LearnServe International
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Mission Statement
LearnServe International equips high school students from diverse backgrounds with the entrepreneurial vision, tenacity, confidence, and leadership skills needed to tackle social challenges at home and abroad.
About This Cause
LearnServe International believes young people can be powerful agents of change. LearnServe's innovative youth development programs equip students from diverse backgrounds with the entrepreneurial vision, tenacity, confidence, and leadership and technical skills needed to tackle social challenges at home and abroad. We believe business savvy, critical thinking, social consciousness, and self empowerment are critical to students' academic and professional success, and allow young people to shape their own and their communities’ futures. Every year, LearnServe brings together hundreds of students from 50 public, charter and private schools in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area and beyond – students whose paths ordinarily would not cross – to strengthen their entrepreneurial leadership and technical skills and global awareness. LearnServe International teaches leadership, business, and technical skills to enable students to design and launch social ventures in their own communities. Students hone their digital skills including online market research, budgeting with excel, and preparing slide decks for social venture pitch presentations. Many student ventures center around the creation of apps and websites for advocacy or service. In 2020, we introduced blended learning elements and moved to 100% virtual programming due to Covid-19, teaching students how to actively participate in video call sessions, and how to pitch their ventures virtually. LearnServe offers a suite of interconnected programs that engage high school students in social innovation and global perspectives, both in-school and outside of school time. LEARNSERVE HACKATHONS introduce students to social innovation through two-hour design sprints to tackle pressing issues in teams. (Grades 9-12; 40 students) LEARNSERVE FELLOWS come together weekly after school to design and launch their own “social ventures” – social action projects to benefit their communities. They connect with a diverse network of peers from across the region, meet successful local entrepreneurs, and develop business plans to transform the issues they are passionate about into action. Students are nominated by their schools and then interviewed and selected by LearnServe staff. Each spring, LearnServe Fellows pitch their ideas to panels of community leaders and business professionals; viable proposals are awarded seed grants to get their ventures off the ground. (Grades 10-11; 60-70 students) LEARNSERVE INCUBATOR students are often alumni of the LearnServe Fellows and Global Summer Fellowship, eager to accelerate their social ventures and grow their skills. Following the Lean Startup model, students implement, reflect, and iterate on their ideas. This select group of students visits local innovative businesses and organizations such as Halcyon, Ashoka and Social Driver; dives deep into the customer discovery and design process; and works closely with mentors to maximize the impact of their ventures. (Grades 11-12; 15-20 students) LEARNSERVE ABROAD participants (before Covid-19) convene monthly between February and October to learn about approaches to international development, the history and culture of their host countries, and their roles as young people traveling from the U.S. to volunteer overseas. From late June to early July they spend three weeks in Zambia, Paraguay, Jamaica, or South Africa engaging in peer-to-peer exchanges and directly supporting ongoing community efforts around poverty, HIV/AIDS, education disparities, and the environment. Upon their return, LearnServe Abroad students use public speaking and action planning to share what they have learned and mobilize their home communities to support communities overseas. (Grades 9-11; 50 students and teachers.) In July 2020 we transitioned the LearnServe Abroad program to the LEARNSERVE GLOBAL SUMMER FELLOWSHIP, our first ever 100% virtual international program. This program brought together 20 students from Zambia and 20 from the US to tackle pressing social challenges over the course of a month. You can find more information in our description of results achieved during the past twelve months. Beginning in 2021, the program connects students in the DC region with peers in Zambia, South Africa and Paraguay. LearnServe provides EDUCATOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, equipping teachers with the curriculum, training, and support they need to spark their students’ interest in social innovation. Our long-term impact evaluation, completed in February 2015, demonstrated how LearnServe’s programs help students develop into successful, self-reliant, and socially conscious adults, shaping a better future for themselves and their communities: 86% of alumni state that the LearnServe experience SHAPED THEIR SOCIAL AWARENESS and their ABILITY TO WORK IN MULTI-CULTURAL TEAMS. 84% state that they feel EMPOWERED TO TAKE ACTION in their communities. 83% attribute their CRITICAL THINKING and problem solving skills to LearnServe. 96% of alumni from low income backgrounds state that the LearnServe experience INCREASED THEIR SELF-CONFIDENCE. 71% from this group state that it increased their FOCUS ON ACADEMICS and 78% their desire to attend college.