MLK Day of Service: Work Together to Help Communities Thrive – Jan 16

Posted by Youth Service America on November 22, 2022

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed in a nation of freedom and justice for all, and encouraged all citizens to live up to the purpose and potential of America by applying the principles of nonviolence. MLK Day of Service is a way to honor his life and teachings by engaging in community action that continues to solve social problems.

As you choose how you will participate in this year’s MLK Day of Service, plan to work together to help communities thrive by leading ASAP (through Awareness, Service, Advocacy, and Philanthropy) to achieve the Global Goals.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Use this tipsheet and watch this video to choose a Lead ASAP project.

2. These resources in the YSA Knowledge Center have many project ideas, examples, and how-to guides:

• Youth Guide to the Global Goals
• Sparks Tipsheets: Lead an Arts Project, Lead a Sports Project, Lead a Reading Project, and Lead a Nature Project
• Everyday Young Heroes Project Replication Guide Collection
• Issue-Specific Guides: Engaging a New Generation of Anti-Hunger Leaders (Childhood Hunger), We Stand Strong (Disaster Preparedness), Youth in the Driver Seat (Teen Driver Safety), and Health Heroes (Childhood Obesity).
• 8 Ways to Stop Hunger

3. Educators, use the Service-Learning Experience Toolkit and use MLK Day of Service to kick off a week-long, month-long, or semester-long service-learning project. Provided as both Google Docs and Word Docs, each planning element has its own document, so you can pick and choose only the steps necessary for your activity, and do your planning right in your own copy of the documents.