FALL 2023
A Message from CEO Jim Balfanz
The 2023-24 school year is well underway, and I hope you know how integral you are to City Year‘s success in training and placing AmeriCorps members in underresourced schools throughout 29 cities. In this edition of our newsletter, you’ll learn about an outstanding young leader whom we honored at Philadelphia’s 25th-anniversary gala, Xianice Matos.
We’ll explore a recent report that showed alarming learning losses since the 2019-20 school year. It’s based on federal testing of 13-year-olds in the National Assessment of Educational Progress and how City Year strives to help students recover and close that gap.
We welcome new AmeriCorps members who were trained over the summer and are forging new relationships, supporting teachers and students, and making a difference this school year.
We believe that every student has enormous potential and, when given academic and social- emotional reinforcement, there’s nothing they cannot achieve. Thank you for your support of City Year!
Every contribution makes a difference.
City Year: Now More Than Ever
A recent report in the New York Times highlighted troubling statistics from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NEAP) about the performance of 13-year-olds on the federal standardized tests for reading and math. It won’t come as a surprise that academic performance decreased significantly since the 2019-20 school year. According to the article, “the last time math performance was this low for 13-year-olds was 1990. In reading, 2004.”
It’s also no surprise that children in underresourced districts experienced even bigger drops in achievement.
Your support for City Year is making it possible for us to train and place AmeriCorps members in classrooms and after-school programs to strengthen academic success while also focusing on the social-emotional health of the student body. While there may be a hill to climb for students overall, we believe that City Year can play a sizable role in helping them overcome learning losses to achieve their full potential.
Forging Leaders Our Society Needs
Leadership that is people- centered and empowering is often thought to be in short supply — but not when it comes to City Year alums.
Since its humble beginnings in 1988, City Year, in partnership with AmeriCorps, has minted nearly 40,000 members, some of whom are now in their 50s! Student Success Coaches, School Day Learning Coaches, and After School Enrichment Coaches take their life-changing AmeriCorps experiences into the world to make it a better place. The essence of a City Year mentor combines a yearning to invest in others, a love of people, and the desire to nurture young minds so they can achieve their full potential.
Upon completion of their year of service, mentors often rave about how profoundly their own lives were changed. They gain emotional intelligence and leadership skills that come into play when they make their way into the world.
Excitement in Philadelphia
She is City Year’s Young Idealist of the Year, and she’s just a rising freshman! During her time at Olney Elementary School in Philadelphia, Xianice Matos not only excelled in the classroom, but she gave back to the school by volunteering to run the school snack bar, starting a creative writing club, and contributing to the school yearbook.
Each year the title goes to one student in the city who demonstrates extraordinary leadership in their school. Xianice’s City Year student success coach and mentor Amina Kahn noted that “she’s constantly helping teachers out, she’s constantly uplifting her peers. Nominating her for this honor was a no-brainer.”
City Year will keep an eye on Xianice as she matriculates. We can envision her as an AmeriCorps member someday, acting as a mentor to students who will find her as much of an inspiration as we do.
By the Numbers: City Year AmeriCorps Members are Achievers
When a recently graduated high school or college student takes a gap year (or two!) to work in underresourced schools as a City Year AmeriCorps member, they often have specific life and career goals in mind that they know will be enhanced and advanced by a year of service. Some things to know about our alums:
- 85% graduated from college before they served with City Year
- 48% currently work in the education sector
- 45% continue to live and work in the community where they served
- 26% are first-generation college graduates
It doesn’t end there. City Year alums continue to serve in leadership roles across the country. During their service, these diverse AmeriCorps members gained and strengthened skills that now come into play as they enter the workforce and serve communities in a variety of roles.
Urgent Need: City Year Mentor Candidates
Do you know a young person between the ages of 17-25? Serving with City Year as an AmeriCorps member gives our corps tools and skills to figure out what they want to do in terms of continuing their education and choosing a career. The professional and personal development potential is vast, and they will change so many lives in the process.
The application process is simple. Go to cityyear.org and learn about the 29 cities we serve, fill out an application, and we’ll be in touch.
Share this information with a prospective mentor by going to cityyear.org/apply-now.
Our Impact:
40,000
City Year alums are out here in the world, using the skills they learned during their year of service to make a difference in the workplace, as teachers and as community organizers.
11%
increase in grades and test scores when students receive support for their social- emotional development. Young people are in need of this support more than ever.
3X
When students reach 10th grade on time and demonstrate regular attendance, strong academic performance, and positive behaviors, they are 3X more likely to graduate on time.
City Year, Inc. is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization (Tax ID Number: 22-2882549) and your donation is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. To claim a donation as a deduction on your U.S. taxes, we will follow up with a tax receipt shortly which will show your tax-deductible portion according to IRS guidelines.
How can I make a gift of stock/securities? If you would like to make a gift of securities, please contact Andrew Kent at [email protected] or (617) 927-2324.
Can I pay through my donor advised fund? Yes, we ask that you have your donor advised fund gift sent to: Bank of America Lockbox Services City Year Inc. 412755, MA527-08-07, 2 Morrissey Blvd., Dorchester, MA 02125
Would you like to donate immediately? Click here to be directed to our donation page.
