We've Moved to WordPress

We would like to thank all of our followers and

invite you to join us on our new WordPress Blog
http://cityyeardc.wordpress.com

The 2011-2012 corps year has begun and there is a new social media team ready to bring you the latest CYDC news!


 
Meet City Year Washington, DC's social media leadership team and all of the corps members who love to blog at http://cityyeardc.wordpress.com/.

Changing Headlines

by Tom Bartlett, City Year Washington, DC Associate Board Member
Strategic Workforce Planning - Global Corporate Citizenship, The Boeing Company

As a person who works in the education space from a corporate citizenship role, I'm constantly bombarded with news about the dismal situation of our country's education system. Headlines highlight the latest studies: scores are down, students are dropping out, teachers and administrators are at odds with one another, more cuts are on the way and our competitiveness as a nation hovers on the brink. Perhaps most egregious of all, the achievement gap between the haves and have-nots continues to widen...it's pretty gloomy stuff, really.

It's time to change our perspective. It's time to create a new headline...but how?

Amidst all the negative statistical noise, City Year is one of those few organizations out there creating real positive outcomes for our children and young adults at a systemic level. If you're looking for the proof of those outcomes, just check out the June 21 post. The fact is that City Year DC is making a difference here in our local community, just as it is in the other 21 major urban locations around the country. But how do we engage our community to better understand that message and who can tell it?

In step the City Year DC Associate Board. This newly created board is here to help take the great work of the City Year corps members and staff and deliver it to a whole new audience. Comprised of energetic young and mid-career professionals from all sectors and backgrounds, we are responsible for attracting our peers to this amazing organization. In essence, we're here to spread a new message (a new headline) and connect other young professionals with us in service. We intend to mobilize this vast resource in our community by organizing awareness, fundraising and community service events that will inspire people to action. We're also here to bring even more support to the corps members. We serve as mentors and coaches to the young adults who will move on after their year of service to become change-agents elsewhere.

And for me, this is at the heart of why I serve on the Associate Board. Three years ago, when I attended my first City Year fundraising event, I was overwhelmed by the energy and spirit the corps members brought to the until-then dry meeting. I knew instantly that these young adults were the key to bringing change to our cities' classrooms. I immediately wanted to become an advocate for these amazing people and the organization that represented them. I recognized these near-peer corps members were able to not only help students improve their proficiency in math and literacy, they're able provide a new vision of success for students who never believed success in life was possible. My deep-rooted passion for helping others create positive change in their communities is met with an equally fierce passion coming from the corps members. In turn, these young leaders have become my friends, my counterparts and my role models as well.

And I'm just one voice on our Associate Board. Collectively, I believe we have the power to engage a vast majority of the young professional community in DC. So look for big things to come out of our board and CYDC this next school year. With a development year behind us and even more amazing candidates joining our ranks, we're poised to create several positive headlines in our community.

We're changing our perspective - will you join us?

For more information about City Year Washington, DC's Associate Board please contact Individual Giving Manager Shannon Young at syoung@cityyear.org or (202) 742-7397.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As of July 1st, 2011 City Year Washington, DC has offically entered into Fiscal Year 2012. With the beginning of the new year we are getting ready to welcome a whole new set of young idealists into our City Year family. 170 young idealists to be exact. We had a chance to meet some of them a few weeks ago and chat about somethings they were looking forward to during their 10 months of service. We are so happy they are excited and can't wait to meet all of them! Here are just a few things they are excited about:

“Working with Children again and Making a Difference”

- Trey from Birmingham, AL

“Community Service and working with Students”

- Sheri from Glenmore, PA

“ Working with the Kids”

-Stephanie from Washington, DC

“Getting Involved in the City”

-Samson from Arlington, VA

“Creating Programs and Meeting Students”

-Brittany from Bowie, MD

“Meeting New People”

-Anthony from Herndon, VA

“Making an impact on others lives”

-Shameka from Hattsville, MD

“Getting to know the students and getting them excited about School”

-Albert from Antipolo, Philippines

“ Meeting new people and seeing tangible improvements within the community”

-Brittany from Los Angeles, CA

“Meeting a diverse group of peers”

-Andrea from Washington, DC



A Look Back at the 2010-2011 Service Year

As we are putting the finishing touches on the 2010-2011 service year and gear up for the 2011-2012 year, it is important to take a moment and listen to what our partners have had to say about our service. The results have just come in and here is what everyone had to say:

86% of principals agree or strongly agree that the after school program engaged students in service to the school or community.

