Service-learning is gaining momentum as a promising strategy for dropout prevention in April, with the launch of a new national campaign to keep young people in high school and the release of powerful new research that shows service-learning’s effectiveness in helping young people stay in school.

America's Promise Alliance released Cities in Crisis: A Special Analytic Report on High School Graduation, a report that has inspired a national campaign to reduce high school dropout rates and prepare children for college, work, and life. The campaign will include a series of high-level Dropout Prevention summits to be held in every state and 50 communities over the next two years. America’s Promise Alliance works to ensure young people have access to what it calls the Five Promises: caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, effective education, and opportunities to help others. NYLC partners with America’s Promise Alliance to provide youths with the opportunities they need for healthy development. In Growing to Greatness 2008, Alma Powell, board chair of America’s Promise Alliance, and Marguerite Kondracke, its president and CEO, explain how service-learning supports their organization’s efforts.