Giving Thoughts

Q&A with Ilir Zherka: Building a Culture of National Service

By Alex Parkinson, Researcher, The Conference Board, and Ilir Zherka, Executive Director, National Conference on Citizenship

Evidence is mounting to show young people want to donate their time to communities through service. For example, according to the 2014 Millennial Impact Report, “Millennials are building a culture that knows how it feels to contribute to a cause and attempt to solve social issues.”

The National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) is a congressionally chartered organization dedicated to strengthening civic life in America. It is building on millennials’ momentum and values by developing the Service Year exchange. This innovative web application aims to ease barriers blocking young people from performing national service. By doing this, NCoC hopes to make a year of dedicated service a common experience for young people as they transition through their education and into the workforce. NCoC’s executive director, Ilir Zherka, kindly answered my questions about the project.

Q: What is the Service Year exchange and what does it seek to achieve?

A: The Service Year exchange will be a dynamic online marketplace to bring everyone interested in year-long, stipend national service together. That includes young people seeking service positions, organizations seeking service members, and funders looking to support these efforts. Currently, nothing close to this vision exists. Our goal is to make a service year a common expectation and opportunity. We are excited to be involved in this ambitious effort.

Our effort aims to create one modern and comprehensive space where users can search, interact, communicate, partner, and earn academic credit for their service. This site will include existing positions in national service programs, such as AmeriCorps, and thousands of other new certified opportunities. Through this effort, we intend to make the most commonly asked question of a young person, “Where are you going to do your service year?”

Q: What role do corporations play in a service year?

A: Corporations are key partners in making a service year a reality for all Americans. Corporate foundations with 501c3 status can host service year participants directly to strengthen capacity. But, even more exciting is the ability to directly fund service year positions that target specific communities and causes. For example, a health insurance company could build a branded, city-specific team focused on improving the community’s health and well-being. An accompanying mentoring program could leverage the skills of company employees to guide corps member development. This is exactly the kind of targeted corporate social responsibility engagement that so many corporations are looking for.

One of the most important steps a corporation can take is to hire service year alumni and become an Employer of National Service. Corporations who do this are critical because they will help to reinforce the benefits of a service year and create a culture of service across America. This will pay dividends far into the future.

To become an Employer of National Service, corporations need to prioritize service in their hiring process. For example, a corporation could incorporate a check box for service year alumni into their employment application or include service year language into job postings. These actions will highlight national service, help incentivize more young people to participate in a service year, and begin to change our culture.

Q: How does a service year help prepare young people for the workforce?

A: Service years give young people real skills—both hard and soft. These skills are often difficult to learn in a purely academic setting. For example, a service year participant placed with Habitat for Humanity learns team leadership and project management skills in the process of planning and building homes. They are faced with real-world interpersonal and resource challenges that they must overcome to successfully complete projects. These high-level skills are transferable and can be extremely valuable to corporations.

Q: How will you measure the effectiveness of the Service Year exchange?

A: Each position listed on the exchange must work toward a defined outcome that addresses a community need. We will use the site to track the progress of volunteers and their host organizations towards meeting specific goals. Service year participants will be able to develop a transcript or resume that translates skills learned into academic credit or certificates widely recognized by higher education institutions and employers. In future iterations of the Service Year exchange, we will be able to further analyze user data to track project success rates, social impact created by volunteers, and even the employment success of service year alumni.

About the guest:

Ilir Zherka, the Executive Director of the National Conference on Citizenship, is a life-long civic engagement activist. Under his leadership, NCoC is working with partners throughout the country to strengthen civic life in America. NCoC is also playing a central role in developing the Service Year exchange. The exchange is an online, technology platform that will help to dramatically increase the number of national service positions. Previously, he was the Executive Director of DC Vote, where he created and led a coalition of 100 non-profit advocacy organizations focused on promoting full DC representation in Congress. Ilir also co-founded the National Albanian American Council. NAAC successfully advocated for U.S. intervention to stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.

About the author:

Alex Parkinson is a Researcher in the Corporate Leadership division of The Conference Board. He specializes in corporate philanthropy and sustainability. He is the Executive Editor of the Giving Thoughts blog and monthly publication series and Framing Social Impact Measurement. Before joining The Conference Board in September 2013, Alex worked as a Senior Consultant in London and New York for corporate social responsibility (CSR) consultancy Context. He has advised some of the world’s leading multinationals on CSR communications and strategy development. Follow Alex on Twitter: @AlexParkinsonNY.