94% of teachers with City Year corps members serving in their classrooms reported that corps members fostered a positive environment for learning.

87% of teachers agree or strongly agree that their corps member(s) helped increase their students’ enjoyment of school.

90% of teachers agree or strongly agree that their corps members provided essential academic supports their students wouldn’t otherwise receive.

87% of teachers agree of strongly agree that their corps member(s) helped improve student active engagement in learning.

89% of teachers are satisfied or very satisfied with the overall impact of City Year on their students.

“The partnership and relationships that our school has established with City Year has been remarkable! It has been a pleasure working with City Year this year and I look forward to continuing our work together as we move into the 2011/2012 school year.”

“Our City Year Team works incredibly hard and is an integral part of our school team. We literally could not do the work that we have done without their support, enthusiasm, hands, minds, and spirit. They have raised staff and student morale and been great mentors and role models for our students.”

“The City Year team has been a pleasure to work with this year overall. They have a great rapport with the students and staff.”

“They have become integrated into our school family. They provided positive programs and intervention to students.”

“It was a pleasure to have City Year members in the building They were an asset to our staff this year.”

 

Graduation Recap

On Friday, June 10th, City Year Washington, DC Staff, Alumni, and members of the DC community gathered at Francis Stevens Education Campus to celebrate the graduation of our 140 corps members and the completion of their service year.

 There was an air of excitement and sadness as corps members burst forth into the graduation ceremony and performed PT for the audience one last time. Throughout the ceremony corps member speakers spoke of both the struggles and triumphs of the past year in an effort to accurately summarize the corps experience - an experience only completely understood by those who have gone through it themselves.

In an inspirational end to the program, corps members were addressed by Veronica Nyhan-Jones, a founding City Year corps member in 1988. She challenged the corps to keep service as a driving force in their lives because the skills and opportunities they have gained this year are invaluably transferable to today’s work force.

As the corps members gathered for their final spirit break, there was an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment as corps members reflected on all the accomplishments of the past year. These 140 corps members are now City Year Alumni ready to take on the world. Below is just a sampling of where some of them are headed:

• Levon Alston from the CSX Team serving at Turner Elementary School will continue to make a positive impact on society while working at the Fund for the Public Interest
• Peter Christophersen from The Case Foundation Team Serving at Simon Elementary School will continue with City Year as a senior corps member in Boston with Care Force (http://www.cityyear.org/careforceevents.aspx).
• John Elwell from the Walmart Team serving at Hart Middle School will serve with Communities in Schools at Hart Middle School through the Public Allies AmeriCorps program.

• Sarah Fuller from the Kimball Elementary School Team will be an Environmental Education Center Intern at the Conservancy for the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
• Hannah Furgang from the Ferebee-Hope Elementary School Team will be attending Tufts University.
• Seth Green from the Serve DC Team serving at Malcolm X Elementary School will be teaching English in Thailand through the program Princeton in Asia.
• Ampson Hagan from the CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield HOPE Team will be attending Brown University for his Masters in Public Health with a concentration in Global Health.
• Whitney Soble from the CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield HOPE Team will be attending The Duke University School of Medicine.

