NYLC Blog

What a joy and rewarding experience it has been for me to be a part of the National Youth Leadership Council. Our country is facing big issues like providing access to economic opportunity and education for all. The challenges can seem insurmountable at times. That’s what makes NYLC and its active engagement and leadership of youth, working to build and create a more just community so important. I recall the Freedom Schools of the Civil Rights Movement that educated ordinary citizens to organize and change their communities. NYLC continues that tradition. I saw it at the summer leadership camps, the annual conferences, and the youth who served on the board. NYLC youth are not waiting to make a difference, they are active right now. Can anyone see NYLC youth and be concerned that there will be an absence of leadership in the future? I can’t.

NYLC is synonymous with service learning---quality service learning. It’s frustrating when one mentions service leaning, and the image people have is of youth cleaning a park. There’s nothing wrong with people cleaning parks, but that’s not service learning. One of the great contributions of NYLC to the service learning field is the standards for service learning that NYLC created and developed. Everyone, especially teachers, must know and practice them. In the future I hope quality service learning becomes embedded in our pedagogy.

One of my biggest concerns, especially being a Twin Citian, is the achievement gap in our education system. A quality education system has many dimensions, and I know service learning is not the only solution, but I believe service learning can be a part of the solution. Service learning is a great equalizer and can be a catalyst to igniting the student’s interest in learning.

NYLC gave me the opportunity to work with a great group of board members and staff. I recall the words of St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, “to each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good”

It was a special honor to serve as board chair with two amazing visionary and gifted leaders---Jim Kielsmeier and Kelita Bak. Where would the service learning movement be without Jim’s passion, thoughtfulness and creativity? We all know the answer. And no organization can stand still. Kelita, acknowledging and building on the foundation of NYLC, is building an organization for today and the future. Both of them faced challenging times, but with their hearts and minds dedicated to the mission, NYLC moved and moves forward.

Based in the middle of the Heartland, NYLC is making a difference in Minnesota, Washington D.C. and throughout the country. It was an honor to be a part of the action. De Tocqueville would write today that the state of democracy in America is in good hands.

Jim Scheibel is a teacher at Hamline University and former mayor of St. Paul, MN, he recently completed his term serving on NYLC's board, with nearly 8 years as board chair.

AmeriCorps is helping, building, connecting, growing, inspiring, encouraging, empowering, achieving, serving, learning.  It is the ultimate year-long service learning experience. Our nonprofits and communities become the perfect classroom, and our cohort of service members becomes the perfect class to discuss things like the roots of social inequality, educational achievement gaps, and strategies for alleviating poverty. We use our service experience to come together to reflect, brainstorm, strategize, and learn.

I have served as an AmeriCorps VISTA for the past two years with Habitat for Humanity of Minnesota and with the Community Design Center of Minnesota under the St. Paul VISTA Program. Through my service experience, I’ve learned about the inner workings of nonprofits, the importance of good evaluation methods, the craziness of grant writing/reporting, and the multiple hats everyone must wear. I’ve learned to utilize Excel to analyze survey data and databases, learned to juggle multiple projects and manage people, and learned to communicate with a variety of audiences through writing, speaking, video, and other media.  I’ve also learned the benefits and challenges of living on a budget and of social services systems.

Most of all, the people I serve have taught me so much about perseverance and the power of the human spirit. Habitat homeowners are overcoming incredible challenges and transforming their lives in so many areas. They are attaining higher education and their kids are doing better in school. They are achieving financial stability and paying down mortgages. They are increasing their emotional and physical wellbeing and are connecting with and becoming leaders in their community. The high school students I work with have found a family in our out-of-school-time programming and are making healthy life habits, increasing their 21st century skills, making their community and the environment a better place, and are persistent, hopeful, and determined to achieve their dreams. Ultimately, I’ve learned to never underestimate the power of the underdog, the shy kid, the troublemaker, because given the right opportunity, they are rockstars; sometimes a helping hand is all someone needs to find that path to open the doors to greatness. 

Without Limits attendees hit the ground running on Day 2 with the breakfast networking roundtables, a chance to discuss a wide range of education topics and to connect with other attendees from around the world.

After a morning of workshop sessions, everyone reconvened for an inspiring plenary session starting off with Kaitlyn Smith and Danielle Liebl from Special Olympics, who spoke of how their connection as best friends has helped them inspire others. Next up was Rev. Brenda Girton-Mitchell from the Dept. of Education, who stated: “we have to believe that every child can succeed; we all can live without limits.” She shared the stage with Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, who spoke to service-learning’s importance in Colorado schools and delivered an official proclamation declaring March 16 to be National Youth Leadership Council Day.

R. Dwayne Betts praised the youth taking the initiative to make changes in the world, contrasting their work with the story of his teen years and how he became a teacher and poet during his time in jail. He followed up his plenary talk with a lively thought leader session.

Fifty attendees participated in off-site projects today to the GrowHaus and the Denver Urban Gardens. The group at the GrowHaus learned about their work to create a sustainable urban farm, helping to harvest lettuce for a local restaurant, transplant seedlings, and help with cleanup and reconfiguration of their workspace.

The 11th Annual Indigenous Forum: A Gathering of Elders was moderated by Julia Sewell and featured a dynamic panel of young people and elders.

I am always jazzed when given the opportunity to discuss theories of social inequality – why our society is the way it is, the history of how our systems and policies came to be, and the root causes of social injustices – but what I’m most interested in is action. The “What now?” question. Putting mindful theory into practical action. And this is what led me to become an AmeriCorps VISTA member – where I get to fight poverty through education by building the capacity of local organizations to better serve our communities.

As the VISTA Leader with the City of Saint Paul VISTA Program through Mayor Chris Coleman’s office, I’ve been given the unique opportunity to see firsthand how our policy makers are creating positive change within the City of Saint Paul, while simultaneously getting to be a part of the grassroots-nonprofit solutions for social change.  Our 21 VISTA members are serving Saint Paul’s educational efforts in schools and nonprofits focusing on everything from parental engagement and after-school programming to volunteer management and organization fundraising. I get to see theory put into action everyday by the VISTA members I serve with who are fighting poverty with passion and trying tenaciously to close the education opportunity gap in Saint Paul.

Another awesome component of my year of service is the amazing opportunity given to me and ten St. Paul VISTA members to attend the National Service-Learning Conference as a service-learning project! We are eleven strong and road-tripping from Saint Paul to Denver for a six-day learning excursion, volunteering throughout the entire conference and getting the opportunity to network with hundreds of other professionals in the service-learning field. As a cohort, we are familiar with hands-on service-learning projects, volunteering as a group on both 9/11 and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day for two national days of service. On 9/11 we helped put the gardens to bed at one of our VISTA sites, the Community Design Center of MN, and for MLK Day we sorted donations for Arc’s Value Village in Saint Paul.

Some of my VISTA cohort members have asked me the question: “How do I fight racism; or poverty; or injustice?” – not knowing that they are already fighting for justice through their year of service by being a part of organizations fighting to close the education opportunity gap, and by being a part of the community service-learning projects. All of these actions are theories put into practice: if organizations see a community need and then determine strategies to provide for that need, then all organizations are, in effect, the application of solution-based theories through programming, resource sharing, and even community-building. And we as VISTA members get to be a part of that action plan through service-learning and other hands on challenges to racial and economic disparities. 

We are so excited to be given the opportunity to volunteer with the National Service-Learning Conference as a means to strengthen our own tool belts in this anti-poverty work, and to gain some more applied action experience during our year of service. Thank you NYLC for this incredible opportunity!

Angie Brown is a VISTA Leader in the City of Saint Paul VISTA Program