Community Planning

COMMUNITY PLANNING

COMMUNITY SERVICE IDEAS FOR YOUTH: WHY GIVING BACK MATTERS by Marilyn Price-Mitchell, PhD EMPATHY

Whatever the reasons, it’s helpful to understand why learning to give back to others is vital for positive youth development and how parents, schools, TOPP KIDS and communities play an important role. With the right community service opportunities from kindergarten through high school, young people can grow from an understanding of how they fit into society to how they can help solve societal problems. This developmental process grows empathy and fosters children’s identities as engaged citizens, the topic of Tomorrow’s Change Makers: Reclaiming the Power of Citizenship for a New Generation.

How do young people learn to make community service a way of life rather than something expected or required of them? The three most important ways children and teens learn to express their caring for others and evolve toward active citizenship is through:

• RESPONSIBLE ACTIONS • LEADERSHIP • INNOVATIVE THINKING

These three ways of caring develop over time—from elementary through high school. This article explains each developmental phase and provides links to community service ideas, resources, and programs that can help you find the right fit for your child, class project, or service club.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: LEARNING TO BE RESPONSIBLE
In these early years, we lay the foundation for responsible citizenship. Children learn kindness, respect, and empathy—internal strengths that connect them to others. You can’t just talk about these feelings and expect understanding; kids need to experience them. Many programs like scouts, church groups, and service clubs are places children learn and experience these positive values. However, these ideas also need to be reinforced at home. How to Instill Compassion in Children describes ways parents foster these internal strengths through practicing compassion and teaching kids how to cope with anger.

Character education in the early years helps build strengths like honesty, responsibility, fairness, and compassion— internal assets that lead to happiness and well-being. These are the kinds of human qualities that foster responsible citizens, children who grow up to donate to food drives, recycle their trash, or help during a crisis.

COMMUNITY SERVICE IDEAS FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN

• Kids Care Clubs – Provides opportunities to work with other kids performing community service projects. Sponsored by generation On and Points of Light.
• Kid World Citizen – Activities that make young minds go global. 35 community service projects for kids.
• One Warm Coat – A national non-profit organization that assists in the donation of coats.
• Start a Snowball – Inspires children to engage in doing good. Offers grants to kids to help them get their projects off the ground.
• 40 Ways Kids Can Volunteer – Lists 40 interesting and unique ways children can volunteer.
• Create a PLAY project – host a PLAY hub in your community and invite families to come learn and PLAY!
  

Try some of these options:

• Raking leaves/shovelling walks
• Garbage collection
• Volunteering at the food banks
• Visiting senior homes
• Getting involved with the local community association
• Field trips to grocery stores and other businesses
• Invite visitors for talks with the kids
• Get involved with local fundraisers