City Year

City Year

City Year logo
Founded	1988
Founder	Michael Brown and Alan Khazei
Focus	Education
Location	Boston, Massachusetts
Area served	Baton Rouge Boston Chicago Cleveland Columbia (South Carolina) Columbus (Ohio) Denver Detroit Jacksonville Little Rock/North Little Rock Los Angeles Miami Milwaukee New Hampshire New Orleans New York City Orlando Greater Philadelphia Rhode Island Sacramento San Antonio San José/Silicon Valley Seattle/King County Washington, D.C. Johannesburg, South Africa London, England
Method	citizen service, civic engagement and social entrepreneurship
Key people	Michael Brown, Cofounder and CEO
Revenue	US $79,298,613
Volunteers	approximately 2,500 in 2012 Corps members
Website	http://www.cityyear.org
Revenue numbers are from the 2011 City Year annual report

City Year is an education-focused nonprofit organization, based in Boston, USA that partners with high need public schools to provide full-time targeted student interventions. In communities across the United States and through two international affiliates, City Year's teams of 17 to 24 year old AmeriCorps members support students by focusing on attendance, behavior, and course performance through in-class support, 1-on-1 and small group tutoring, mentoring, and after school programs that keep kids in school and on track to success. The organization's culture emphasizes the values of leadership, diversity and community service.

History

City Year was founded in 1988 by Michael Brown and Alan Khazei, then-roommates at Harvard Law School, who felt strongly that young people in service could be a powerful resource for addressing America's most pressing issues. They built City Year with the conviction that one person can make a difference; and since its inception, City Year has promoted the vision of service as a common expectation – and a real opportunity – for citizens all around the world.

Initially, corps members focused their efforts on community rehabilitation, beautification of neighborhoods, and developing community awareness in Boston. Over the years, the organization has expanded, opening sites in 24 cities throughout the U.S., and refocused its mission on fighting the dropout crisis.

Inspired by a visit with City Year during his 1992 run for the U.S. presidency, President Bill Clinton enlisted the help of Brown, Alan Khazei and others to establish AmeriCorps through the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993. Since then, more than 575,000 AmeriCorps members have contributed upwards of 700 million hours of public service. All Americorps members, originally conceived as unpaid volunteers in service, are now paid by the federal government through the Corporation for National and Community Service (agency funding for 2010 was $1.6 billion) and subsequently through a variety of matching grants, including the Segal Americorps Education Award. City Year, along with thousands of other non-profit organizations, is a member of the AmeriCorps network, a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service.

In early 2005, City Year opened its first international site in South Africa. A second international affiliate, City Year London based in London, England, followed in 2010.

In 2006, after Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf region, City Year opened a site in Louisiana to help with the recovery. The Louisiana Corps motto was "Here to Serve, Here to Stay."

In 2009, Michael Brown announced "In School and On Track: A National Challenge." City Year’s In School & On Track initiative is designed to bring City Year corps members to 50% of all of the students falling off track in City Year’s 24 U.S. locations, which will require expanding the number of corps members to 6,000 and engaging school districts, the private sector and the federal government through AmeriCorps as partners.

Over the years, the organization has expanded and focused its mission on fighting the dropout crisis in American education. City Year corps members function as a "human capital resource" in underperforming elementary, middle and high schools, working with sliding students to provide targeted academic interventions aimed at curbing the number of high school dropouts.

Full-time School Based Service

City Year Corps members

People from the ages of 17 to 24 commit to a ten-month term of service with City Year, performing a combination of service, leadership development, and civic engagement as corps members.

To respond to the challenges facing public education, corps members work in schools full-time providing academic support and after school programming. These school partnerships work within a framework known as Whole School, Whole Child (WSWC). This program has several components, aimed at improving school attendance, student behavior, and course performance in English and Mathematics. These three factors, called the "ABCs", are prominent early warning indicators of students at risk of dropping out of high school. According to the study, a child who exhibits even one of these indicators as early as sixth grade has a 75 percent chance of dropping out. Reaching those same children at the right time, with the correct intervention, can be the difference in whether or not that child makes it to graduation.

Corps members provide one-on-one and group tutoring to improve literacy and math skills, and work to promote a positive school climate by hosting a variety of evening and weekend events designed to engage students, their families, the school community and the local community.

In the 2012 - 2013 academic year, 2,500 City Year corps members serve approximately 150,000 students in 238 schools nationwide.

The Corps

City Year corps members are between the ages of 17 and 24 and represent a diverse array of racial, ethnic, religious, and educational backgrounds. Approximately 60% of the corps members are recent college graduates, while approximately 20% has some college and approximately 20% are recent high school graduates.

