Opening Day kicks off our service year!

At our Opening Day ceremony at Westlake Plaza on September 28th, 54 young leaders pledged to serve Seattle and King County as members of the 2007-2008 City Year corps.

As citizen service gains momentum nationally, these young leaders are making a difference by serving 1,700 hours each, as tutors, mentors, and role models. They are part of approximately 1,500 City Year corps members in 17 communities across America who, together, will serve more than 2.2 million hours to community and country.

This is the largest corps in City Year history, and the Opening Day comes only weeks after TIME magazine featured City Year in a special report calling for a year of service to become “a countrywide rite of passage, the common expectation and widespread experience of virtually every young American.”

The City Year Seattle/King County Opening Day kick-off event, sponsored by Smith Barney, featured remarks by superintendent of Seattle Public Schools Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson, before an audience of community, corporate and civic leaders, local citizens, friends and family. Corps members took the AmeriCorps pledge, led by Adam Cornell of the State Commission on National Service. Seattle School Board member Cheryl Chow administered the City Year pledge of service to the corps. Special guests in attendance included Dow Constantine, King County Councilman.

As part of Opening Day, the young City Year leaders put their pledge into action by engaging citizens and Smith Barney employees, led by Senior Vice President of Wealth Management and Branch Manager David V. Call, in service projects. In addition to serving as sponsor of City Year, Smith Barney stepped forward with 635 employees who painted, planted, landscaped and renovated public spaces alongside City Year across the country. In King County, City Year and Smith Barney teamed up to do transformative environmental service by removing invasive species at Seward Park in Seattle.

Welcome the 10th anniversary corps!

Although City Year Seattle/King County will officially celebrate its 10th service year in 2008, we don’t have to wait to celebrate our 10th anniversary corps! The 2007-2008 corps is special not only because it symbolizes a decade of our site’s service, but because it is diverse, dedicated, and determined. Our corps is from all walks of life, ranging in age from 16 to 27.

To join City Year in service this year, please contact Erika Rasmussen at erasmussen@cityyear.org or (206) 219-4995 for additional information.

Our First Day of School
by Clanci Cochran

Clanci Cochran is a second year service leader at City Year Seattle/King County. This year she is serving as the community engagement service leader. Each quarterly newsletter will include an article from a corps member.

When I set out to write about my reflections on the first day of school, I had writer’s block. Should I talk about the nervousness I felt when transferring to a new elementary school to begin first grade? Or comment on the strange pink and denim combination I selected for my entry into middle school?

You see, this past July 9th marked a different kind of start for me. That day I began my second term working with City Year, a non-profit organization that teaches 17 to 24 year olds not only important leadership skills, but also how to tutor and mentor elementary, middle and high school aged youth.

On September 5th and 6th, as students walked through their school hallways for the first time and tested their new locker combinations, the new class of City Year Seattle/King County corps members underwent our own school orientations: traveling to different service sties and learning what our own class schedules and after-school programs would be. Like the grade school students on their first days of school, we observed, we listened, and we learned.

The group of us, 54 strong, make up the City Year Seattle/King County 10th anniversary corps. Although our organization has been serving in the area school districts for almost a decade, I am still excited that we recently entered the schools early this month, nervous, eager, and excited to see what this school year will bring.

When I was in elementary school, we would say the pledge of allegiance daily. Now I look forward to taking the City Year pledge everyday along with my fellow City Year Seattle/King County corps members. Trust me, it is a moving sight to see 54 young adults in red jackets vowing to serve the Seattle and Highline school districts each day for 10 months, vowing to reenter the educational doorways through which some of us have just exited.

City Year Seattle/King County receives national recognitions

Every year, City Year holds two gatherings that bring together all 18 sites from across our network: cyzygy, our annual convention which brings together all staff and corps in late spring, and celebrates the culmination of 10 months of community service; and Summer Academy, a leadership training academy for staff and senior corps members held in late summer. In addition to inspirational speakers, great trainings and workshops, and awe-inspiring service projects, City Year sites are recognized for outstanding achievement in all areas of site performance at these events, including achievement in service, program, recruitment, events and overall achievement. We are proud to announce that this year City Year Seattle/King County brought home numerous awards.

At cyzygy in June 2007, City Year Seattle/King County was recognized as the first runner up for the “Cup of Idealism,” the highest honor given during the cyzygy awards. (City Year Washington DC was the winner of the Cup of Idealism in the 2006-2007 year.)

The 2006-2007 AmgenYoung Heroes Team was recognized at cyzygy for successfully running an advanced pilot version of the Young Heroes program. The City Heroes Team received a “Best City Heroes” award in their first program year.

The 2006-2007 Casey Family Programs Team received the “T-Mobile Outstanding After-school Program” award. The Casey Team tutored and mentored foster care youth at Treehouse. Pictured are Casey Team corps members Linda Swank and Violet Conner.

The 2006-2007 Starfish Corps Teams received the “Starfish Corps Outstanding Service Impact” award. These teams served at Wing Luke Elementary School in Beacon Hill and Concord Elementary School in South Park. Pictured are service leaders Daniel Benedetti and Andrea Castillo.

Together these awards demonstrated the significant strength of City Year Seattle/King County’s service program, as well as the great leadership of the staff and corps in the 2006-2007 year.

Finally, at Summer Academy in August 2007, City Year Seattle/King County was recognized with the first ever “Best of City Year” award. This award goes to the sites in the City Year network that show the most significant strength in all areas of site performance, including fundraising, events, service, program, recruitment, volunteer engagement, staff and corps retention, and much more. We were honored to be among only four sites in the City Year network to receive the “Best of City Year” award.

With the hard work of this year’s amazing 2007-2008 corps and staff, we are striving to have another fantastic year, and to again be recognized with many awards at cyzygy and Summer Academy!

City Heroes service

City Heroes alumni give thumbs up after a morning of environmental service at Ravenna Park in Seattle.

City Heroes in service

Young Heroes service

Young Heroes alumni, and Carol Pawlak of team sponsor Amgen, worked hard during a fall service day at Northwest Harvest on August 25th. In four hours, the Heroes packed 5,000 pounds of chocolate.

Young Heroes in service

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