FINAL REPORT

EVALUATION OF THE SUMMER OF SERVICE

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Summer of Service was an initiative undertaken by the White House Office of National Service and the Commission on National and Community Service to show the potential of national service to provide needed community services and to develop future leaders of national and community service. During the nine-and-a-half week effort, 16 grantees across the country -- using the talents and energies of an estimated 1,464 Summer of Service participants (ages 17-25 years) -- implemented a diverse array of educational, health, environmental and public safety services. These services directly benefitted more than 154,500 persons, more than 70% of whom were children and at-risk youth.

Based on the figures for direct services, on average each Summer of Service participant provided assistance to about 105 beneficiaries over the course of the summer.

In addition to these direct services, several Summer of Service program sites utilized media campaigns to provide the general public with information on community issues and the availability of resources. The beneficiary estimates that grantees submitted for these activities indicate that the Summer of Service initiative in total provided direct services or information to more than 1.8 million people.

A striking feature of the Summer of Service Program was its diversity, not only from the standpoint of the service activities and community projects undertaken by the different program sites, but also in terms of the backgrounds of the young people who contributed their talents and energies as participants. The Summer of Service participants were racially and ethnically diverse, with more than 70 percent of the participants being members of minority groups. Participants also came from widely varied educational backgrounds and all income levels. Nearly 60 percent of the Summer of Service participants were female.

The Summer of Service programs incorporated rigorous service learning components for participants that complemented their direct service activities. These service learning components stressed development of leadership skills, the service ethic, and the responsibilities of citizenship, in addition to providing occupational skills appropriate to the participants' summer assignments. The majority of Summer of Service participants expressed overall satisfaction with their community service and learning experience over the summer, with more than 90 percent indicating that their experience had increased their sense of civic responsibility, and 96 percent reporting that they expected to perform additional volunteer or community service in the future.

In addition to the participants themselves, the Summer of Service programs also were successful in recruiting more than 3,800 volunteers who contributed over 92,500 hours in helping with service activities, for an average of 24 hours per volunteer. Many volunteers also assisted the Summer of Service grantees in providing occupational training to the participants and in guiding the service learning activities.

Exective Summary

Each of the Summer of Service sites represented a local partnership; overall an estimated 250 different organizations participated in the 16 Summer of Service programs. These organizations served as project sponsors, provided in-kind and cash contributions, and had individual members who volunteered their time. Approximately forty percent of these Participating organizations were community-based non-profits, and almost a quarter were educational institutions.

Highlights of the 16 programs include:

ACORN (Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, New York) directed the efforts of 58 Summer of Service participants in a lead paint poisoning prevention program that assisted more than 30,000 people, 20,000 of whom were children. Through these efforts, 18,000 low income families in high risk buildings were educated about the dangers of lead paint poisoning, with 3,000 children referred for lead paint poisoning testing.

Building-Up in L.A. (Los Angeles, California) involved 151 Summer of Service participants whose educational, environmental, health and public safety activities served an estimated 32,538 persons. More than 4,100 youth in elementary, middle, and high schools were tutored and mentored, and 27,506 persons, primarily children, received instruction in first aid, safety skills, water safety, and other health issues.

City Year/Northeastern University (Boston, Massachusetts) implemented a Summer of Service program with 74 participants providing educational, health, and environmental services that reached more than 14,200 individuals. One of the six City Year participant teams reviewed records and scheduled immunizations for the children in 1,000 households; other teams engaged in varied activities such as renovation of a teen center, development of 4 urban gardening projects, assistance to a homeless shelter and tutoring efforts throughout Boston and neighboring Chelsea.

Clark Atlanta/Greater Atlanta Conservation Corps (Atlanta, Georgia) deployed 50 Summer of Service participants in eight teams providing educational services to over 2,275 children. Among other activities, participants implemented learning projects at summer day camps that served 967 children, tutored 235 educationally disadvantaged pre-school and kindergarten-age children, and staffed educational enrichment programs for 123 refugee children.

East Bay Conservation Corps (Oakland, Berkeley, Palo Alto, California) coordinated 250 participants working with 22 different organizations in the delivery of educational and health services that assisted more than 29,280 persons. As part of this effort, 1,745 children were tutored, another 1,929 were provided art and enrichment activities, and 1,328 youth were served through a library summer reading program. Participants also carried out a variety of health education/advocacy activities, and provided support to local hospitals, hospices, and health clinics.

Hands on Atlanta (Atlanta, Georgia) applied the talents of 50 Summer of Service participants to educational and neighborhood improvement projects that benefitted more than 5,400 persons. Over 4,000 people benefitted from improvements to playgrounds

Exective Summary

and other community facilities carried out through several Adopt-A-Neighborhood projects. Participants also directed 850 adult volunteers in tutoring children at a Saturday Discovery tutoring project.