• Thomas Spangler from the CSX Team serving at Turner Elementary School will be serving his country as an officer in the U.S. Air Force.
• Kendra Smith from the Comcast Team serving at Browne Education Campus will be teaching with DC Teaching Fellows.
• Patrick Tebisacci from the Stanton Elementary School Team will return to American University to complete his undergraduate degree in physics.
• Brian Witthuhn from The Acacia Group Team serving at Francis-Stevens Education Campus will be attending Columbia University's Law program.

City Year in the News

Check out this awesome spot from NBC Washington highlighting City Year's work at Winston Education Campus:

http://www.nbcwashington.com/on-air/community/City_Year_Helps_D_C__Schools_Washington_DC-123649219.html

On This Graduation Day

Today marks the end of the 2010-2011 corps year. Just 10 short months ago, 140 young idealists walked into the City Year Washington, DC headquarters ready to change the world. They did just that. This year our corps members have served nearly 238,000 hours, providing tutoring, mentoring, and lifesaving information to more than 4,000 DC children and youth.


Simple words cannot express the indelible marks that our corps members have made on their students, teammates, and city. Their impact will last a lifetime, and because of them, the world HAS been changed for good.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE
2010-2011

CITY YEAR WASHINGTON, DC

CORPS

Young Heroes Graduation

by Alex Gebhart, corps member serving at Spingarn High School

Recently, the Young Heroes Program culminated in its final program – the Heroes Graduation. At Emery Education Campus, in a packed auditorium, the Young Heroes, who served at least one hundred hours together over the past six months, celebrated their successes and the triumphs of the last 10 years of service performed by middle school students in the DC area. Young heroes were celebrated for their Courage, Commitment, Compassion, and Cooperation.  Afterwards, the heroes, their parents, and the program volunteers participated in a cookout together as a final celebration, closing a great six months of service and fun.

As a Team Leader for Young Heroes, I was so proud of my team and the other over one hundred Young Heroes for completing their service this year. I know that my team has accomplished, learned, and developed as leaders, and I am excited to know that they will be leading the next generation of young people to greatness. As the past six months have gone on, I know that young people not only can make a difference, but have made a difference, and I am proud to say that I have helped foster the desire for service in others.

Idealism Revisited

by Isabel Huston, corps member on the CSX Team serving at Turner Elementary School

From my post on the 2nd floor I can see five little bodies fidgeting on stage. There is a lump in my throat as each one of our students passes the microphone down the line and introduces themselves to the crowd of dapper professionals on the floor in front of them. I cannot adequately express how proud I am of the five students who are representing Turner Elementary School at City Year Washington, DC’s Idealism in Action Gala by leading the city’s glitterati in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Despite being in elementary school the students are perfectly poised as they recite their lines. Seeing the students I have come to know and love succeed in this way makes my heart swell. Lately, that feeling has overcome me time and time again. I felt it last week while I watched from backstage as our after school students nailed their lines in the school play, and the week before when two of my most troublesome students stood up and won the opportunity to represent Ms. Lofland’s class in the school-wide spelling bee. To me these moments are the embodiment of my own personal idealism: the proof that the students I have spent the past ten months working with will defy the limits set upon them by their community and go on to change the world in their own ways.

As my service year comes to an end I am holding fiercely to these moments. I want to remember every cheeky smile, every smart comment, every bear hug, and every new word and math problem conquered; to stock up on these little memories in hopes that they will carry me through whatever comes next. With just two weeks left before graduation I look apprehensively down my path to the future and wonder what I am going to do without the wellspring of inspiration that is my smart, precocious, beautiful students and my goofy, fun, hardworking teammates. But at the same time I know that City Year—a year that has at times felt like the longest, hardest year of my life—has changed me. It made me stronger, fiercer, and more dedicated to taking action on the issues that matter to me. And that, to me, is Idealism in Action.

Kimball Elementary Behavior Bash

by Brendan Ori, corps member serving at Kimball Elementary School

One of the clearest memories from grade school, for better or worse, was your first dance. Whether you mustered up the courage and cut rugs on the dance floor or you watched from a distance as a wallflower, the first dance is altogether awkward, strange, liberating, and a ridiculous amount of fun. As a reward for good behavior and getting through the multiple days of standardized testing, The City Year team at Kimball Elementary gave our kids the chance to experience those things.

