This chapter focuses on community service involvement among schoolage adolescents in the United States. It discusses renewed interest in community service as a means of promoting prosocial development in participants. It then presents a theoretical approach for understanding the influence of service experience on participants. This approach connects service to identity formation in adolescence and is illustrated by a case study of a group of predominantly Black middle class adolescents who participated in a mandatory service program at an urban parochial high school. The theoretical, methodological, and social policy implications of this study's findings are discussed.

Current Interest in Community Service in the United States: Its Historical Roots and Rationale

The United States in the 1990s has witnessed a resurgence of interest in community service. This interest has taken several forms. First, Presidents Bush and Clinton both passed legislation to increase service opportunities for youth. Second, the state of Maryland as well as several cities and school districts made service hours a requirement for graduation from public high schools. A survey published in December 1995 reported that 15% of the nation's 130 largest school districts currently require service. This finding translates into required participation by some 1.2 million students (National and Community Service Coalition, 1995). Third, several national organizations and education groups such as the National Service-Learning Cooperative/Clearinghouse were established to promote the integration of service into school and university curricula. Fourth, major business corporations such as IBM funded community service programs and initiatives. Another corporate example is the Prudential Insurance Company of America, which sponsored a program in 1995 to acknowledge outstanding service commitment of schoolage youth.