The National Learn & Serve Challenge September 17-23, 2007 Be a solution...

Goals and Objectives

The National Learn & Serve Challenge is a weeklong series of local, state, and national events designed to raise awareness and public support for service-learning. It's an opportunity to:

• Celebrate service-learning in schools and communities across the country
• Build public support to achieve the federal benchmark to engage 5 million college students and 50 percent of America's K-12 schools in service-learning
• Spotlight past service-learning successes to inspire others to launch their own project

Get Involved

Ways to Get Involved at the Local Level

• Create a storyboard of student voices using words to acknowledge and celebrate service-learning accomplishments from the 2006-07 school year or summer. Display this in a central location in your school, a community-based organization, and prominent local businesses or in the offices of the mayor, council members and members of Congress.
• Send a letter to the editor of your state or local newspaper. Share the letter with leaders from your local chamber of commerce, parent/teacher organization, or city council.
• Invite a prominent "local celebrity or influential" (e.g., business leader, active parent/family leader, mayor, or student athlete) to tape a "Be a solution" video message (1-5 minutes in length). Use this to spotlight some of the service-learning work your school or organization has led in the past as well as an invitation for others to get involved in the months ahead. Upload your video to the Service-Learning YouTube Channel.

• Ask your chief state school officer or governor to issue a press release about the National Learn & Serve Challenge or to include language about service-learning in an existing weekly message, newsletter, or on a visible part of the agency's website.
• Stage a Learn and Serve America check presentation to a local school district, tribe, college/university or community-based organization that receives Learn and Serve America funds.

• Add the name of your school or organization to a "national letter of celebration" supporting service-learning
• Organize a site visit for members of Congress and their staff to visit your service-learning site to help them see how service-learning is engaging young people as active citizens and engaged learners.

Join our Challenge Email List to get updates! Email nslp@aed.org and write "I want to be a solution" in the subject line.