Project Profiles
Youth Court Community Service-Learning Projects

Bethlehem Community Garden
Bethlehem Youth Court
Delmar, New York

Bethlehem Youth Court

Whiteley thought that an ongoing garden project would provide a source for meaningful community-service experience because it could be seen by the community, participants could see the progress and product of their work, it would provide an ongoing source of community-service work, and the produce from the garden could be donated to local food banks and senior centers, thus filling a real community need. “The food pantry offers only canned goods, no fresh produce,” she explained. “We bring them peppers, tomatoes, zuccini, radishes, beans, cucumbers, and pumpkins.”

Initially, youth court respondents, volunteers, and local citizens worked with youth court staff to prepare the garden plot for planting. Working as a group, participants chose what plants would be most useful to the community. The youth worked together at erecting a fence around the garden plot and topped it with a sign to improve the garden’s visibility in the community.

The garden thrives with no vandalism. Whiteley believes the project qualifies as community service learning because participants know that their work is meaningful—the see it come to fruition. “One-day projects such as weeding give no sense of completion or community function,” she said. With an ongoing garden and a host of “clients” or community partners, youth court respondents and volunteers see real improvement in their community. “They see where their work goes,” Whiteley says. “That, in turn creates a connection between their work and grateful people who receive the produce.”

“The community garden far surpassed our expectations,” Whiteley said. “It’s filled a need in the youth court and in the community and an opportunity for people of different age ranges to see how they can work together. Often the seniors who partner with the garden project acknowledge that their perceptions about young people have changed for the better. And because the garden is located at the town hall, the youth court has enjoyed increased visibility and validity in the eyes of the community.”

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Adopt-a-Cemetary
Colonie Youth Court
Colonie, New York

Colonie Youth Court

The Adopt-a-Cemetery Program, initiated and maintained by the Colonie Youth Court in upstate New York, is an ongoing community-service learning project. Initiated in 1996, the director of the fledgling Colonie Youth Court recognized that the town did not have the resources to maintain a rundown 200-year-old cemetery, a primary source for the old Eastern town’s rich history. He decided that the care the cemetery would make a good subject for the youth court’s community service sanction.

“By working among its old gravestones and reading their epitaphs, some dating back to the 1700s,” current director Violet Colydas explains, “young participants are able to grasp the reality of the centuries rather than simply reading a sign proclaiming it as a historical site.”

  Working in small groups stimulates cooperative learning, as each participant works with others to accomplish tasks that might not be completed were they to be working alone. When they have completed their community-service hours, the learning process continues for respondents and volunteers with a survey to evaluate how they felt about participating in the cemetery project. “Many of them point with pride to the part they have played in giving back to the community in a meaningful way,” says Director Colydas.

By partnering with local government environmental services and the town government to restore, repair, and maintain the old cemetery, Colonie Youth Court supplied a service meeting a real community need that local government did not have the resources for, giving participants an opportunity to contribute to the well-being of their community. By working on a historical site, participants learn about community history. By working together in small groups, respondents and volunteers learn active citizenship skills while they learn about the town’s history and its former residents. By evaluating and reflecting on their work, participants develop critical-thinking and leadership skills they will need to become effective citizens.