Service Learning for Youth Empowerment and Social Change

This book presents informed current thinking on the topic of community service learning programs for youth, offering both veteran and new voices in the field. Combining theory and research with descriptions of innovative programs and specific recommendations for program design, the authors argue for an approach to service learning that engages youth not only in helping others but in critical reflection and the democratic pursuit of social reform. Topics covered range from the theory and practice of service learning to research and ideas about teacher preparation and educational reform. Contributors include the editors, Joan Schine, Joseph Kahne, Joel Westheimer, Jim Youniss, Miranda Yates, Carol Kinsely, Richard Lakes, Tricia Bowers-Young, Cynthia Parsons, Alice Halsted, Robert Maloy, and others.

The Editors: Jeff Claus is Associate Professor at the Center for Teacher Education at Ithaca College. He has a B.A. and MSed. from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in the Social Foundations of Education from Cornell University. He has published articles and chapters on the topics of service learning, youth employment programs, issues of diversity in teaching and teacher education, and critical theories of education. He has also taught high school English and has been Coordinator of community service programs with the Learning Web, a youth service organization in Ithaca, New York. Curtis Ogden is currently a graduate student at Harvard Divinity School where he is pursuing studies in education, ethics, and social change. Prior to this, he was Coordinator of the ImPACT service learning program at the Learning Web in Ithaca, New York. He holds a B.A. in cultural anthropology from the University of Michigan, and has published articles on the topics of service learning, community development, and youth empowerment. He has also worked with youth in Boston, Massachusetts and in Harare, Zimbabwe.