Community service that engages youth is often called youth service. It is a tool that is simultaneously employed to strengthen young peoples' senses of civic engagement and nationalism, as well as assist them in meeting educational, developmental and social goals.In cases of community service among youth, the type of service performed is at times similar to that performed by people convicted of crimes. It can also entail other types of service. For example, a Boy Scout may undertake improvement projects - such as repairing a structure.When this form of community service is used, it is often a requirement of a youth organization - the Scouting organization would require it for a Scout to advance to the next rank. For high school students, it is often a requirement for a student to advance to the next grade level or graduate from high school to perform a certain number of hours of service.

The Highest rank of scouting in the Boy Scouts of America, Eagle Scout, requires each scout to prepare their own service project and lead it in their community. The highest award in girl scouting, the Girl Scout Gold Award, involves setting up a similar service project. Other youth organizations actively involved in community service include 4-H, DeMolay, Civil Air Patrol, and SkillsUSA.

Community Service is also used by college-bound high school seniors as a way of attracting colleges to accept them. Though technically not a requirement for acceptance for that specific college, most colleges generally use community service as an unofficial college requirement for acceptance, though some colleges prefer work experience over community service. The best overall community service hours is generally around 300 hours or more. Some colleges also require their own students by volunteering specific number of hours to graduate and get a degree.

Service learning is the deliberate connection of community service to stated learning goals. A common misconception among educators, youth workers, and young people is the notion that service learning can be assigned. Several experts attest to the necessity of engaging youth in deliberating, planning, implementing, and reflecting on their community service, thereby sustaining high quality service learning. This is intended to make community service an effective learning tool.

Many community service projects are done by sororities and fraternities. One fraternity that is centered around the purpose of doing community service is Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed fraternity.

The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at the University of Maryland, College Park, researches young people and their community service. CIRCLE analyzes trends in community service/volunteering over time and by subgroups, such as sex, race and ethnicity, etc.