Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Corps Members Take Inititiative
One of the best parts about City Year is the room for corps members to launch their own initiatives. City Year relies so heavily on corps members’ ideas and initiatives that we often say instead of working AT City Year, we are all working ON City Year. Even something as big as our Young Heroes program, which spans nationwide at every single City Year site, came from a corps member’s suggestion.
Over the years, corps members have had such amazing ideas, that there is now a program in place to help support innovations people have around the City Year network. They're called the Bill & Hillary Clinton Innovation Awards. Any corps member across the City Year network can apply for one of these awards and can be funded for up to $5,000 to finance his or her idea. This year at City Year DC, a few of my fellow senior corps members received one of these awards for the full $5,000! Their idea was to hold a conference entitled: From Generation Me to Generation We: The Future of National Service.
The day-long conference was a combination of discussing national service and DEMONSTRATING national service. It took place on Friday, April 13th at the Georgetown Law Center. In the morning, there were two panel discussions and then in the afternoon, we painted two murals at a nearby middle school. In addition to all the City Year Washington DC corps members, attendees included other AmeriCorps members from the NCCC, VISTAA , and HeadsUp programs, Howard University ROTC members, Capitol Hill staffers, Georgetown Law Students, and people from other service organizations or people simply interested in the idea of national service.
We heard very engaging discussions from the panelists. The first panel centered on issues such as international models of mandatory civilian service, possible domestic models for mandatory service, and the current generation’s attitude versus the baby boomers’ attitude about serving our country. The panelists were from a variety of backgrounds in the service world including the CEO for Experience Corps - Mr. John Gomperts, one of two Project Coordinators for Innovations in Civic Participation (ICP) – Ms. Katherine Hutter, and Director of AmeriCorps NCCC - Ms. Merlene Mazyck. The thing I liked most about this panel was hearing from Katherine Hutter about different service programs going on internationally. Despite the drastic cultural differences there are in the US and elsewhere, I definitely think there are things that other countries are doing with their national service programs that we could implement here in the United States to improve our national service opportunities.
The second panel was more centered on the relationship between military and civilian service (City Year is an example of a civilian service program). The panelists were Colonel Rob Gordon, who currently serves as City Year Inc.’s Senior Vice President for Civic Leadership, but prior to that co-founded Service America which unites West Point cadets with AmeriCorps members to address unmet needs in underprivileged communities and share ideas on public service and leadership; and Darryl Kehrer who has given 37 years to public service, most notably serving as a staff director for the Committee on Veterans Affairs in the House of Representatives. This panel brought up interesting questions such as: What elements of the military-culture are applicable to civilian service programs? And, what are possible incentives that could enable more Americans to serve their country – either in a military or a civilian capacity?
Both panels were very engaging, but of course the most engaging component was the service afterwards. The entire day was a true testament to a Margaret Mead quote we painted outside the school that afternoon, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Obviously this one event didn’t comprehensively change the world, but no single event will do that. It takes a number of small events building on one another. I am incredibly proud of my fellow Senior Corps members for taking the initiative and following-through on an idea they felt strongly about. Sometimes other similar service programs such as Teach For America or the PeaceCorps are revered more than City Year for the initiative required by their participants since our corps members serve on teams in the classroom instead of individually. However, City Year’s current size and impact relies whole-heartedly on the initiatives taken by corps members every year just like these other great service programs.
Over the years, corps members have had such amazing ideas, that there is now a program in place to help support innovations people have around the City Year network. They're called the Bill & Hillary Clinton Innovation Awards. Any corps member across the City Year network can apply for one of these awards and can be funded for up to $5,000 to finance his or her idea. This year at City Year DC, a few of my fellow senior corps members received one of these awards for the full $5,000! Their idea was to hold a conference entitled: From Generation Me to Generation We: The Future of National Service.
The day-long conference was a combination of discussing national service and DEMONSTRATING national service. It took place on Friday, April 13th at the Georgetown Law Center. In the morning, there were two panel discussions and then in the afternoon, we painted two murals at a nearby middle school. In addition to all the City Year Washington DC corps members, attendees included other AmeriCorps members from the NCCC, VISTAA , and HeadsUp programs, Howard University ROTC members, Capitol Hill staffers, Georgetown Law Students, and people from other service organizations or people simply interested in the idea of national service.
We heard very engaging discussions from the panelists. The first panel centered on issues such as international models of mandatory civilian service, possible domestic models for mandatory service, and the current generation’s attitude versus the baby boomers’ attitude about serving our country. The panelists were from a variety of backgrounds in the service world including the CEO for Experience Corps - Mr. John Gomperts, one of two Project Coordinators for Innovations in Civic Participation (ICP) – Ms. Katherine Hutter, and Director of AmeriCorps NCCC - Ms. Merlene Mazyck. The thing I liked most about this panel was hearing from Katherine Hutter about different service programs going on internationally. Despite the drastic cultural differences there are in the US and elsewhere, I definitely think there are things that other countries are doing with their national service programs that we could implement here in the United States to improve our national service opportunities.
