Young people have a desire to meaningfully contribute to their communities and create lasting impact. While youth service programs aim to support this goal, research often emphasizes youth development over social and environmental outcomes. This study addresses this gap by analyzing six youth service programs run by three national Canadian non-profits. Using a youth-led social framework, we examine the impact strategies young participants employed to implement service projects. Our findings highlight how youth use diverse strategies to achieve social and environmental outcomes, and we propose adjustments to the existing framework to better capture youth contributions. This research broadens the understanding of youth impact, emphasizing that young people are not only beneficiaries of service but also agents of meaningful change.
Dougherty et al. (Wed,) studied this question.