City Year Los Angeles E-Newsletter

July 2007

www.cityyear.org/los_angeles

In this issue

LA FACTOIDS

The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second-largest in the U.S., with over 710,000 students.
More than 2,000 festivals, street fairs, parades and other events take place each year in LA.

COUNTDOWN TO OPENING DAY:

71 DAYS

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CELEBRATING CITY YEAR LOS ANGELES AT CYZYGY '07
City Year Los Angeles officially named City Year's Newest Site

The City Year L.A. team at cyzygy '07.

City Year's annual convention of idealism, cyzygy, unites City Year corps members, staff, alumni, and champions from all over the country to demonstrate the power of citizen service and its potential to change the world. Hosted at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, this year's cyzygy marked a historic event for City Year L.A., as City Year's Board of Trustees unanimously voted to officially recognize Los Angeles as City Year's newest site.

City Year L.A. was excited to have its founders and champions Ben Goldhirsh, Glenn Gritzner, Andrew Hauptman, and Margery Tabankin join the team at cyzygy '07 to take part in this momentous occasion. The convention not only allowed the

Elden proudly displays
CYLA's new flag.

team to celebrate its accomplishments from the past year, but it also deeply inspired and motivated the group in its work for the upcoming founding year.

In addition to championing City Year Los Angeles, Ben Goldhirsh, founder of GOOD Media, had the opportunity to address the City Year community at cyzygy '07. As a featured speaker of the Comcast Leaders for Life event, Ben highlighted his work as a social entrepreneur and his involvement with City Year. Ben's idealism and enthusiasm for doing good spoke directly to the 1,100 corps members in the audience, encouraging them to continue their commitment to service after they graduate from City Year.

ANDREW HAUPTMAN NAMED BOARD CHAIR OF CITY YEAR LOS ANGELES

Photo:Andrew Hauptman- Andell Holdings, LLC

City Year Los Angeles is proud to announce that Andrew Hauptman, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Andell Holdings, LLC, a Los Angeles-based private investment firm, will serve as the Chairman of the Board for City Year Los Angeles.

Andrew and his wife, Ellen Bronfman Hauptman, are leading champions of City Year Los Angeles, dedicating tremendous commitments of time and support to the organization during its start-up phase. City Year L.A. is excited and grateful for the Hauptmans' involvement and is especially appreciative to have Andrew and Ellen's leadership on the board as the organization looks forward to working together to build stronger communities in Los Angeles in the years to come.

In addition to overseeing Andell’s investment, operating and entertainment businesses, Andrew currently serves on the Board of Directors of Canyon Ranch Holdings and is the Chairman of Storage Mobility, the nation’s largest franchisee of Portable On Demand Storage (PODS). Andrew also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Zoe Saidye Hauptman Memorial Fund, The Hauptman Family Foundation and The Charles Bronfman Prize and is a member of the Yale University Council, an advisory board to Yale’s President. Andrew also produces feature film projects through his production company, Andell Entertainment. His producing credits include, amongst others, “Millions” directed by Danny Boyle, as well as the upcoming United Artists feature “Lions for Lambs,” starring Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, and “State of Play,” a feature film based on the BBC mini-series of the same title, starring Brad Pitt and directed by Kevin MacDonald. He holds a BA from Yale University and a MBA from Harvard University.

CITY YEAR LOS ANGELES AWARDED MAJOR GRANT FROM WEINGART FOUNDATION

The Weingart Foundation, one of the leading charitable foundations in Southern California, has awarded City Year Los Angeles a three-year $750,000 grant in support of the organization's launch and program operations. This generous gift will help contribute to City Year L.A.'s sustainability and help the site to grow over the next three years. City Year L.A. is proud to have the Weingart Foundation as one of the organization's founding sponsors.

SERVICE HIGHLIGHTS
City Year L.A. Leads Service days Across Los Angeles

Spot Runner at Norwood.