The second panel was more centered on the relationship between military and civilian service (City Year is an example of a civilian service program). The panelists were Colonel Rob Gordon, who currently serves as City Year Inc.’s Senior Vice President for Civic Leadership, but prior to that co-founded Service America which unites West Point cadets with AmeriCorps members to address unmet needs in underprivileged communities and share ideas on public service and leadership; and Darryl Kehrer who has given 37 years to public service, most notably serving as a staff director for the Committee on Veterans Affairs in the House of Representatives. This panel brought up interesting questions such as: What elements of the military-culture are applicable to civilian service programs? And, what are possible incentives that could enable more Americans to serve their country – either in a military or a civilian capacity?
Both panels were very engaging, but of course the most engaging component was the service afterwards. The entire day was a true testament to a Margaret Mead quote we painted outside the school that afternoon, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Obviously this one event didn’t comprehensively change the world, but no single event will do that. It takes a number of small events building on one another. I am incredibly proud of my fellow Senior Corps members for taking the initiative and following-through on an idea they felt strongly about. Sometimes other similar service programs such as Teach For America or the PeaceCorps are revered more than City Year for the initiative required by their participants since our corps members serve on teams in the classroom instead of individually. However, City Year’s current size and impact relies whole-heartedly on the initiatives taken by corps members every year just like these other great service programs.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Camp City Year 2007
Because corps members work so much in DC Public Schools, City Year DC will often be closed during the school vacations. For example, we always get some time off around Christmas and New Years. However, spring break is not a vacation for us at City Year. In fact, it is probably our busiest week of the year. Why? Because we run Camp City Year!
For many parents, finding childcare over the public school vacations can be a real burden. To lighten this weight, City Year DC runs a spring break camp for 300 K-6th graders at two schools in the city. For an entire week of camp, it only costs $10. Parents love this! The camp begins and ends at the same time of the regular school day so parents do not have to change their normal schedule too much.
Camp is my FAVORITE time of the year. It’s a break from the regular service, it’s educational, it’s FUN, and most of all it is entirely organized and administered by corps members! From the Executive Director to a Recruitment Coordinator: corps members are running the show. Last year, our theme was “Choose Your Own Adventure” and for one of the camp sites I was the mascot: a pirate. That was very fun playing that character all week and getting so much attention from the kids. This year, I was the Fine Arts teacher for 3rd-6th grade groups and I enjoyed it even more. Our theme was “Sporting Around the World.” After weeks of planning up to the week of camp, it was awesome to see the kids really enjoying the lessons. They got to do things they probably don’t do during a regular school day like making sculptures of mythological figures from ancient Greece, learning dancing and drumming for Africa Day, making Andean Pan flutes for South America Day, or even making and rolling sushi for Asia Day.
It’s also a great way to get to know other corps members better since you get to work with people who aren’t on your regular service team. Everyone gets divided into programming, recruitment, or operations/logistics which makes Camp City Year truly a joint effort by the ENTIRE corps. The weeks leading up to the camp, you can always find corps members in the office until late at night. Putting on a spring break camp for 300 kids takes A LOT of work. But the week of camp is incredibly fun and it is really great to know that we are creating an opportunity for these kids to have a ton of fun on their spring break!
For many parents, finding childcare over the public school vacations can be a real burden. To lighten this weight, City Year DC runs a spring break camp for 300 K-6th graders at two schools in the city. For an entire week of camp, it only costs $10. Parents love this! The camp begins and ends at the same time of the regular school day so parents do not have to change their normal schedule too much.
Camp is my FAVORITE time of the year. It’s a break from the regular service, it’s educational, it’s FUN, and most of all it is entirely organized and administered by corps members! From the Executive Director to a Recruitment Coordinator: corps members are running the show. Last year, our theme was “Choose Your Own Adventure” and for one of the camp sites I was the mascot: a pirate. That was very fun playing that character all week and getting so much attention from the kids. This year, I was the Fine Arts teacher for 3rd-6th grade groups and I enjoyed it even more. Our theme was “Sporting Around the World.” After weeks of planning up to the week of camp, it was awesome to see the kids really enjoying the lessons. They got to do things they probably don’t do during a regular school day like making sculptures of mythological figures from ancient Greece, learning dancing and drumming for Africa Day, making Andean Pan flutes for South America Day, or even making and rolling sushi for Asia Day.
It’s also a great way to get to know other corps members better since you get to work with people who aren’t on your regular service team. Everyone gets divided into programming, recruitment, or operations/logistics which makes Camp City Year truly a joint effort by the ENTIRE corps. The weeks leading up to the camp, you can always find corps members in the office until late at night. Putting on a spring break camp for 300 kids takes A LOT of work. But the week of camp is incredibly fun and it is really great to know that we are creating an opportunity for these kids to have a ton of fun on their spring break!
