National Service Learning Lab
WHat is the national service learning lab?
Formally launching this September 2023, the National Service Learning Lab will strengthen relationships and peer learning between and among those who are currently funding national service or are interested in learning more to support the field in the future.
The Lab will honor and lift up current work being done across the field and provide a purposefully neutral space for funders to come together, learn alongside one another, and delve into timely issues and opportunities to advance national service in a set of key areas.
Through a series of highly interactive (mostly online) sessions, Lab participants will engage with practitioners, researchers, and other key stakeholders – tapping into the valuable insights and experiences of those who are on the front lines of this work.
Featured resources
Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE)–with leadership from KDS Impact Strategies–will serve as the coordinating group of this philanthropic laboratory, which aims to create space to support relationship-building and peer learning between and among funders of national service programs through a combination of the following activities:
• Online forums and topical conversations with national service leaders at the local and federal level (every 6 weeks)
• Immersive in-person gathering and site visits (offered once annually)
• Bi-Monthly newsletter and resources highlighting trends in the field
• Working Groups on Service
• Informal philanthropic advising on national service opportunities
• Space for coordinated experiments, investments and initiatives
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Interested in A National service learning lab?
The Lab will enable funders who are at different stages of their own national service learning journey to engage with the field, develop deeper insights into the challenges and opportunities that exist, and ultimately create an environment to explore how the funding community might take a more significant role in driving future collaboration and investments in national service.