Donate to YCS through the "Magic of Youth Service" Campaign   

Youth Community Service began its second $50,000 fundraising campaign with a kick-off event hosted at Hewlett-Packard on November 20th, 2007. Attendees listened while guest speaker, Yiaway Yeh, recent addition to the Palo Alto City Council, talked about the role YCS has played in leading him to a career in public service. "The experience of community service and leadership helped me gain confidence in myself, offered a break from high-powered academics and exposed me to a life in public service," said Yeh, former president of the Gunn High School YCS Club.

For seventeen years, YCS has offered students like Yiaway the chance to lead, serve, and make a difference in their communities, as well as providing support for teachers interested in implementing service-learning in their classrooms. This year, YCS transitioned from being a collaborative program to an independent nonprofit with its own board of directors.

Funding support for YCS comes from donations from individuals, grants from organizations, and in-kind contributions from the City of Palo Alto and PAUSD. YCS is looking to expand its base of contributors in order to achieve financial year-round sustainability to strengthen and expand its programs in Palo Alto and East Palo Alto.

With the generous contributions of YCS supporters, the Magic of Youth Service Campaign will support Youth Community Service in achieving the following goals:

• Supporting service learning, civic engagement and leadership programs for Palo Alto students.
• Sustaining our extended programs in East Palo Alto at this critical time when safe and positive alternatives are so badly needed.
• Sharing service-learning methods with K-12 educators throughout our region.
• Developing the River of Words Watershed environmental literacy service-learning program for students and educators from Portola Valley to Palo Alto to East Palo Alto.
• Strengthening our April 26 Family Service Day for Palo Alto and East Palo Alto families to celebrate a day of service together. Last year there were over 1,000 participants.
• Expanding our summer transition program for students entering high school, to help reverse high dropout rates for Ravenswood (East Palo Alto) students entering Sequoia District high schools.

The Magic of Youth Service Campaign is supported by numerous Honorary Co-Chairs, including Mayor of East Palo Alto, Pat Foster, Mayor of Palo Alto, Yoriko Kishimoto, County Supervisor, Liz Kniss, State Assemblyperson, Ira Ruskin and State Senator Joe Simitian, to name a few. The campaign will continue on through January 2008.

For more information, please contact Jenny Wegner at (650) 617-8962 or jenny@youthcommunityservice.org, or visit us on the web at youthcommunityservice.org.