The emerging international service corps for gap-year students will hold a launch party Feb. 7th in San Francisco.

The Global Citizen Year West Coast Launch Party will be Feb. 7th, 8 pm to midnight at Mr. Barbershop and Urban Lounge, 560 Sacramento Street in San Francisco. The cost to attend is a minimum donation of $10 (which will go to GCY).

Global Citizen Year, which will launch its pioneer group of fellows this fall, aims to “prepare a pipeline of new American leaders to combat global poverty and injustice throughout their lives” by putting high school grads in apprenticeships throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

According to the vision, Fellows will emerge with leadership, cross-cultural and language skills — and a commitment to global concerns throughout their lives.

Because U.S. high schoolers will serve under the guidance of local development projects and leadership, the program has the potential of side stepping some of the pitfalls of other one-way development models, where people from the Global North head to the Global South as experts.

Global Citizen Year Fellows also live in local homes which will likely be a profound experience for them.

As part of their capstone project, Fellows return home to share their experience with the community through a presentation.

To learn more about international volunteering, check out the upcoming Idealist.org Global Volunteering Fairs and/or our International Volunteerism Resource Center.

Next week The New Service will introduce a different international service corps each day in honor of the fairs, so check back for more.

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