On April 13, City Year Los Angeles led a transformative service day for the employees of Spot Runner, a local media and advertising firm, at Norwood Street Elementary in L.A.'s West Adams neighborhood. The 165 volunteers painted murals and walls, created a cutting garden, reorganized the school library, and held a carnival for the students at the elementary school.

Brentwood seniors help clean out
the Boys & Girls Club.

On May 23, City Year L.A. followed up with a second service day, this time engaging the entire senior class of the Brentwood School at the Boys and Girls Club of Hollywood and Vine Street Elementary. Students and teachers worked to clear out overflowing closets and storage spaces, resulting in a number of new spaces for the club and school to utilize while serving its youth.

CAA volunteers paint an alphabet
snake at Broadway.

Just a few weeks later, City Year Los Angeles led Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in a service day at Broadway Elementary in Venice. Bringing together CAA employees, teachers, students and families from Broadway, and City Year alumni, the service day gave volunteers the opportunity to brighten up Broadway's campus by painting educational murals and blacktop designs, and planting flowers.

A Cisco employee brightens up
Esperanza Elementary.

Finally, on Friday, July 13, City Year teamed up with Cisco's employees to revitalize the campus of Esperanza Elementary in the Pico Union neighborhood of Los Angeles. Volunteers gave a whole new look to the school by cleaning up graffiti-covered walls, re-painting fences and rails on the outside of the school, creating educational blacktop designs, and painting murals on campus.

More photos of the service days are available on our web site! To view them, please click here or visit our web site at www.cityyear.org/los_angeles.

SENIOR CORPS MEMBER PROFILE

Lindsay Marie Sablan
Hometown: San Diego, CA
City Year New York '07, Los Angeles '08

Why do you serve with City Year? I serve because I believe in City Year's mission to create democracy through citizen service. After majoring in Urban Studies at the University of San Diego, I understand the urgent need for the type of service work that City Year does in under-resourced communities with children. I also believe in the people I serve with.

What has been your favorite part so far? My first year gave me the privilege of becoming friends with some pretty amazing people, adults and children alike. To witness positive change in a community is an astounding thing, but I find myself in awe of my company on a daily basis. It is a gift to work with passionate people who do so much with their talents, because they are infectious.

Why are you coming back for a second year of service with City Year Los Angeles? I will be the first to admit that my City Year experience has been very challenging, trying, exhausting, and frustrating. However, with all the challenges of my first year of service came priceless lessons, personal growth, the opportunity to witness and create change, and wonderful friends. Knowing that I plan to be involved with City Year for life, I couldn't pass up the chance to be part of the founding senior corps of City Year Los Angeles!

What are you looking forward to the most for our founding year? City Year Los Angeles has a very ambitious plan for its founding year with a large corps and the implementation of many programs, and I can't wait for everything to take shape this year! Hey, celebrities may make their mark in this city, but so will City Year!

JOIN THE TEAM

Apply to become a part of the City Year Los Angeles founding team

City Year Los Angeles still has open slots for its founding corps! We are looking for diverse, talented young leaders ages 17-24 to serve the communities of Los Angeles. Learn more and apply online by August 15 at www.cityyear.org/joinus, or contact Tina Chong at tchong@cityyear.org for more information.

City Year Los Angeles is also recruiting staff members for its founding year. Open positions include Program Manager and Deputy Director. To learn more about these positions or to apply, please contact Allison Graff-Weisner at cylajobs@cityyear.org or visit our web site.

SAVE THE DATE

September 28: City Year Opening Day
City Year Los Angeles will celebrate its first Opening Day to kick off its founding year on Friday, September 28 at City Hall Plaza. Save the date for this exciting event which will feature Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as the keynote speaker.

CITY YEAR L.A. IS MOVING!

Starting on August 1, City Year Los Angeles will be at its new, permanent home located at 606 S. Olive St. 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90014. Please update your address books!

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