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Young people can participate in community work at many different levels.
They might:

• Hand out informational flyers;
• Help out during a neighborhood clean-up day;
• Join a club that works to improve their school;
• Serve on a committee that advises the school superintendent; or even
• Help the city shape policies affecting young people

Involvement in their communities helps young people:

• Gain real-world opportunities to share their skills in tandem with adults
• Get on-the-job training in creative problem-solving, shared decision-making, teamwork, and leadership
• Learn they truly can make a difference in their communities—by actually doing it!
  

Young people involved = communities gaining:

• The direct benefit of whatever projects the young people undertake, for example a new streetlight or a clean neighborhood or youth policies that really work
• Greater civic participation from young people
• The energy, hope, enthusiasm, imagination, and idealism of their young people
• Young people who take ownership and want to stay or return to their communities

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