Take Action Projects vs Service Projects

Take Action Project (TAP) – Understanding and addressing the roots of a problem

Take Action Projects encourages girls to understand the roots of a problem so they can develop a project that continues to address that problem — even after the one-time event is over.

So, your girls are doing a Take Action Project for a Journey. That’s great! Leaders and girls are sometimes very confused as to what this entails.

Journey Take Action Projects are the final step in earning the journey award. All levels do a final project. It demonstrates how the girls have used the information they learned in the journey to solve a problem in their lives. Sometimes it is just taking the information they learned and educating others about it – like their family or other people in the community. Sometimes, the girls take a theme from within their journey and explore it more to make a difference.

The Volunteer Toolkit has a leader’s guide to helping with Take Action Projects: Girl-Scout-Volunteer-Take-Action-Guide Each journey has a plan in the VTK to help guide you through the process. Please look at all of the plans and ask if you need help!

Girls should not copy an existing take action project. The very nature of a take action is for the girls to figure out their theme and take action to make a change. By copying another troop’s take action, you are not addressing what moves you directly.

Spot Light on TAP

Junior Citizen Science Journey – Troop 45133 (click here)
We created a nature scavenger hunt to encourage people to go outside. Click on the link above (or print) and take your phone with you out on a walk. This is a great way for you to get outside and have some fun. 

There are also some citizen science projects at the bottom. One of my favorites was Globe Observer: Trees. You can easily do that one from your yard or neighborhood. Be sure to share this with your troops, too.

—Girls from Junior Troop 45133

Service Projects – Helping others!

Community service projects often address an immediate need in the community: girls organize a book or clothing drive, paint walls to cover up graffiti, or hold a one-time march or fair to highlight a community problem. Although these projects address a need in the community, they do so for only a short period of time. 

Take Action vs. Community Service

Confused on the difference between a Take Action Project and Community Service? We will be posting a few guides coming up.

Here is a quick test. Answer the following question with yes or no:

>Did a girl or group of girls in your troop come up with the idea?

  • Yes, it may become a Take Action project – keep exploring the topic.
  • No, back to the drawing board. If someone else had the idea (like a leader or a parent), it is a great way for you to give service, but does not qualify as a Take Action.

>Does the project consist of only a collection based on needs published by an organization (like a food drive for the pantry, gently used books for a shelter, old newspapers and blankets for a pet shelter)?

  • Yes, it is only a collection – we saw a list or saw the project on the internet! Unfortunately, this is not a Take Action Project – someone else thought it up. It is a Service Project. Collections serve an immediate need; they don’t solve the project of why. And that goes back to the first question – if the list is already published, someone else thought of the idea. Doing a service project is a great way girls can give back to the community. It doesn’t go to their higher award, though.
  • No, it is not only a collection: you may be on your way to an idea. Keep asking questions.

>Does the idea solve a “root cause” of the problem? A root cause answers “why is this happening” and has an effect of permanently fixing the problem. Example: girls keep tripping over a crack in the sidewalk. Project is to convince the village to fix the crack. The girls discovered the project (fulfills question 1 above); it is not a collection (answers question 2 above); and fixes a problem: girls are tripping.

  • Yes, Then you are on your way to a take action, create your plan and get going!
  • No, keep asking why until you get to the root cause.

Council Service Projects: Girls Give Back

Girl Scouts have a rich history of giving back to their communities. Be part of this tradition by participating in one of the service projects.

Spotlight on Service Projects

Visit our Good Deeds page to see what service projects troops and su402 have accomplished.