Top things you should know about City Year before applying

So, you're thinking about applying to City Year?

Great! We're thrilled to hear you're interested in joining us. At City Year, our work is informed by our values and our passion to help students learn, develop and reach their full potential, both inside and outside the classroom. Before you get going on your application, we want to help you feel prepared for the long haul. Here are some things we think you should know!

Our service is in the education sector, but your career path does not need to be

Just because we work in schools doesn’t mean we only want candidates who are interested in the education sector! We are looking for highly motivated individuals who have diverse interests, career aspirations and skill sets that will translate to working well with students.

Our alums go on to have successful careers in diverse fields—business, law, government, policy, health and more, as well as in education. So, no matter what field you’re interested in, you’ll benefit from City Year’s robust training, exclusive benefits and resources and professional development sessions.

You should start planning for service before it starts!

If you apply and are accepted to serve with City Year, your preparation for your service begins long before your actual first day. These items include, but are not limited to:

• Saving for your move
• Securing your housing
• Acquiring the necessary documentation to serve
• Arriving one to two weeks early for Registration Day with your City Year site

While our admissions teams will send you reminders and information regarding these things, it is important for you to stay on top of these, as well.

You can also check out our pre-service checklist here!

Our benefits extend beyond just the stipend.

As a City Year AmeriCorps member, you’ll be paid a modest biweekly living stipend. So, skills like budgeting and staying organized are important. But the living stipend is just one of the many benefits City Year offers its AmeriCorps members. In addition to the stipend, you’ll also receive the following:

• Segal Education Award ($6,895, pre-tax). This can be used for future study and educational travel as well as past student debt.
• Relocation allowance
• Health insurance
• Public transportation passes in our locations with robust public transportation systems. These passes range in annual value from $750-$2,000.
• And more. Explore all our benefits.

City Year service is full time.

As a City Year AmeriCorps member, you will be part of a team serving in schools full time. You and your team will work long days as you partner with classroom teachers to help students learn key academic and social-emotional skills that will help them set and reach goals, explore their interests and succeed in college and career.

Our corps members arrive at their schools each morning before the students arrive and are there through afterschool programming in the afternoon.

The idea is that students have access to additional caring, consistent and positive relationships throughout their entire school experience—as they arrive to schools, are in classes and participate in enrichment programs. City Year AmeriCorps members help to provide that additional human capacity in under-resourced public schools.

While the elements of service are the same across our 29 sites, the daily service of each of our AmeriCorps members differs. To explore the days in the lives of some of our AmeriCorps members, check this out!

City Year AmeriCorps members are student success coaches!

When you put on the City Year red jacket, you’re not just a tutor or afterschool coordinator, you’re a student success coach!

But what does that mean exactly? Well, student success coaches build positive relationships with students and provide them with the social, emotional and academic support needed for students to reach their full potential. This support is rooted in building trusting relationships and with the understanding that each student has unique needs and academic goals. Student success coaches also add much-needed capacity to classrooms and school communities, in turn, helping to create more engaging, joyful and equitable learning environments.

You will be joining a wider school community.

While a lot of your work will involve direct service in support of your students, know that you’ll be joining a wider school ecosystem. That means you’ll also be building partnerships—and trust—with teachers, school administration and parents. It’s important to know that there are other caring adults in a student life—and your relationship with them is adding to a network of support all young people need to thrive.

You are joining a service community more than 40,000 strong!

Once you complete your service term with City Year you will be joining a community of more than 40,000 City Year AmeriCorps alumni and over 1 million AmeriCorps alums nationwide! This network includes professionals who continue to make a positive impact in their communities and workplaces and who are excelling across a variety of careers from medicine and politics to entertainment and education.

Our recruiters and Service Year advisors are here for you!

City Year has recruiters all over the United States. Connecting with them before you apply can help you with deciding if City Year is the right fit for you and submitting the strongest application if you decide that it is.

Click here if you’d like to connect with a recruiter and learn more about serving!

Learn more