7-Year Promise

A New Initiative for Lasting Impact
City Year’s 7-Year Promise expands the reach and deepens the impact of City Year’s proven student support model to re-imagine how we engage and empower City Year Student Success Coaches and alumni for long-term impact. Built upon City Year’s research-based Whole School Whole Child approach, the initiative, spearheaded by City Year New Hampshire, transforms how we engage and empower our City Year Student Success Coaches and alumni beyond a single year of service to foster lifelong opportunities for our students. Through strong partnerships with community stakeholders, this pilot integrates the latest research in youth development to create a scalable model for enduring student success and workforce readiness.

A Unique Resource, A Powerful Opportunity
City Year’s most valuable resource is embodied in our AmeriCorps members— highly trained and dedicated young leaders who play a critical role in helping students thrive and in building a strong future workforce. However, after one or two years of service, their direct student services ends, limiting their long-term impact. The 7-Year Promise is designed to harness their potential beyond the initial year of service, extending their supportive roles over a lifetime and ensuring lasting benefits for students, alumni, and communities.

The Challenges We Aim to Solve

• Retaining and Leveraging Trained Talent – We invest heavily in training City Year AmeriCorps members to be outstanding Student Success Coaches, yet the majority serve only one year (~25% serve a second year). Without a structured pathway for continued engagement, we lose an opportunity to sustain their positive impact on our students.
• Providing Long-Term Support for Students – Students need more than short-term interventions. For them to thrive academically, socially, and professionally, they require consistent, positive, and trusting mentorship along with a network of opportunities to expand their post-secondary options.
• Addressing the Workforce Shortage – The demand for skilled professionals in education and youth development continues to outpace supply. By strengthening pathways into teaching, education careers, and youth development roles, we can help expand the workforce, while ensuring that trained City Year AmeriCorps alumni remain engaged in fields where their skills and experience are much needed.

Our Solution: The 7-Year Promise

• Turning Short-Term Service into Lifelong Support – By creating a structured approach to alumni engagement, we can turn short-term/annual service into lasting relationships that provide students with critical support over time.
• Establishing a Student Success Network – Alumni will be able to continue mentoring students and helping them build social capital in a safe, structured, and productive way.
• Utilizing Technology to Sustain Connections – Through platforms like MentorPRO, a research-based online mentorship tool, we will connect our Student Success Coaches, alumni, students and families, and enable safe, effective communication and long-term relationship-building.
• Expanding Support Over Key Developmental Phases – The 7-Year Promise will follow students through four critical transitions: elementary to middle school, middle to high school, high school to post-secondary education/training, and post-secondary education to early career. This added layer of support prepares students to explore and seek out the right opportunities for them at each transition, ensuring greater engagement, student success, and post-secondary readiness for college and career pathways.

Alumni and Student Success Coaches Enthusiasm
This initiative is fueled by the voices and enthusiasm of our alumni and Student Success Coaches. Notably:

• 100% of our most recent City Year alumni expressed their interest in being part of this initiative – a testament to its relevance and potential impact.
• Alumni remain deeply committed to City Year’s mission and are eager to engage in mentorship, career development, and community-building opportunities.

Your Investment in the Future
City Year New Hampshire, as the pilot site, is laying the foundation for a model with potential to scale nationally. To make this vision a reality, we seek strategic partners, who share our commitment to educational, workforce development, and long-term impact. Your support will directly contribute to launching and refining this initiative, ensuring that every student and Student Success Coach have the resources and opportunities they need to thrive.

Together, we can shape the future of City Year’s impact—one student, one Student Success Coach, and one community at a time.

Join Us.