City Year Tulsa, an education-focused nonprofit that partners with public schools to help students stay on track to graduate, has received a “Best of City Year” award from the national organization, City Year. The award is given annually to select City Year sites that have performed exceptionally against numerous organizational goals. The award was announced at City Year’s National Summit Leadership Academy Comcast NBCUniversal Leadership Awards in Boston on July 13, 2016.
This past school year, 50 CY Tulsa AmeriCorps members served as tutors, mentors and role models for more than 500 students in six Tulsa Public Schools: Clinton Middle School, Daniel Webster High School, Eugene Field Elementary School, Kendall-Whittier Elementary School, Sequoyah Elementary School and Will Rogers Junior High School. The ‘Best of City Year’ award recognized CY Tulsa’s service impact during the 2015-2016 school year, which included significant improvement in keeping suspended students from further suspension or disciplinary action. In addition, more than three-fourths of Kendall Whittier English Language Arts students improved their reading scores by 100 points or more and nearly 100% of the third graders at Kendall Whittier improved their math test scores.
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“We are proud and honored to be recognized with this award,” said Tom McKeon, Executive Director of City Year Tulsa. “My deepest gratitude to our board members, funders, other stakeholders, and most importantly the 75-plus AmeriCorps Members of the last two years who helped build the foundation that has enabled City Year Tulsa to make an impact in Tulsa’s public schools.” “We also acknowledge Dr. Deborah Gist and Tulsa Public Schools for the support and strong partnership between our two organizations.”
CY Tulsa was selected along with six other City Year sites among 28 sites across the country for the annual award. Sites are assessed against more than 75 performance goals including service impact, corps member recruitment and retention, financial health, staff development, board leadership and stakeholder development.
Across the country, one student drops out of school every 26 seconds; nearly one million students every year. Studies show that a child who doesn’t graduate from high school is eight times more likely to go to jail and three times more likely to be unemployed. In Tulsa, the current four year graduation rate is 67 percent.
City Year Tulsa AmeriCorps Members help keep students in school and on track to graduate by providing individual support to students who need extra care and attention, focusing on attendance, behavior, and course performance through in-class tutoring, mentoring, and after school programs.