In 1999, the Helpline Center developed SALSA, the Serve & Learn Student Association, as a way to connect youth with opportunities to serve. It also allows teens to create and carry out meaningful service projects that meet community needs and inspire other youth to get involved. Youth join SALSA to meet new friends, explore careers, gain leadership experience through the Youth Action Council, earn hours for scholarship applications, and make a difference in their community.

Monthly Meetings

Occur once a month at 7 Sioux Empire High Schools for one hour. Schools include Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Jefferson, Brandon Valley, Tea Area, and Sioux Falls Christian. Guest speakers from local nonprofits provide information on individual / group volunteer opportunities as well as hands on volunteer projects.

SALSA Wide Events

Two volunteer opportunities are provided each month where the SALSA Coordinator is the contact person and SALSA students from all schools are invited to participate together as a group. Agencies served include Feeding South Dakota, Museum of Visual Materials, Washington Pavilion, The Banquet, Active Generations, and many more!

Volunteer Hours Database

SALSA provides a centralized place for students to log their volunteer hours. This allows students to accurately account for their volunteer hours on college scholarships or job applications. SALSA also provides incentives for students at various hours’ benchmarks

YAC (Youth Action Council)

SALSA operations are planned by youth, for youth. A group of 25 students meet once per month to plan SALSA events, meetings, and speakers. Very few programmatic decisions are made without YAC approval.