In this article the author presents the background to a report (Opting in to Active Citizenship, 1997) that examines whether a scheme of youth community service could make a positive contribution to some of the problems faced by young people today. She discusses some of its arguments and main findings and notes that although a youth community service scheme is not a panacea for all the complex social and cultural shifts currently affecting young people, a well organised voluntary and flexible youth civic community service scheme, which included a significant role for young people in its planning and implementation, could assist in signalling to young people that they have an important contribution to make. The report states that the idea of a national scheme of voluntary youth civic service warrants serious exploration at all levels of the Australian community.