Image Taken From City Year Twitter Page
There are many organizations that state their missions. And then there are those few organizations that live their purpose.
City Year is AmeriCorps affiliated, and was founded in 1988, operating in 20 locations around the U.S. On its most basic level, the organization provides a resource to teachers in classrooms across the nation, by placing teams of Corps Members at various schools, to sit in the classroom, and provide the one-on-one interaction with students that sometimes cannot be provided by the teacher alone.
Yet, deeper than this, City Year has a commitment to cultivating young leaders, beginning as early as elementary school, by combining mentoring with the tenets of social awareness and civic engagement. I know this personally because now for a little over a year, I have been working with the program here in Washington, D.C., and have found out through Corps Members how important these elements are in their efforts to mentor and inspire the youth.
And this is why they deserve the YWB spotlight. The Corps Members are not simply expected to go into the classroom and preach these tenets, but they are also expected to represent these tenets and ideals to the fullest. This can be seen visually, at the very least, by the characteristic “reds” you may see young leaders wearing throughout the day in your city. But if you have the chance to interact with the program, you will see that many of these Corps Members are committed to this mission in other ways – serving in the community, participating in their own initiatives, and more.
I encourage you to check their main website to see if they have a Corps close to you. I know in DC, they have opportunities to volunteer with their biweekly mentorship and service program for the youth on the weekend, called the Young Heroes Program. I am proud to serve as one of their many Team Leaders. And of course, if you are committed to the tenets of service and want to develop youths into leaders of the future, you can apply to be a Corps Member, which is a 2-year commitment.
Get in touch with them by either using the contacts on the website, or by catching them on Twitterof Facebook.
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