Youth Volunteer Corps of Greater Kansas City

4600 W 51st Street, Ste 300
Roeland Park, KS 66205
phone: 913-432-9822, X 308
website: yvckc.org

The YVC Summer Sensation Program is an eight-week intensive volunteering program. Youth Volunteers work week-long periods at various community-based organizations in the Greater Kansas City area. A typical volunteer week is Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Tasks range from harvesting crops to visiting with senior citizens to creating disaster awareness books for young children. Youth are not obligated to volunteer for the entire eight weeks in order to be a part of this program, but they must complete the entire week they select.

Youth Volunteers complete specific projects based on agency needs, how appropriate and rewarding the project would be for youth (no clerical or fundraising duties), and what the youth themselves want to do (based on our surveys and Youth Advisory Board suggestions). We choose agencies based on that youth input as well as our goal to achieve diversity both geographically and with the type of service. Every project is structured to include team-building activities, service-learning and reflection time.

We are an affiliate of the Youth Volunteer Corps and are subject to their annual review. We are also a United Way funded agency. We were evaluated in 2008 by the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership. The results were extremely positive. As an AmeriCorps grantee and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, YVC is also responsible for submitting annual financial audits and periodic independent audits. We continually seek feedback from all of our clients and incorporate the advice we receive as much as possible.

Our participants are exposed to an ethic of service that may be new to them. The fact that this program is so intense, especially for youth, means some change is inevitable. We measure the pre- and post-service levels of the following items among our volunteers:
1. I feel a strong connection to my community and the people in it.
2. I know about the needs in my community.
3. I have the power to make a difference in my community.
4. I feel good about myself for volunteering.
5. I felt challenged by the YVC project(s) I completed.
6. I learned something at the YVC project(s) I completed.
7. The YVC project(s) helped me understand people who are different from me.
8. I will continue to volunteer. Why will/won’t you continue to volunteer?

The most recent youth satisfaction surveys showed that overall, our volunteers had an increase in, or maintained a high level of, belief in those 10 items. Our agency surveys showed extremely high levels of satisfaction with our work and a desire to continue partnering with YVC.