City Year’s nearly 40,000 alums show up in their communities and workplaces every day to help address challenges of systemic inequity and racial injustice facing our country—including in education, healthcare, public service, the economy and the environment.
City Year alums are culturally competent, diverse and engaged changemakers who have experience bringing people together, working in collaborative teams, learning from and rebounding from setbacks and taking action for the common good.
The innate talents our alums bring to service, combined with the competencies they grow and strengthen as City Year AmeriCorps members, are the very skills most in demand by employers and most needed in our society: communication, problem solving, creativity, teamwork, empathy and resourcefulness.
City Year has been a life-changing experience. I know that I’ll be drawing on the lessons I’ve learned for years to come."
Will Reichardt (San José ‘10)
Snapshot of City Year's 2022 alumni survey results
94%
agree
they saw issues of systemic inequity firsthand.
91%
agree
their service helped them effectively work with and develop relationships with people from different backgrounds than their own.
84%
agree
City Year has helped prepare them for their career paths.
74%
say
their service increased the ways they are civically engaged.
I had a strong sense of community before joining City Year, but these last 10 months taught me how to take community engagement to the next level. In the future, my goals will always be centered in this thought: How will this help me give to the people and community that so selflessly gave to me?"
Bobby Gomez (San Antonio ‘20)
Alumni demographics
City Year alums continue to lead and serve across the country, building on their commitment to contribute to communities and key skills they strengthened as corps members. They’re a diverse group, coming from different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds and all 50 U.S. states.
While a growing number of corps members serve with City Year as a gap year between high school and postsecondary education, the majority of alums had already earned a bachelor’s degree before they became AmeriCorps members.
85% of alums had graduated from college before they served with City Year
45% of alums report they continued to live and work in the community where they served as City Year AmeriCorps members
26% of alums are first generation college graduates
Alums who responded to the 2022 Alumni Survey reported their race/ethnicity as:
50% white
22% Black
11% Latinx/Hispanic
7% Asian
7% multiethnic
3% unknown/didn’t respond
Alumni careers
City Year alums make valuable contributions as community members, professionals and leaders who can mobilize diverse groups to tackle complex challenges across a wide range of fields.
We believe the skills, mindsets and experiences of our AmeriCorps members and alums are increasingly needed in today’s world.
Our alums have shown they are prepared to advance educational equity, social justice and community involvement where they live and work.
City Year is not just for people who want to teach or go into the field of education—it’s for everyone. You gain a service mindset that continues throughout your life. City Year is critical to establishing a career of service."
Brandon Chaderton (Philadelphia ’10, ’11)
Impact in education sector
Thousands of City Year AmeriCorps alums are contributing to a more diverse, prepared and committed talent pool for teaching positions and the education sector overall.
City Year alumni teachers are more diverse and tend to stay in the profession longer than national averages.
I know I always want to keep relationships at the center—and I want to ensure that my whole classroom feels like a community. It’s something that I truly learned during my first corps year and a foundational lesson that I’ll carry throughout my career."
Casey Phalen (Boston ’21, ’22) Middle school math teacher at Boston Public Schools
