Service Year Alliance partners with institutions and organizations on research and thought leadership that help make the case for national service. Examples include:

• We worked with the Business Executives for National Security (BENS) and their Commission on the National Response Enterprise to understand the ways in which national service does and can continue to make our nation more resilient as they explored ideas for a model for emergency response in the United States. To contribute to their final report, we developed the National Service and Disaster Response white paper.
  
  
• With generous funding from the Lodestar Foundation, we developed a report, The State of National Service, which explored the historical and current status of national service in the nation, identified the best methods for achieving service at scale, and considered ways in which the field could make national service even more effective, resilient, and offer the country a new shared purpose to bring us together as citizens.
  
  
• In order to develop stronger partnerships and cultivate new champions, explore new ideas, and spread the word about the value of service years to transform lives, strengthen communities, and renew our civic identity, we partner with think tanks on events that raise the profile of national service as a powerful tool to make the country a better place. 
  • Service Year Alliance and the Brookings Institution hosted a packed-house event marking the release of a new report on universal national service by John Bridgeland and John J. DiIulio Jr. Keynote speakers included the CEO of CNCS, the Chair of the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service, former Governor Deval Patrick, and Jesse Colvin, the CEO of Service Year Alliance. The event concluded with a panel of former and current participants in national service, including YouthBuild and Habitat for Humanity. Watch the recording here!
    
    
• To better understand the outcomes of service years on corps members, we partnered with Burning Glass Technologies to produce the report Pathways After Service: Education and Career Outcomes for Service Year Alumni. By looking at tens of thousands of resumes, the report determined that service year alumni are more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree, work in public service jobs, and advertise leadership and organization skills.
  
  
• Most service year programs happen in cities, but they could be a huge benefit to rural communities as well. With the help of the Service Year Rural Policy Advisory Council, we developed a white paper on how service years can help solve for the needs of rural communities: National Service in Rural Communities.
  
  
• Since service years are a strategy to tackle a range of issues, we contribute to the reports of other organizations on how service years can be part of a solution to pressing issues: 
  
  • The American Academy of Arts & Sciences’ Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship’s report, Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century
  • The National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service’s report, Inspired to Serve