If you’re the parent or caregiver of a high school or college student, it’s natural to start wondering about their future career prospects. Read on to see if a year of service with City Year might be the perfect option to kickstart your child’s career.
The benefits of serving with City Year
City Year has a number of benefits for those who serve that can help accelerate their career and give them valuable experience moving forward. Benefits include:
- Earn a monthly living stipend as well as health insurance.
- 200+ hours of professional development, valued at over $25,000, to help your child find the perfect job after serving.
- Leadership, problem solving, and decision-making skills that are key additions to any résumé.
- Relocation support and assistance for those moving to a new city.
- Access to our extensive network of career and university partners who are eager to hire our skilled alums.
- A Segal Education Award valued at over $7,000, usable toward student loans or tuition, as well as many other scholarship opportunities.
- Ability to work alongside other eager young professionals who can become a lifelong friend and career network.
What do City Year AmeriCorps members do?
City Year AmeriCorps members work alongside a team within classrooms to help K-8th grade students to succeed. At the start of the service year, every City Year AmeriCorps member is assigned to a school team. AmeriCorps members work alongside their partner teacher in the classroom every day, tutoring, guiding, and forming connections with students.
Quotes from our Alumni
"While in City Year, I had the opportunity to network with politicians, business leaders and develop my professional communication skills."
"This experience has made me a lot more confident in my leadership skills and ability to delegate tasks to a team."
What housing/relocation support will my child receive?
Our dedicated team of service year advisers are here to support incoming City Year AmeriCorps members every step of the way as they prepare for the start of service. We provide guidance on city-based information around when to start looking for housing, resources for finding housing and roommates (it’s very common for City Year AmeriCorps members to live together as roommates) and recommendations around where to look for housing.
All incoming City Year AmeriCorps members who are relocating 50 miles or more for service can receive a $500 (pre-tax) one-time relocation payment. In order to be eligible for this benefit, they must have relocated at least 50 miles to start service and be accepted, confirmed and have started service.
If an incoming City Year AmeriCorps member is 17 years old when they start service and is looking to sign an apartment lease, they will need to sign their lease with a co-signer over the age of 18 years old. If available, we recommend looking into apartments that typically rent to college students because it’s more common for them to rent to younger folks, and they may be able to have an individual lease from roommates.
What are the social benefits of serving?
Typically, City Year AmeriCorps members live together as roommates during their year of service. We highly recommend that City Year AmeriCorps members live with roommates during their service year (whether with fellow City Year AmeriCorps members or others) to reduce expenses and build community. Each of our City Year locations are in cities filled with young people, packed with history and culture to explore and have lively sporting events, expansive parks and outdoor spaces and so much more! Many of our AmeriCorps members make lifelong friendships when they serve.
Can AmeriCorps members come home for the holidays?
Yes! In general, City Year AmeriCorps members can anticipate having a break of approximately two weeks around late December to early January. Additionally, City Year recognizes the following 11 holidays as days off:
- Labor Day
- Veterans or Indigenous Peoples’ Day (holiday chosen by local City Year site leadership)
- Thanksgiving Day and Friday after Thanksgiving
- Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
- New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day
- President’s Day
- Memorial Day
- Juneteenth
Every AmeriCorps member can request up to 12 days of pre-planned time off. This time can be used as needed for personal reasons such as sick days, doctor’s appointments, religious observance and grad school or job interviews. Use of these days must be approved by the AmeriCorps member’s direct manager ahead of time.
City Year AmeriCorps members will have training and professional development days during their schools’ spring break period, which will be facilitated by City Year staff.
Can family members join service days?
Over the course of the service year, there are several opportunities to get involved in events at local City Year sites. Across all our locations, the Martin Luther King Jr. Day service events are the largest of the year. Additionally, all City Year locations will have other service events with volunteer opportunities throughout the year. We encourage you to check out the events section the website for the City Year location where you would like to volunteer.
What type of professional development will they receive?
Throughout the year, City Year AmeriCorps members will receive extensive professional development. City Year partners with a number of corporate partners who provide access to resources and experiences that will help them move forward in their careers.
City Year AmeriCorps members have a whole team of staff available to support their learning and development. A senior member of their team and their manager will be their closest advisors, and they will also receive support from a team focused on helping them feel confident and competent in serving students and reflecting on their own growth.
Once the foundation is built, we begin providing training in more specific student support and tutoring skills. This more specific training starts around the fifth week of service.
In order to support our AmeriCorps members in developing their service skills, their Impact Manager will occasionally observe them in action with their students. Afterwards, they will provide a space for them to think critically about their service and ways that they would like to improve. They will provide AmeriCorps members with feedback and resources to support their growth.
Throughout the service year, there will be many opportunities to consider and plan for next steps after City Year. These include:
- Career Planning conversations with managers
- Networking events
- Mentoring opportunities
- Connections to our corporate partners
- Training in career topics (resumes, cover letter, interviewing, etc.)
What is the feedback of those who served?
Feedback from our alumni is extremely positive. Over 84% of alumni said that City Year helped them prepare for their career path. Many alumni stay actively engaged with City Year after serving. Check out one of our alumni stories here.
Learn more about service with City Year
Looking to learn more about a year of national service with City Year AmeriCorps? Contact us today.
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