Hard work: There is no magic bullet solution for expanding political involvement or empowering community service organizations. SPI firmly believes that the best way to bring integrity and honest collaboration back into the political process is through hard work that generates concrete results. We will work hard to foster connections between service providers, volunteers and politicians, and in return, we expect that participants will work hard to make improvements in their communities.

Authenticity: We are also committed to being completely authentic with regards to our community work- we want participants to get an honest assessment of the issues from a variety of sources, and for them to have a genuine experience that shows them the power of civic engagement to make real change. We will work to create an atmosphere during the service projects that encourages open communication about the issues, enabling all participants to share their views and learn from the direct experience of others in an environment of hard work and collaboration.

Widespread Engagement: The Service Politics Institute will focus volunteer recruitment and training efforts on empowering sectors of the population who are not already strong political participants. Rather than drawing participants only from existing databases of frequent political volunteers, we will cast a wide net in order to draw new people into the political process. This will include a special focus on young people, and citizens directly affected by the issues we take on in the individual service projects (for example, residents of affordable housing communities or former foster children.)

Empowerment: Service Politics will not be just another political photo op, but a collaborative process that empowers all participants to take further action on issues of personal and societal importance. We are strongly committed to empowering individuals who participate in service projects to continue to make change on a local and a statewide level, as well as training people to advocate for important issues at all levels of government. By making the policy-making process more accessible, and providing traditional non-voters with the tools they need to engage, we hope to empower a new generation of previously non-participating citizens.

Innovation: The Service Politics Institute looks beyond traditional methods of voter outreach and education to find innovative solutions to long-term problems in civic engagement, particularly the increasing disconnect between community service, policy-making and disenchanted citizens. We recognize that developing solutions to these issues requires flexibility and a willingness to constantly innovate. Our model was designed with these needs in mind- after each service project, we will work to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the experience, and alter our strategies according to the needs of participants and proven effectiveness. Political issues are constantly evolving, and challenges must be addressed in ways that have the flexibility to evolve with them.