Helping Others is Still Top Priority for Group

Nonprofit Celebrates 10 years of Service

February 25, 2008

By Christina Hall 

Anthony Altovilla is ready to go to college.

Amas Muhammad has learned to speak his mind respectfully to those in authority.

And Stephanie Zysnarski now knows she can work with others who are different from herself.

These metro Detroiters say their accomplishments are thanks to City Year Detroit, a nonprofit group that brings together a diverse mix of young people for a year of full-time service that includes tutoring and mentoring schoolchildren and doing community projects.

"It makes you a leader whether you like it or not," said Muhammad, 19, of Ferndale, who is in his second year. "It gave me self-confidence I didn't know I had before."

This year, City Year Detroit begins its 10th year. And its founding group, City Year, is marking its 20th anniversary.

City Year, which started in Boston, has 17 chapters in the United States and one in South Africa.

Penny Bailer, executive director of City Year Detroit, said the group's visibility has grown.

It started with 70 volunteers but dropped to 45 in 2004, when federal funding for AmeriCorps, which City Year is a part of, was slashed.

Since then, fund-raising efforts have allowed the group to grow to 60 members.

Bailer said she hopes to have 100 members next year and to increase by 20 or 30 members each year after that through recruitment efforts and funding to pay for additional volunteers.

One way members boost visibility is by wearing their uniforms -- red jackets, khaki pants and boots -- and exercising daily at public sites, such as Campus Martius Park in downtown Detroit.

"We're a young organization, but it has a big dream to change the country," Bailer said.

The changes the group is making are as public as building playgrounds, tearing down crack houses and working in soup kitchens, and as private as tutoring students in overcrowded classrooms, mostly in Detroit.

Such is the case for Zysnarski, who is tutoring an 11-year-old girl in math.

The sixth-grader, from Vetal Elementary School in Detroit, had a D when the Wayne State University junior started working with her. Now, the girl has a solid C.

"I would love to get her to an A or a B on her report card by the end of the year," said Zysnarski, 23, of Sterling Heights. "She didn't know her multiplication tables. She's about halfway through them now."

And for 18-year-old Altovilla of Grosse Pointe Park, the experience has been life-changing.

He was filling out a college application when he realized he was not ready to go to college. His parents gave him a choice -- work and pay rent at home or do community service. He chose volunteering.

Altovilla works with third-graders at Salina Elementary School in Dearborn. He helps with lunch duty and tutors students in reading -- tasks that he says have prepared him for college and changed the way he speaks and carries himself.

"He's just so much more aware of others, so much more concerned of others. He realizes that his actions truly can have an effect," said his mother, Lynda Altovilla.

Muhammad said the experience also has brought him personal growth in the areas of counseling, teaching and social work.

He says it has prepared him mentally and financially for college, thanks to a yearly education award City Year gives its members.

"I think it's something more kids need to be experiencing. I think it's something the country needs," Muhammad said of City Year. "Real-life examples of making a better tomorrow -- this is something every young person is obligated to do, almost."

More about City Year

City Year, in its 20th year, predates AmeriCorps, which began in 1994 as a domestic version of the Peace Corps, but now is a part of it. City Year participants tutor and mentor schoolchildren and do community projects.

• Who can participate?
Participants must be 17 to 24 years old, U.S. citizens or legal residents and have either a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma, or agree to pursue a GED while in the program.

• What do they do? 
Members work about 50 hours a week for 10 months. They must earn a minimum of 1,700 total service hours.

• What does it pay?
Participants receive a weekly living allowance of about $200. They receive a $4,725 education award each year they participate. They can serve up to two years.

Sources: City Year Detroit, AmeriCorps.org

How you can help

What: Ripples of Hope, an annual fund-raiser dinner to help pay for the young adult volunteer program.

Where: Max M. Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward, Detroit.

When: 6 p.m. April 24.

Highlight: Recognizing Dave Bing, former Detroit Piston and NBA Hall of Famer, who is to be honored as a leader who exemplifies community service. Cost: $250 per person. Tickets are on sale now. For tickets or corporate sponsorship, call 313-874-6862.

Source: City Year Detroit