Serve DC funds the following Learn and Serve School-Based programs that operate in the District of Columbia.

Bell Multicultural High School (BMHS) manages the BMHS/Multicultural Career Intern Program to provide 360 student ages 14-17 with academic education directed to service-learning projects of their choosing. The demonstrated propensity of the students to engage in service-learning projects through Bell’s Capstone course over the last three years describes the need; a strong student desire to develop the project and their need to find an outlet to express their concerns about the community in a positive way–this expression becomes community service projects to be implemented locally. The core activity to address this need is a curriculum-based course, entitled Capstone, that provides a structured approach to the development of service-learning projects. Enrollment is mandatory for all junior and senior students at Bell. The program is intended to have students address youth issues with high-interest projects that deal with at-risk behavior; gang involvement, dropping out, and incidences of abuse and violence.

Ferebee-Hope Community School Complex is an open space learning facility in Ward 8 serving 280 students in Head Start through Grade 5. Science education has been identified as a critical need in DCPS and many schools, like Ferebee-Hope, lack sufficient resources to address this need. Ferebee-Hope, in collaboration with Communities In Schools of the Nation's Capital and Discovery Creek Children's Museum, is currently providing its 3rd through 5th grade students with enhanced science and service education pertaining to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Students learn about the watershed through hands-on learning experiences and field trips that promote ongoing reflection and dialogue. As a culmination of the educational programming each year, students participate in a schoolyard habitat project that helps them to cultivate a closer connection with and sense of personal responsibility towards the health of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and their local environment.       

Hyde Leadership Public Charter High School operates the Hyde-DC Debate Program to stimulate and promote public speaking. This program enables middle and high school students to learn, practice, and debate publicly, privately, and competitively. The program will work in conjunction with the DC Urban Debate League and works to increase the number of students actively debating and using their voices to promote change within the District of Columbia.

Leckie Elementary School, located in Ward 8, is a District of Columbia public school serving grades Pre-K- 6. In partnership with Free Advice, Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides professional therapy services, workshops and programs for special needs populations, the entities have merged to provide the Literacy Service Corps. The service-learning program teaches students how to observe their community and look for ways to become a community asset while simultaneously improving their literacy skills. Free Advice also partners with two additional District of Columbia Public Schools: Payne Elementary and Ludlow-Taylor (Ward 6), with a special focus on 100 special education students. The goals of Literacy Service Corps are to: 1) provide social and emotional support to build self-esteem; 2) teach life skills to promote problem solving; to 3) improve literacy and encourage reading through service-learning, and (4) enable students to participate in meaningful service activities as a learning strategy that will also strengthen their schools and communities. 

The Maya Angelou Public Charter School (MAPCS), Evans High School campus, located in Ward 7 of Washington, DC serves an alternative student population and offers a college-preparatory curriculum and wrap-around services like counseling, career preparation and transition services. Through these comprehensive services, MAPCS students gain the skills and resources they need to reach their potential and prepare for college, career and a lifetime of success. In service of the school’s mission, the MAPCS-Evans campus has adopted a service-learning program that is supported by the social justice framework of the school’s curriculum. Through the exploration of topic areas like health, safety, money and heritage, students will link their learning about these topics to meaningful, goal-oriented service in the larger community. The program has two goals: to engage students in meaningful community service activities designed to prompt social change that supports individual and community growth and to develop mechanisms for sharing our service activities with the broader community.

The SEED School of Washington, DC has offered an intensive academic and boarding education to students from throughout the District since 1998. The school is at full capacity and serves 320 urban children in grades seven through 12 in southeast Washington, DC. By providing an academically rigorous, college prep boarding school as an educational option, The SEED School offers District of Columbia students a unique opportunity to achieve academic, economic and social success. The SEED School’s service learning program teaches students about the needs in their community, provides them opportunities and ideas for addressing these needs through their own personal commitment of time, energy and resources, and demonstrates the impact that students may individually and collectively have on other individuals and on the greater community. The program involves a four-pronged approach in which students participate in school-wide service activities, monthly volunteering at social service organizations, community restitution to help clean and beautify the SEED community and student-driven service projects.  

T. Roosevelt Senior High School, located in Ward 4, is a District of Columbia public school serving grades 9-12. In partnership with the District of Columbia Urban Debate League (DCUDL), the T. Roosevelt Debate Team hosts public debates. Once a month, the T. Roosevelt Debate Team engages students, faculty, staff and community members in public debates on issues relevant and important to the T. Roosevelt community.  Participants voice their concerns and opinions about these issues in a structured and non-confrontational format. Participants thus gain knowledge about the issues, as well as about an alternative, non-violent way to settle disputes and differences. Debate students participate in weekly meetings with middle school students.  At these meetings, the T. Roosevelt students mentor and teach the middle school students how to debate on various topics. By acting as mentors, the high school students also help the middle school students with their transition to high school.