City Year

I was a City Year participant, during the 2005 – 2006 Corps year. First of all, the opportunity was wonderful – as Corps members are typically placed in under-​served schools to support the academic growth of students performing below grade-​level. I was placed at San Antonio Elementary, on the East Side – tutored 15 students a week (30 minute intervals, 3 times a week – generally focused on ESL), ran a free after-​school program and participated in countless beautifcation projects across the Bay Area. The experience with City Year taught me a lot about social issues, the state of our education system, the need for motivated individuals to volunteer and the importance of each person believing that they can make a difference… I actually still work with AmeriCorps (City Year is under the AmeriCorps umbrella – AmeriCorps is a national network of non-​profits that is regualted by the federal government – providing funds for non-​profit organizations to be able to function).
I have to respectfully disagree with the person who commented before me – about San Jose not needing as much support as other cities do. I believe this is false for a few reasons… One, you are at a Charter school (either LUCHA or Rocketship I presume) – which certainly doesn’t need as much support as a general public school because they can obtain private funding and don’t have to cater to district policy (they have more money, longer hours and teachers aren’t restricted by time constraints, according to a union). This doesn’t mean that San Jose schools don’t need support – this means that City Year has to pick partnerships that uphold their mission statement… like San Antonio (the partnership ended for some reason – but the school NEEDED the support. Second, San Jose has a large immigrant population – which means that in a lot of school districts, over 80 percent of the students speak English as a second language… these are the children who need the most support. Just because San Jose doesn’t have the dismal look of NYC or Philly (in some areas), doesn’t automatically mean that no support is necessary for our youth. I hope that you see that as your service-​term expires this year, and urge City Year to choose partners that really need the academic support. Please stop advertising that potential Corps Members should serve somewhere besides the Bay Area.
I absolutely loved working at San Antonio Elementary – but City Year’s (corps members work 4 days a week at a service site – and spend one day a week with the whole City Year corps) culture was as elementary as the schools that we worked in. We met every Monday and Friday to do PT, or Physical Training – which consisted of no exercises that actually could raise your heart-​rate – it was more like a marketing technique, so that we would be more visible to funders… it was easy to see through. We had to read Weekly Briefings, and engage in awkward call-​backs when supervisors would say specific words/​phrases. All Corps Members are expected to constantly step our of their comfort zone by being involved in ridiculous activities – like circle chanting/​dancing. Argh… it was really hard for me. But, I do admit that some Corps Members enjoyed it… specifically the 17−18/yr olds… not the ²³⁄₂₄ year olds like myself.
I do value all of the work that City Year does in our local communities – year in and year out. Keep up the good, sometimes childish work.

As a current employee of this place, I have to say I have enjoyed my work immensely. I have the privilege of working with middle school students to teach them about community service and social issues during weekends, which differs from the work most City Year corps members do (most tutor and teach elementary school students at their schools). We also do a variety of physical service projects around the city.
It’s great if you graduated from high school or college and you don’t know what you want to do with your life. You get enough money to live, and you earn $ 4,725 at the end of the 10 months to pay for school or other such costs.
However, I feel that there might be places that need such assistance more than San Jose. If you really want your work to feel meaningful, maybe go to an area that’s not already so clean and with so many great schools and teachers (I work with a charter school).
I would say I’ve done a lot more for myself this year than for the community; I feel I’ve developed a lot more personally and learned so much about myself and what I like and believe in. I feel a little bad about that, but there’s still a few months left!

You may have seen them in schools, or after shool programs. You might have seen them, walking down the streets of San Jose in their traditional yellow jackets beaming with pride. You may have even caught a glimpse of them at Ceaser Chavez park doing their pledge ceremonies on any given morning. City Year is a dedicated young group of individuals between the ages of 17 – 24 who serve from September to June every year in the community. City Year leaders tutor and mentor in schools and after school programs.
Some of the things that City Year Corps provide are: one-​on-​one literacy tutoring, homework assistance, structured lunch and recess activities, after school programs, and other initiatives such as a student council, school newspaper, or a community service club. They are positive roll models who inspire young people to make positive choices.