Let the Learn & Serve Challenge Begin!

Number of Participants: 87, 789

Number of Participating States: 41, plus Puerto Rico and Bangladesh

Number of Challenge Events and Activities: 190

Impact of thousands of young people, educators, community partners, business leaders, and policymakers speaking about the importance of service-learning...PRICELESS.

Today, the 2008 National Learn & Serve Challenge kicks off in schools and communities nationwide. Check out the Challenge map to locate events and activities in your state or local community.

The Learn & Serve Challenge is a concentrated week of special events and activities, spotlighting service-learning successes around the country in order to build awareness of students’ contributions to their communities; spread effective service-learning practices; and inspire other schools and communities to launch their own programs and projects.

The Challenge also promotes public understanding of Learn and Serve America, the only federal program dedicated to funding service-learning and also supports the federal goal to engage 5 million college students serving and ensure that 50 percent of America’s K-12 schools incorporate service-learning into their curricula by 2010.

The Learn & Serve Challenge is a signature event of the National Service-Learning Partnership at the Academy for Educational Development and made possible with support from the State Farm® Companies Foundation. Lead Organizing Partners include:

• State Education Agency K-12 Service-Learning Network (SEANet)
  
• National Service-Learning Clearinghouse


• America's Promise Alliance


• Camp Fire USA


• Campus Compact


• National Youth Leadership Council


• Youth Service America

Throughout the week, continue to visit this blog, which will feature service-learning news stories from around the country as well as opinions and commentary from field leaders and voices from the field.

It's not too late to join this national grassroots effort to increase awareness of and support for service-learning. Visit the Learn and Serve Challenge website for quick ideas and easy-to-implement activities.