As our kids approached from the North Wing towards the auditorium, they were greeted by The City Year team and several staff members to raucous cheering and chants. “OMG its Xavier ahhh!!!!!” “Amara! Amara! Over Here!” As they strutted down the hallway over a beautiful red carpet, the kids got the feeling they were the stars of the show.

 When they got to the gym…I mean…when the kids got to “Hollywood” they were surprised at the extent of the decorations. Silver and black balloons, dozens of movie posters, and a fantastic backdrop of the Hollywood sign all gave the students they were attending a movie premiere. You could feel the excitement as they students ran around the gym pointing out different posters and posing in front of the backdrop. After two weeks of testing, it was good to see some life out of the students once again.

Then, of course, was the actual dance. The DJ was turning out dance hit after dance hit and emcee Mr. Williams got the kids super excited with an original rap and dance performance. Even the City Year corps members got excited. Ms. Paiyal Patel doing “the worm” on stage is something that I never want to forget!

Wordless Wednesday

City Year corps member and community volunteers working on a DC skyline mural
 at Global Youth Service Day

Never Lose the Human Aspect

by Jon Ragsdale, corps member serving at Winston Education Campus

At City Year we have a saying that reminds us "To never lose the human aspect of what we are doing."

As our June 10th graduation moves ever closer, this saying weighs heavily on my mind.

My year began with a training full of statistics on the Achievement Gap and it's impact on the American economy and society.

It is certainly true that City Year is making a gigantic difference in closing this achievement gap:

at my school, 100% of the students we work with

have seen their classroom performance improve.

However, on a daily basis, the numbers and the data do not matter. The smiles and cheers of excitements from the students when they see a City Year Red Jacket  provide all the proof in the world that City Year Corps Members are changing the world.

And I have no doubt that 20 years from now, what I will remember most about my year of service are those wonderful, joyous smiles.

Simon Says: City Year gets Fresh and Fancy

Thanks again to our friends at The Case Foundation for highlighting the Fresh and Fancy night at Simon Elementary School on their blog.

Check out the full article HERE

A BIG QUESTION from the Idealist’s Journey

by Maureen Dizon, corps member serving at Winston Education Campus

Special thanks to my Idealist’s Journey group, Sojourners of Truth, and Shakespeare’s Hamlet for inspiring my answer to this BIG QUESTION!



Q. A “City Year” is a two-sided coin of both service & personal development. Which side is your focus?

A. Service or personal development—that is the question:

Whether 'tis necessary truly to select

the side of the coin seemingly selfless

or take arms to uplift one’s self-change

and by not choosing, losing. To serve, to grow—

we will—and by service to say we give

of ourselves, and the thousand moments

which we are able. ‘Tis an objective

devoutly to be sought. To serve, to grow—

to grow—perchance to gain: ay there’s the rub,

for in that growth what gains are made

when giving without condition,

from our service stem wholly. There’s the respect

that makes honor of the two-sided coin.

For who could serve and evade the spurt

of individual growth, the progress in self-reflection,

the fruition of one’s founding?

No corps member emerges unaltered, without having

but once abetted his community brethren.

Thus choosing falsely portrays us all,

and thus the native hue of resolution

is both.

-----------

I count myself lucky and honored to be able to serve and grow along with some of the most remarkable people I have ever known. As we near the end of our service year (one month left; make it count!) I have come to the realization that the Idealist’s Journey is without a clear final destination. Rather, today and all days to follow, we must continue to live our lives in the service of others. In doing so, we will not only positively affect the world around us, but we will find our own lives transformed as well.



For me, City Year has been a two-sided coin and I would not have spent it any other way.

