mindlessly engaged, treating each experience […]

By Amy Meuers, NYLC CEO Service-learning is an approach to teaching and learning where students use academic and civic knowledge and skills to address a genuine community need. When service-learning […]

By Bella Sullivan, NYLC Intern Latinx teens in metro Washington, DC are doing more than reacting to emergencies, they’re preparing for the next one. Youth as young as 14 and […]

By Amy Meuers, NYLC CEO Students want learning to be exciting and fun. Teachers want students to be engaged learners who are motivated and inspired to be in their classroom. […]

By Amy Meuers, NYLC CEO   Service-learning – such a simple term, yet so many people are confused by what it actually is. I like to start with what service-learning […]

By: Julie Rogers Bascom, Director, Learning and Leadership High school students might be asking themselves the following: What’s an impressive amount of service hours? How many service hours do I need […]

Hello everyone, I’m Jaida, I am 12 years old and I came to the SLC with me and my mom’s nonprofit KIDS CARE. Being the service people that we are […]

By Grace Chenxin Liu, YAC Member Recently, we wrapped up the 2023 National Service-Learning Conference and celebrated the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC)’s 40th birthday! This experience was incredible and impressive […]

On March 16, 1983, the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) was founded by Dr. James Kielsmeier to train young people to be servant leaders, originally in response to tension caused […]