Apply to the 2025–26 Service in Schools High School Leadership Institute Program!

High school students interested in becoming leaders while also serving their community can apply now for the Service in Schools Leadership Institute! The Leadership Institute is an exciting opportunity, powered by Service in Schools, for NYC public high school students in grades 10–12 to build their leadership skills and learn about issues affecting their community over the course of a five-day in-person Institute during spring break, from Monday, April 6 through Friday, April 10, and an in-person after-school session on Thursday, May 7. The Leadership Institute culminates in the planning and implementation of a day-long Youth Service Summit for elementary school students on Friday, May 22, 2026. Participants will earn valuable service hours for their efforts. Learn more and complete the application by 11:59pm on Friday, February 13. Email Service in Schools ServiceinSchools@schools.nyc.gov if you have any questions.

Service in Schools launches 2025-26 programs

Service in Schools kicked off the 2025–26 Service in Schools professional learning and student programs at the Paley Center for Media earlier this month. This year, 51 teachers will learn the ins and outs of service learning, ultimately engaging their students in carrying out a service project of their own. Service in Schools partnered with local community groups—the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, NYC Aging, The Center for the Independence of the Disabled, Rethink Food, FABSCRAP, Animal Care Centers of New York, and Met Council on Housing—in order to dig into critical issues currently affecting the five boroughs including housing and homelessness, disability rights, food insecurity, fast fashion, and NYC water and air quality. Follow @serviceinschools to learn more about the projects these teachers and their students are working on!

FABSCRAP

FABSCRAP is a community of brands, partners, creators, innovators, and changemakers committed to reimagining the future of textile waste. Unlike other materials, textile recycling skill requires a lot of work by hand. There is no mechanized system for sorting textiles by fiber or to remove stickers, staples, and fabric headers (yet!). FABSCRAP volunteers are at the heart of this work, sorting roughly 2,000 pounds of fabric every week, saving these materials from landfills,and making them accessible to creators and crafters. As a thank-you for completing a three hour volunteer session, you’re welcome to up to five pounds of free fabric. Learn more and sign up on the FABSCRAP volunteer page.

Volunteer with PAWS

​Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS NY) is a grassroots, volunteer-driven organization. If you enjoy spending time with both people and pets, PAWS NY offers wonderful opportunities for volunteers (18+ years old) to provide direct services to clients, mainly through their Housecall Program. Volunteers provide help with dog walking, litter box maintenance, transportation to/from the vet, and other pet-related tasks clients struggle to do on their own. In order to begin providing services, all volunteers are required to attend an orientation. PAWS NY is flexible in terms of the level of commitment, and welcomes all interested individuals to attend an orientation session to learn more about PAWS NY and the services you will ultimately provide to clients. Please note that proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required to participate. PAWS is currently offering virtual volunteer orientations. Check out the PAWS NY website to sign up for volunteer training.

Volunteer with City Harvest

When City Harvest was founded in 1982, it was run entirely by volunteers who connected a handful of neighborhood restaurants to food programs serving those in need. Now, over 40 years later, City Harvest volunteers remain a critical part of their food rescue operations. Whether you give your time at one of their nine Mobile Markets, rescue fresh produce at their Greenmarket Rescues, or come out to their Food Rescue Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn to repackage delicious produce into smaller mesh bags, your time and passion are important resources in the fight against hunger. City Harvest offers a wide variety of individual and group volunteer opportunities – including their Nutrition Education Program, Mobile Markets, Greenmarket Rescues, Food Show Rescues, Advocacy Projects, and Repacks; attend one of the Volunteer Orientations for information on their current opportunities. The first step to volunteer with City Harvest is to sign up for one of their New Volunteer Orientations held bi-monthly on Zoom to learn about City Harvest’s available projects and to access their volunteer calendar.

iMentor

iMentor is a youth mentoring program working to empower first-generation college students to graduate high school, succeed in college or other post-secondary pathways, and achieve their highest ambitions through one-on-one mentorships. iMentor supports over 3,000 NYC students every year through mentorship. Join their community of service-oriented professionals mentoring the next generation of leaders. Interested in learning more? Watch a brief prerecorded info session and then sign up for an iMentor NYC virtual orientation which is the first step to becoming a mentor. Learn more and sign up on their website.

