The "Balanced Approach" to community service for juveniles is a mission statement that incorporates the goals of community safety, accountability, and competency in every dispositional order. This mission allows juvenile justice systems and agencies to improve their capacity to ensure community protection and accountability of the offender as well as the system and also enables offenders to become more competent and productive citizens. There are five principles of balanced service. One principle is to provide worthwhile work that can be viewed by the participating youths, victims, and the community as work that makes a tangible positive contribution to the community. Another principle is that the youths should be viewed as valuable resources who are needed to achieve important community goals. A third principle is to plan community service projects so that the participating juveniles develop skills that can be used beyond the community service experience. Fourth, the juveniles should have a sense of accomplishment, closure, and community recognition at the conclusion of a community service project. Finally, community service projects that have special meaning for participating juveniles and the community are those that focus on helping the disadvantaged. 6 references