Global Youth Service Days
Global Youth Service Day is an annual campaign that celebrates and mobilizes the millions of children and youth who improve their communities each day of the year through service and service-learning. Established in 1988, Global Youth Service Day is the largest service event in the world, and the only day of service dedicated to children and youth. GYSD is celebrated each year in over 100 countries.
Each year, millions of children and youth around the world work together with schools, youth organizations, nonprofits, community and faith-based organizations, volunteer and national service programs, government agencies, faith communities, and other individuals to address the world’s most critical issues and change their communities on Global Youth Service Day.
YSA’s 2012 Semester of Service and Global Youth Service Day resources are available in print and for download, including:
- 2012 Semester of Service Strategy Guide
- 2012 Semester of Service Planning Calendar Poster
- 2012 Global Youth Service Day Toolkit
- 2012 Global Youth Service Day Poster
These resources are step-by-step guides to help youth and adult project organizers plan and lead a high quality Semester of Service or Global Youth Service Day projects.
All four resources are available for download here.
You can order free printed copies of both posters here.
GYSD 2010 Highlights
During the weekend of April 23-25, 2010 millions of youth participated in thousands of service and service-learning initiatives in order to improve their communities.
- Volunteers participated on 6 continents.
- 3,091 projects registered on GYSD.org.
- 648 grants disbursed to youth, nonprofits and schools, totaling $716,000.
- Thousands of media placements with close to 2 billion media impressions.
- 1,165 local, state, and federal government officials with 35 state proclamations; 27 co-sponsors for the U.S. Senate resolution; 44 co-sponsors for the U.S. House resolution.
The History of Global Youth Service Day
In 1988, Youth Service America (YSA) and the Campus Outreach Opportunity League (COOL) organized the first National Youth Service Day, then called, “A Day in the Life of Service.” Nearly 1,000 programs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated. In 1990, YSA joined forces with COOL, the United States Conference of Mayors, Weekly Reader, and the Jefferson Awards to celebrate the day. More than 1,500 programs, a bipartisan group of 331 mayors, and 13 governors planned special service events, recognition and award ceremonies, as well as city-wide youth forums. In 2000, YSA founded Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) by adapting the successful model of National Youth Service Day in the United States. Since then, GYSD has grown to include hundreds of partners and millions of participating young people worldwide.