Every student needs a coach in their corner

No one questions why student athletes need coaching to succeed on the field or court.

It’s understood that a good coach helps players to not only hone physical skills, but to believe in themselves, aspire to higher goals, and show up for their teammates.

Excelling as an athlete doesn’t just mean scoring points during games—it also means learning how to handle losses with grace, embrace hard work, and experience excitement, hope and joy.

And a good coach takes the time to get to know their athletes, building personal rapport and trust with each individual student as well as building a strong team.

Good coaching can transform lives

City Year and our partners understand the transformational power of coaching for young people. Growth, learning and improvement are at the core of great learning, teaching and coaching.

We believe that every student needs a coach who’s in their corner, and every young person deserves a path to successful adulthood.

Instead of the world of sports, though, our coaching work focuses on supporting student academic learning and holistic development during the school day.

Our school-based coaches help students catch up in math, English language arts and other subjects, hone key “durable” interpersonal and workforce readiness skills, explore their interests, and dream big for their futures.

Our coaches, ages 17-25, are near-peers—mature enough to offer students guidance while young enough to relate to students’ perspectives.

Here are three different coaching roles you can explore with City Year.

Student success coach

As a City Year AmeriCorps member serving as a student success coach, your full-time service in schools focuses on coaching, tutoring and mentoring elementary, middle or high school students throughout the school day, from the moment they arrive at school in the morning until the last bell rings in the afternoon.

At some sites, you will also run or support extended day learning activities and afterschool programs. This 1,700-hour role is offered at all of City Year’s 29 U.S. locations.

As a near-peer, you’re uniquely positioned to form positive, trusting and consistent relationships with the students you serve.

You’ll partner with classroom teachers to provide academic support, like small group instruction and one-on-one tutoring for students who need some extra help. You’ll also offer encouragement and skills coaching, helping students to problem solve, think creatively and work in teams. These skills are critical for success in college, career and life.

Every day, you and your AmeriCorps teammates help students grow academically, improve their attendance, and develop positive behaviors at school.

You plan and monitor individual student progress and work with teachers on whole class instruction, breakout spaces and other in-class student assistance.

School day learning coach

As a City Year school day learning coach,  you’ll have many of the same responsibilities as a student success coach, but instead of serving 1,700 hours over the school year, you’ll serve either 900 hours, or about 25 hours per week, or you’ll serve 1,200 hours, which is 35-40 hours a week, depending on the location where you serve.

School day learning coach roles are currently offered at only some sites for the current school year. Here are some of the responsibilities of a school day learning coach:

• Work one-on-one and in small groups with students you and your partner teacher have identified as benefitting from extra help
• Help students strengthen literacy and/or math skills
• Collaborate with teachers and your team members to collect, analyze and monitor individual student progress, participating in facilitated reviews of student data
• Create an engaging, safe and healthy classroom space in collaboration with your partner teacher

Afterschool enrichment coach

As a City Year AmeriCorps member serving as an afterschool enrichment coach, you’ll focus on coaching and mentoring elementary, middle or high school students through afterschool enrichment programs at select sites.

In this role, you’ll serve 900 hours, or about 25 hours a week providing students with additional academic support. You’ll also help them to explore new interests such as robotics, drama or other school clubs, develop leadership skills, and engage more deeply with their own learning.

Additional responsibilities you may have as an afterschool enrichment coach include:

• Creating, supporting or co-leading events or programs that recognize and appreciate student growth and/or achievement in math, literacy, attendance and behavior
• Engaging students, parents/guardians or community members in education or social issues through member-led themed events at schools or on virtual platforms
• Collaborating and meeting with teachers and team members to collect, record, analyze and monitor individual student progress and plan enrichment activities

How coaching students also helps you—financially and in terms of your education and career goals

All three coaching roles—student success, school day learning and afterschool enrichment—do not require prior experience. City Year provides two-to-four weeks of training and professional development at the beginning of the year to support you and get you off to a strong start.

Like many other mentoring and coaching roles, serving as a City Year coach doesn’t only transform the lives of the students you work with—it can also be a powerful change agent in your own life.

Serving for a year, or more, with City Year makes you eligible for exclusive postsecondary grants and scholarships, so you can earn a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

Just as important, a year of service can help you to figure out whether you want to become a teacher or would prefer another career entirely—and strengthen key workforce readiness skills that employers nationwide are looking for.

Our remarkable alumni continue to lead and serve in education, business, law, the environment, health, nonprofits, public service and more.

Here are some of the benefits and resources you’ll receive as a City Year AmeriCorps coach and a member of our 40,000+ alumni community:

• Modest bi-weekly living stipend
• Health, dental, and vision Insurance
• Curalinc Employee Assistance Program
• Talkspace Therapy Program
• Free 3-year membership to Happier app
• Workers’ compensation
• Relocation support
• Benefits specific to one of City Year’s 29 U.S. locations
• City Year Alumni Association
• Career and University partnerships and scholarships
• City Year / AmeriCorps Uniform parts

And as an AmeriCorps member, you’ll be eligible for:

• A Segal AmeriCorps Education Award that can be used for past student debt, future study, and even education-related travel
• Childcare benefits paid by AmeriCorps, eligible only for student success coach role
• Loan forbearance and interest accrual payments for qualified student loans

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