EDUCATION

City Year Jacksonville has grown rapidly since launch

100 volunteers now active in 10 schools

Tessa Duvall
Dan Foley, the VP and Executive Director of City Year Jacksonville hugs Kat Keen, the Volunteer Florida National Service Programs Director as introductions were made at Thursday's meeting.

The principals of the Leadership Schools at Eugene J. Butler admit they were skeptical when they first learned they would lead schools with City Year AmeriCorps volunteers in the classrooms.

Both principals were new to working with City Year, and new in their roles launching Butler's Leadership Schools, the single-gender middle schools that opened in the 2014-15 school year.

"OK, here's another group I have to manage," Young Women's Leadership Academy Principal Tamara Williams said.

"I did not believe in what he was telling me City Year brought to the table," Young Men's Leadership Academy Principal Truitte Moreland said.

But by the end of the first semester, Williams and Moreland were believers.

They shared their experiences with City Year with commissioners from the Governor's Commission on Volunteerism, which met Thursday in Jacksonville.

City Year is a national organization, currently in 27 cities, that places full-time AmeriCorps volunteers in public schools in high-need communities. Corps members work with off-track students to improve their attendance, behavior and performance in English and math classes.

"This is the best thing," Moreland said. "This should be in every school."

Williams said, "but before you do that, put them in all my classes first."

City Year began in Jacksonville during the 2012-13 school year with 20 AmeriCorps members divided into two teams at Andrew Jackson High School and Matthew Gilbert Middle School.

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For the 2014-15 school year, 74 City Year AmeriCorps members served 99,519 hours in Duval County Public Schools, according to a City Year report. Among the principals, administrators and academic coaches who worked with City Year, 93 percent were satisfied or very satisfied with their experience.

It now has 100 AmeriCorps members in 10 schools.

GROWING TO MEET THE NEED

City Year Jacksonville Executive Director Dan Foley said he would like to see more Corps members and to expand to more schools.

"The need is always going to be there, so we grow and try to meet the community's need," he said.

City Year expanded to include its first Jacksonville elementary school, S.P. Livingston, this year.

"We want to be able to help kids at their earliest time of academic need so they can stay on track as early as possible and really get a sense of what they need to do to be successful in school, and City Year can be with them the entire way if needed," Foley said.

Nationally, City Year is also planning for growth. By 2023, the organization wants to reach 575,000 students in 850 schools across 38 cities. To do that, City Year is aiming for 9,300 Corps members nationwide, up from more than 3,000 currently.

STUDENTS ARE 'TRANSFORMED'

City Year Jacksonville is one of five organizations - alongside Communities in Schools, Teach for America, The Arc of Jacksonville and the University of North Florida - in Duval County that receives AmeriCorps funding through Volunteer Florida. Volunteer Florida is responsible for administering nearly $32 million in federal, state and local funding for service and volunteer programs statewide.

To get the grant, City Year Jacksonville must get matching funds. Foley said for every dollar in public support, they're about to bring in $3 from private sources.

City Year Jacksonville receives $1.1 million in AmeriCorps money, putting it second to only City Year in Miami-Dade for AmeriCorps grant dollars.

"The reason that is ... the impact that they're making, the strength of their grant application and just the great work that they're doing," said Volunteer Florida CEO Chester Spellman. "We see first-hand the lives of students that are turned around, the students that are off-track and now on track to graduate are really transformed."

Tessa Duvall: (904) 359-4697