REACH League

REACH is a club for young people ages 12-18 who want to join together to tackle the issues in their community that they care most about. Through REACH, you can:

  • Carry out hands-on service projects
  • Make an impact both locally and internationally
  • Develop leadership skills
  • Have fun!

Mission: Four Areas of Focus

To encourage social activism in young adults while also creating positive impact in far-reaching issues. These issues are focused in four domains:

  • Local – To connect students with issues occurring in their local communities. This could involve projects such as clean the streets, feeding the poor, assisting the elderly, etc.
  • International – To connect students with issues that are occurring at a global level. This could involve projects such as violation of humanitarian rights, geo-political issues, etc.
  • Environmental – To connect students with issues that are occuring in the physical world locally and or globally. This could involve projects such as recycling efforts, forest preservation, community gardens, etc.
  • Research – To connect students with issues that are occuring in research. This could involve addressing diseases such as Ebola, Child Obesity, or Cancer research, and could get as specific as funding research for a particular strain of said disease and or a swath of the society that is very vulnerable to said disease (e.g. Women and Cancer in Newark NJ).

How it Works

Every REACH club carries out four service projects a year: one that helps your school or local community, one that promotes international understanding, one that encourages learning about the environment, and one that focuses on Research topics, such as drug use or health issues.

Service projects are an effective way for you to take action at home and abroad, connect with other young leaders, and get members excited about your club. You can find ideas and tips for successful projects in the REACH Handbook.

REACH Initiatives Follow the RARE format:

  • Research – some level of history, study and reason to engage in this area. This will create a context of being intellectually related with the particular project, community and issues that have prompted action.
  • Action-actual contribution, interaction and steps taken to provide support for the target community. This may include fundraising, advocating, making phone calls, packing envelopes, sorting delivered items into containers for distribution or any effort that is connected to benefitting the target population. Ten hours of engagement at the action level is required per month. Where possible, at least 3 hours ought to put the student directly in proximity with the beneficiaries or consumer of the project community or in collaboration with the target.
  • Reflection-student introspection is a crucial element of engaging in this initiative. Having a log or journal of their experience and imbedding some level of expression around it is key to this initiative.
  • Expression—students will communicate around R element(s) of the project. This will take place in the form of a presentation, share or possibly a form of art that is an expression of the R element(s) they have experienced.

Why Should I join REACH Club?
Aside from the self rewarding feeling goodness that arises from charitable acts, REACH Club offers numerous academic and social benefits. By successfully completing a year of REACH club, members are awarded induction into the National REACH Club Society, a prestigious honor that reflects positively on students’ resumes in the eyes of universities and employers. Additionally, REACH club will provide students a channel to easily fulfill community service volunteer hours that are a prerequisite to graduation in all NJ High Schools.

Socially, students benefit by learning and spreading awareness of situations locally and internationally that keeps them in touch with the current events of the world and community around them. Students will also have the opportunity to interact with professionals of different causes, as well as other peers from outside of their immediate community who share a similar passion for humanitarianism as they do.

Reach Events

Celebrate your club’s global impact by getting involved in:

  • Quarterly REACH Meetups
  • REACH Video Contest
  • Follow REACH on Facebook and YouTube to find more opportunities to get involved.

Resources & References

  • REACH Handbook
  • REACH Club Certification Form
  • Standard REACH Club Constitution and Bylaws
  • REACH Statement of Policy