Inspire Kindness This Valentine’s Day

Engage your students in making a real impact this Valentine’s Day! Join the My Dear Friend Valentine’s Day card-writing campaign and help older adults in care feel seen, valued, and celebrated. Now through February 11, students can write cards that brighten someone’s day, spark connection, and practice empathy, creativity, and community-minded leadership. Every card is a meaningful message that can make a senior feel less alone this season. For every 50 cards your school writes, your school will earn a Recognition of Service Award to celebrate your students’ collective effort and kindness. Sign up and learn more on the GlamorGals website; the campaign runs through February 11. For additional questions, contact Jastina@glamourgals.org.

Gear Up for Energy Climate Action Day

The next Climate Action Day is coming up on February 4, and the theme is Energy! Consider organizing collective action like a Lights Out Hour at your school, or find lesson and activity ideas tailored to your grade level and capacity. Use these outreach materials to promote Energy Climate Action Day at your school.

Student-led Solutions Come to Life through EcoRise’s Student Innovation Fund

As a part of the Sustainable Intelligence Program, K–12 educators receive curricula and professional development to implement design thinking in their classrooms and guide students through Eco-Audits. Students who collect data and design environmental solutions based on what they learn are eligible to apply for up to $700 to bring solutions that tackle sustainability challenges to life in their community. Email support@ecorise.org to learn how to connect your students to Eco-Audit Grant opportunities.

Connect Kids to Parks Grant

The Connect Kids to Parks Field Trip Grant Program (Connect Kids) is a field trip program designed to connect New York State students attending elementary and middle schools with nature and history. Each grant provides up to $1,000 for field trips to state and federal parks, historic sites, fish hatcheries, and other outdoor recreation areas. Applications must be submitted four weeks before the field trip is planned to occur and no earlier than six months prior to the field trip. Learn more and apply online. Contact parksbusgrant@parks.ny.gov for more information.

Youth Service America Teacher Toolkits

Youth Service America (YSA) believes that youth, communities, and our democracy thrive when we all work together for the common good. YSA is a leading global nonprofit that activates young people, ages 5–25, to find their voice, take action, and acquire powerful civic and 21st Century skills as they solve problems facing their communities. YSA supports its activation campaigns with grants, training and resources, and recognition programs for young people and their adult champions. Youth-led projects use Awareness, Service, Advocacy, and Philanthropy (ASAP) strategies to create social and environmental change. Based on YSA’s Semester of Service Teacher Toolkit, their new Service-Learning Experience Toolkit gives you the option to engage in a week-long, month-long, or semester-long service-learning experience with your students. Provided as both Google Docs and Word Docs, each planning element has its own document so you can pick and choose only the steps necessary for your activity, and do your planning right in your own copy of the documents.

Billion Oyster Project: The Harbor Ecosystem

Billion Oyster Project was founded in 2014 by Murray Fisher and Pete Malinowski, who envisioned a healthy, biodiverse New York Harbor – and who shared the belief that restoration without education is temporary. Their NGSS-aligned middle school units use oysters and New York Harbor as anchoring phenomena. Through real data, models, and local restoration work from the Billion Oyster Project, students explore inquiry-based lessons to learn standards-based content. The Harbor Ecosystems unit is designed to fit flexibly into the grade 6 Ecosystems unit. It includes ready-to-use slides, a detailed storyline/unit map, and NGSS-aligned cluster questions for assessment and test preparation. All resources are provided digitally in Google Suite, so you can easily make copies and adapt them to meet the needs of your students. Learn more and get access on the Billion Oyster Project website.

Want to be featured in our monthly newsletter? 

Send us an email about an inspiring story, service opportunity, or simply to highlight a person or organization providing service-learning opportunities for their community. 

Invite the Service in Schools team to visit your service project. We want to see your students and school community in action. Email the Service in Schools team at ServiceinSchools@schools.nyc.gov with two weeks’ notice, and we will schedule a visit to your school to learn about your project and see the impact you are making in the community. 

Visit our website. Follow @ServicenSchools on X and @ServiceinSchools on Instagram to receive program updates, upcoming service opportunities, resources, and more. We also encourage students who are interested in service opportunities to follow us on X and Instagram.



Mission: Service in Schools strives to expand the number of NYC students engaged in transformative community service and service-learning experiences that enable them to use their voice, skills, and critical thinking to strengthen communities.

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