NYLC CEO Kielsmeier Supports ServiceNation in National Publications

As national leaders of service gather in New York City for the kickoff to ServiceNation on Thursday, Sept. 11, NYLC CEO and founder Jim Kielsmeier has editorials running in two national publications, Education Week and Youth Today, clarifying the role of service-learning in cultivating later interest in full-time service. The editorials support the nonpartisan national effort to increase service opportunities and inspire Americans to make service a core ideal.

NYLC Board Chair Jim Scheibel co-authored the editorial in Education Week. Scheibel also has played a significant role in service, as a former Mayor of St. Paul, and as a former Vice President of the Corporation for National and Community Service and Director of VISTA and Senior Corps.

“The time is ripe to remind people of the need for early exposure to service,” said Kielsmeier, who will join the presidential candidates and approximately 600 service and youth leaders in New York City to initiate ServiceNation. “NYLC has long believed that K-12 involvement in service-learning provides an on-ramp to full-time service corps involvement and to a lifelong commitment to service.”

This is the National Youth Leadership Council’s 25th year as a nonprofit dedicated to advancing service-learning in education systems worldwide. Over its history, the organization has been central to advancing supportive service-learning legislation both in Minnesota and nationally.

To read the Education Week editorial, visit: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/09/03/03kielsmeier-com.h28.html

To read the Youth Today article, visit: http://www.youthtoday.org/publication/article.cfm?article_id=2234

For New York Times coverage of ServiceNation, including a Columbia University service-learning example, visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/nyregion/11service.html

To read Teddy Gross' (Executive Director of Common Cents) perspective on ServiceNation visit: http://www.commoncents.org/go/news/who-s-missing-from-service-nation-a-commentary-from-teddy-gross-executive-director-of-common-cents