Young People Helping Our Communities Thrive on Global Youth Service Day

(MENAFN- Newswire.com LLC) WASHINGTON, April 12, 2019 (Newswire.com) - Hundreds of thousands of young people around the world are celebrating Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) this weekend, April 12-14. They're leading community service projects and volunteer celebration events, becoming activists and advocates to address root causes of problems through policy change and helping renew the spirit of democracy and citizenship that's under threat around the world. GYSD is powered by Youth Service America with funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Over 1,100 youth-led projects across the United States and in 95 countries around the world have been pre-registered on the GYSD Map , including:

• 25 Lead Agency schools and nonprofits who were provided grant funding from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to coordinate schoolwide, citywide, or statewide activities for Global Youth Service Day;
• 112 Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation Youth Grantees who were awarded $400 grants to organize projects to help end childhood hunger in their communities;
• 22 projects in or around Flint, Michigan supported by Youth Genesee Serves and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to make Flint and Genesee County greener, healthier, fairer, and stronger;
• Dozens of projects in Eastern Europe organized by FLEX and YES foreign exchange program alumni and funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) of the United States Department of State; and
• Hundreds of projects celebrating one of GYSD's Partner Days of Service - from J-Serve International Youth Day of Jewish Youth Service last Sunday, April 7 to National Volunteer Week and National Youth Violence Prevention Week this week to Earth Day and National Student Leadership Week later this month, many GYSD projects are also celebrating other national events.

The 10 U.S. states with the most GYSD projects registered are:

Michigan (94 projects)

California (50 projects)

Ohio (39 projects)

Texas (37 projects)

Georgia (27 projects)

Florida (22 projects)

New York (21 projects)

New Jersey (19 projects)

Wisconsin (18 projects)

Pennsylvania (16 projects)

Global Youth Service Day is the largest youth service and civic action event in the world and the only one that celebrates, expands, and sustains the capacity of all youth ages 5-25 and their communities to thrive by working together for the common good. GYSD is celebrated each April in more than 100 countries with young people working together to address the world's most critical issues and help their communities thrive.

'Our country is witnessing a divisiveness not seen in generations,' said Steven A. Culbertson, CEO and president of YSA (Youth Service America), the leader of GYSD. 'At YSA, we understand that youth service levels the playing field, providing productive spaces where young people can come together for the common good, and be contributors not spectators. We need all youth to be leaders and problem solvers today, not just the leaders of a distant tomorrow.'

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Founded in 1986, Youth Service America (YSA) is a nonprofit organization that supports youth to learn the skills they need to find their voice, take action and have an impact on critical challenges facing their communities. To measure its global impact in more than 100 countries, YSA aligns its outcomes with the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the 21st Century Skills. YSA's program model activates youth through campaigns like Global Youth Service Day, funds youth-led projects with YSA Grants, trains them to become powerful leaders in their community, and recognizes their accomplishments through awards, storytelling and visibility campaigns. To learn more, visit www.YSA.org and www.GYSD.org .

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