PITW #90

By Lindsay Gray, corps members serving on the CSX Team at Turner Elementary School

Putting Idealism to Work #90-Constantly Put Yourself in Other People’s Shoes – “Moccasins” Everything.

"The essence of City Year is found in the Native American prayer, “Great Spirit, grant that I will not criticize my brother or sister until I have walked a mile in his or her moccasins.” What would the world be like if everyone truly walked in each other’s moccasins? It would be a truly “aware” world of justice and peace. The practice of identifying with someone else is a powerful tool for social change — and it is a key element of good leadership. When planning anything, first conduct a “moccasins” exercise — challenge yourself to be in tune with the unique people and environment you are working in."

I really love this PITW. Mostly because I know that for myself, it is something that I can always work towards. Imagine, truly mastering the art of NEVER criticizing someone without first looking at things through his or her eyes—that is a skill, if you ask me. Empathy is an idea that seems simple in theory, but in practice takes, well, practice. This year, I have been in numerous situations in which I had to make a conscious effort to see things from a different perspective, and it has not been easy. I never realized how much of a challenge it is to truly put yourself in someone else’s shoes, especially when you disagree with them.

 One of my teammates brought up a great point; our team works better if, instead of being critical, we are first concerned.

If a teammate is late to service, ask why before getting upset with them. If you feel like someone dropped the ball in a certain area, find out what happened and try to help instead of badmouthing them. Like the PITW says, “the practice of identifying with someone else is a powerful tool for social change – and it is a key element of good leadership.”

An Alumni Reflection on the 2010 Idealism in Action Gala

By Shajena Erazo, City Year Washington, DC 2009-2010 Alumna

Last year, I had the special opportunity to represent the corps as one of City Year Washington, DC’s 2010 Idealism in Action Gala corps member emcees. It was an inspirational evening which highlighted the work of the 100 corps members serving the students of DC Public Schools. The audience enjoyed a spirited physical training demonstration by the entire corps and heard a moving testimonial from my friend and fellow corps member Jazmin Wilburn followed by a performance from Simon Elementary School’s Young Ladies of Virtue Step Team, a group that Jazmin helped create and lead.

I also met people who were living out the work and ideals of City Year as professionals; these people were honored for their commitment to service with the 2010 Idealist of the Year Award. They are people who change the world they live and work in their own unique way. The highlight of the night was when we presented Richard Stengel, Managing Editor of TIME with the 2010 Lifetime of Idealism Award. This reminded me that it is not only our privilege but our responsibility to live our lives as positive examples by giving back to society.

This year, I look forward to attending the event as an alumna to support the hard work & dedication of this year’s 140 corps members. CLICK HERE for more details about the 2011 Idealism in Action Gala.

City Year corps members painting a mural at our recent
Global Youth Service Day

Corps Members Represent

This past week representatives from all 20 City Year sites joined City Year champions and distinguished guests at City Year's In School & On Track National Leader Summit  in Washington, DC.

City Year Washington, DC corps members represented their city powerfully  throughout the summit. Check out the videos below to catch a glimpse:

 

                                    

Things to See in DC (on a corps members budget)

There are always a ton of fun and free things going on all over DC. However, you can never fully experience all that DC has to offer until you are living, learning and serving in the area. Below are some of CYDC's corps members favorite spots throughout the year:

• The Drum Circle: A great Sunday night tradition in DC, this is a great place to relax and prepare for a long week of service.

• U Street Cooridor:  An area steep in tradition and culture, take in the sights on a brisk walk and grab some food at Ben's while you're there. Just have cash on hand because they do not take debit!

• Eastern Market: Looking for a birthday gift for a loved one? Head to Eastern Market for a budget friendly gifts. Also,this a great place to buy fresh fruits and veggies to stay healthy throughout the year.

• Smithsonian: There are 19 museumsand galleries and they are all FREE!

• The White House: Contact your local Congressman to get tickets for a tour of our country's most famous residence.

Campers at Camp City Year 2011 practice their ballet skills during a fun filled week.