Building on our 35-year legacy, City Year creates systemic change through direct service in schools, equity-focused research and policy, and school design innovations to ensure students reach their full potential.
A message from our CEO and Board Chair
Today, City Year is expanding our impact through six program areas to ensure young people have the tools and skills they need to flourish. Ultimately, we seek to eliminate the correlation between students’ socio-economic background and their long-term outcomes and to make a year of national service a common rite of passage for young people. Thank you for supporting this work. Read more
At City Year, we believe in the power of young people.
Founded in 1988, City Year is a trailblazing, youth-powered organization working with our partners to create conditions that enable young people to learn, develop, and reach their full potential. Together, we are re-envisioning what schools can be for students and the adults who work with them. Learn more about our evolution over 35 years. Our evolution
City Year’s dual mission
Expand educational equity by supporting students furthest from opportunity
Develop diverse leaders through national service who can work across lines of difference
Our six areas of impact
City Year has evolved from a community service program in one city into a national research + practice + policy organization seeking lasting systems change.
City Year advances our mission through six program areas designed to ensure that young people have the tools, experiences, and knowledge they need to succeed in whatever path they choose and contribute to stronger and more vibrant communities and workplaces.
We advance educational equity by serving students who are furthest from opportunity—the most untapped talent in our country—through:
Delivering and refining holistic school services
City Year partners with the nation’s most systemically under-resourced schools to provide data-informed, integrated social, emotional and academic supports anchored in positive developmental relationships with students. Research shows City Year AmeriCorps members, who serve as student success coaches, get results.
City Year focuses on building school capacity to improve outcomes for students. City Year collaborates with partners to create new approaches to student support services and access to critical relationships and resources all students need to succeed. Read about our work with Compass Academy and the Network for School Improvement.
City Year leverages its scale and influence to affect policy on how schools are designed, supported and resourced. City Year advances policy innovations that re-envision what schools can be—welcoming places that promote positive relationships, engaging learning environments and a sense of belonging for students and the adults who work with them.
Having student success coaches in classrooms and working with schools brings an extra set of hands and an extra person who can build a trusting relationship with a student and keep them connected to school and to their education. This work is vital."
Dr. Pedro Noguera dean of USC Rossier School of Education
We develop diverse leaders through national service who can serve across lines of difference through:
Supporting leaders and professionals
Following their service, our 40,000 alums are setting a new standard for how to create more collaborative, inclusive and equitable spaces and how to make our workforce, schools and communities stronger.
City Year continues to focus on sustaining and growing national service and advancing policies that enable equitable participation, setting up service as a core pillar of our democracy.
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), now White House Liaison at U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
Champion profile
Alicia Vermaele, executive director of The Starbucks Foundation
For more than a decade, local Starbucks partners (employees) have been engaging with City Year AmeriCorps members and partner schools in cities across the nation. Read more.