Corps members begin their term of service in the summertime, undergoing several weeks of intensive training before the beginning of the school year, when they are assigned to serve on a team at one particular school. During this training, corps members are oriented to City Year culture and trained on how to work within schools.

Like other AmeriCorps members, City Year corps members receive a biweekly living allowance, or stipend. This stipend varies depending on the cost of living for the particular site that a corps member is serving at. Many City Year corps members also receive transportation benefits for the local transit authority.

City Year is a highly selective program. Last year, roughly 1 in 5 applications to City Year were offered a spot with the current corps.

Uniform

City Year corps members wear a distinctive uniform, issued by the organization - a red bomber jacket worn with khaki pants and Timberland boots. Three City Year sites, San José/Silicon Valley, Sacramento, and Los Angeles, wear yellow bomber jackets due to existing associations with the color red in the communities in which they serve.

Unity Rally

At the beginning of some City Year service days, corps members start their day in an event called Unity Rally. Unity Rally is typically held in a public place in the city such as a square, park or monument. For example, City Year San Antonio performs Unity Rally in front of the Alamo Mission and City Year Columbus performs in front of the Ohio Statehouse. It is meant to be a public demonstration of the idealism and energy of the corps and their commitment to serving the community.

Unity Rally consists of reciting the City Year pledge and performing PT or physical training. Some of the exercises may include 3-count jumping jacks and culture specific exercises such as power lunges and Front-Side-Back-Side-Front.

Site locations

City Year serves in 24 cities within the United States, with two international affiliates.

City Year's sites are in Baton Rouge, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbia (South Carolina), Columbus, Denver, Detroit, Jacksonville, Little Rock/North Little Rock, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, New Hampshire, New Orleans, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Rhode Island, San Antonio, Sacramento, San José/Silicon Valley, Seattle/King County, and Washington, D.C..

City Year's international affiliates are located in Johannesburg, South Africa and in London, England.

Funding

City Year's funding comes from a variety of sources. In FY 2012, 27% of the organization's operating revenue came from AmeriCorps, 25% from foundations, 18% corporations, 15% School districts and other local government grants, 8% individual donors, and 7% in-kind sources.

AmeriCorps

While he was still Governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton visited the Boston site, and that experience partly inspired him in his first term as President to create the AmeriCorps national service program as a way to fund City Year and other similar organizations. All AmeriCorps members earn an education award while performing service, which can be used to fund education or training or to repay student loans. City Year is now a member of the AmeriCorps network along with thousands of other non-profits. The money received via AmeriCorps allows City Year to support its corps members annually, which includes awarding them with a Segal Education Award upon completion of the program.

Sponsors

City Year was started with private funding and still maintains many of its efforts via gifts from organizations as National Leadership Sponsors and Team Sponsors.

National Leadership Sponsors are the companies—and the people—increasing the service and scope of City Year as its closest strategic and premiere partners. In addition to their time, expertise and ideas, National Leadership Sponsors invest at least $1 million in City Year over two years. City Year National Leadership Sponsors include:Aramark, Bank of America, Cisco Foundation, Comcast, CSX, PepsiCo, Microsoft, Timberland, T-Mobile, WalMart and Deloitte.

The program also began sustaining its corps members via public funds during the George H.W. Bush administration. City Year also receives support from local and national non-profits, such as the Case Foundation, which brought City Year to Washington, D.C., in 2000.

Schools

Public schools districts partner with City Year to bring teams of corps member to work in schools. Though it varies from district to district, schools are responsible for financing a portion of the cost of maintaining a team of City Year corps members in service.

Care Force

The Care Force division of City Year engages employees of different corporations in community services events. Net proceeds from Care Force events are revenue of the City Year organization.

Awards

City Year is a five-time winner of the Social Capitalist award from the Fast Company Monitor group. City Year has also has had positive reviews from the Princeton Review and the U.S. News & World Report, and has earned four stars from the organization, Charity Navigator.

Criticism

City Year has been criticized for accepting a sponsorship from the soft drink manufacturer PepsiCo. Because City Year Corps members are role models to many children, this partnership might encourage greater consumption of soft drinks exacerbating the problem of childhood obesity I can't believe this is the only criticism listed here..

See also

• AmeriCorps
• Corporation for National and Community Service
• National Civilian Community Corps
• Peace Corps
• Teach For America

External links

• City Year
• AmeriCorps
• A City Year by Suzanne Goldsmith
• Voices for National Service
• Founders of City Year