Harlem Freedom Schools (New York City, New York) engaged 50 Summer of Service participants in providing a variety of education and health services at five sites that benefitted over 1,000 children, parents, and community members. Participants developed curricula and operated summer school day programs attended by 643 at-risk youth. Over 800 summer school students, their siblings and homeless persons were provided with two meals and a nutritious snack each school day.

ICARE (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) involved 145 Summer of Service participants in providing direct health services to 9,670 children and members of their families, including 3,717 persons tracked for immunizations (of whom 2,726 were immunized), 1,599 health care screenings, and 378 children who received nutrition services. In addition to these direct services, ICARE also conducted a mass media campaign to increase the general public's awareness of the need for health care and immunizations for children.

It's About Health (Los Angeles, California) had 40 Summer of Service participants engaged in providing direct health service delivery at five major Los Angeles-area clinics, which assisted more than 5,000 individuals. An estimated 3,230 children and adults received physical or dental exams, and over 3,900 persons were provided with primary health care education.

MPOWER (College Park, Maryland) involved 74 Summer of Service participants who assisted more than 520 children with a variety of educational, health and environmental services. Participants supervised 84 high school and middle school student volunteers in working with at-risk children, as well as assisting in restoring two community centers and a playground.

New Orleans Summerbridge (New Orleans, Louisiana) utilized its 100 Summer of Service participants to develop curricula and provide a varied program of summer school classes that included tutoring, art and enrichment, workshops on cultural diversity, and physical education activities for 360 middle school students at four sites. With the help of the students, a series of special events and community projects were planned and implemented.

Newark Summer of Service (Newark, New Jersey) involved 201 participants in service activities that benefitted more than 15,270 persons. With participants assigned to more than a dozen project sites, activities included providing tutoring, art enrichment, and recreational services to 5,170 at-risk children, and assisting Habitat for Humanity construct 6 homes for low-income families.

Ohio Wesleyan Summer of Service Initiative (Delaware, Ohio) included 71 participants who provided tutoring to improve the academic, job and leadership skills of 354 youth, delivered visual screening services to 939 children, constructed a house

Exective Summary

in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, and assisted in restoration of several parks. Overall, more than 2,970 persons benefitted from the summer effort.

Red Lake Band Summer of Service -- Enaasimiiyang (Red Lake, Minnesota) was carried out by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, and benefitted 5,000 tribal members through environmental and community improvement projects, including development of a one-third of a mile interpretive nature trail. The program emphasized providing alternate constructive activities for the 49 tribal youth who served as Summer of Service participants in order to promote positive cultural identity, self-esteem, and sense of responsibility.

Teach For America (New York City, New York) involved 48 participants providing a combination of education and environmental services directed to 187 youth and their families in the Washington Heights section of the city. Participants provided an intensive program for these children, including mentoring, tutoring, literacy training, cultural awareness instruction, and service learning activities.

Tufts Summer of Service (Medford, Massachusetts) directed 53 participants serving at-risk children and their families in Boston and Medford. More than 800 individuals were assisted by the Summer of Service participants through tutoring programs for children, life skills training for psychiatrically disabled adults, enrichment activities for neglected children, and development of a teen center.

CHAPTER ONE

OVERVIEW OF THE SUMMER OF SERVICE PROGRAM

The Summer of Service Program was an initiative undertaken by the Commission on National and Community Service, in collaboration with the White House Office of National Service, as a demonstration of the potential of national service:

to provide tangible and measurable community benefits;

to develop leaders for national and community service; and

to unleash the talents and energies of young Americans in tackling the nation's urgent needs.

Under the authority of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-610), in May 1993 the Commission made $6.3 million in awards to 16 program sites'. Exhibit 1.1 identifies the sixteen individual grantees, the amounts of their Summer of Service awards, and the number of participants funded. Exhibit 1.2 shows the geographic location of these grantees.

Each of these Summer of Service program sites was expected to:

• involve local partnerships between higher education institutions and public or private non-profit organizations;

recruit and select young people, preferably from diverse racial, economic, and educational backgrounds, to participate in a variety of service activities;

engage these youth (ages 17 to 25 years) in serving the health, educational, environmental, and public safety needs of at-risk children and neighborhoods in communities across the country;

include provisions for proper orientation, supervision, and service-learning opportunities for these participants;

• involve other volunteers, particularly middle-school children, in the service activities; and

Throughout this report, the terms "Summer of Service program sites", "Summer of Service programs", and "Summer of Service grantees" will be used synonymously.

2 The programs could enroll current college students, recent graduates, entering college students, and noncollege-bound youth.