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Learning How to Make Connections
The most significant rewards we get from serving with City Year are the intangible benefits. Don’t get me wrong, my roommates (who aren’t in CY) are incredibly jealous of my free Metro passes. And the $4,725 education award I will earn this year is a great perk. But it is definitely the intangible experiences that will stick with me, long after my service year.
A great example of an intangible benefit of being a City Year corps member is the event we had last Tuesday evening. The City Year Alumni Association organized an event for the corps members called “18-Minute Networking.” At the event, there were over thirty City Year alumni from all different professional fields (international work, Peace Corps, law, education, corporate consulting, etc.). The purpose of the event was to give current corps members the opportunity to begin professionally networking with alumni. It was also very helpful to hear stories from alumni of how they transitioned from City Year into the “real world.” I met a lot of interesting alumni; including one woman who is currently working for an organization she was introduced to when she was a corps member.
As the City Year alumni network grows to over 10,000 members, it is nice to know that there is a large network of people out there that I can call on for professional or personal advice. And in a town like Washington – it’s all about who you know, right?!
A great example of an intangible benefit of being a City Year corps member is the event we had last Tuesday evening. The City Year Alumni Association organized an event for the corps members called “18-Minute Networking.” At the event, there were over thirty City Year alumni from all different professional fields (international work, Peace Corps, law, education, corporate consulting, etc.). The purpose of the event was to give current corps members the opportunity to begin professionally networking with alumni. It was also very helpful to hear stories from alumni of how they transitioned from City Year into the “real world.” I met a lot of interesting alumni; including one woman who is currently working for an organization she was introduced to when she was a corps member.
As the City Year alumni network grows to over 10,000 members, it is nice to know that there is a large network of people out there that I can call on for professional or personal advice. And in a town like Washington – it’s all about who you know, right?!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Advanced Training Retreat
Things around here are really in full-swing. With teams heavily involved in their service and Camp City Year rapidly approaching, it’s easy for corps members to focus so much on what needs to get done, and forget to take a few moments to reflect how much we have already accomplished.
That is why we have Advanced Training Retreat! ATR, as it is better known as, is two and a half days long (yup, we stay overnight) and is a time for reflection on the first half of the year, as well as a time for everyone to reconnect with each other and get energized to finish out the year strong. Plus, it’s all out of uniform!
ATR is also an opportunity for corps members and staff to come together and discuss how to make our City Year site as strong as it can be. For those of you who don’t know, City Year DC is growing. We are at 55 corps members this year. Next year we will be at 75 corps members. And by 2010, we hope to be at 100 corps members. To plan for our growth, at ATR this year, our Executive Director rolled-out City Year DC’s new “3-Year Strategic Growth Plan” to the entire corps. We all gave feedback on the plan and discussed opportunities and challenges of this plan. One cool thing about City Year is how much input corps members have in determining what goes on with the site.
Of course, not all of ATR is work. It is also a great opportunity to get to know some of your fellow corps members a little better. Since we spend most of our time with our teams, often there are other corps members who we rarely get a chance to spend time with. Free time at retreat can change that real quickly. This year someone brought a karaoke machine, which enables even the most untalented singers a venue to let their little light shine. Almost everyone took their chance in the limelight and others learned lessons in sharing the spotlight. I sat in on a jam session where one corps member (the cello player from the first retreat) played the banjo and I played the spoons while another corps member rhymed freestyle on top of it all. I look forward to the first hip-hop album featuring the banjo. We also had a number of staff and corps members lead workshops on personal talents of theirs such as karate, personal fitness, knitting and crocheting (my scarf is now coming along slowly but surely), and hip-hop dance. Now, back at work, I definitely have more insight into individuals around here!
All in all, ATR was great. It provided some time for us to get to know each other a little better, as well as a chance for us to refocus our energy on what’s to come!
That is why we have Advanced Training Retreat! ATR, as it is better known as, is two and a half days long (yup, we stay overnight) and is a time for reflection on the first half of the year, as well as a time for everyone to reconnect with each other and get energized to finish out the year strong. Plus, it’s all out of uniform!
ATR is also an opportunity for corps members and staff to come together and discuss how to make our City Year site as strong as it can be. For those of you who don’t know, City Year DC is growing. We are at 55 corps members this year. Next year we will be at 75 corps members. And by 2010, we hope to be at 100 corps members. To plan for our growth, at ATR this year, our Executive Director rolled-out City Year DC’s new “3-Year Strategic Growth Plan” to the entire corps. We all gave feedback on the plan and discussed opportunities and challenges of this plan. One cool thing about City Year is how much input corps members have in determining what goes on with the site.
Of course, not all of ATR is work. It is also a great opportunity to get to know some of your fellow corps members a little better. Since we spend most of our time with our teams, often there are other corps members who we rarely get a chance to spend time with. Free time at retreat can change that real quickly. This year someone brought a karaoke machine, which enables even the most untalented singers a venue to let their little light shine. Almost everyone took their chance in the limelight and others learned lessons in sharing the spotlight. I sat in on a jam session where one corps member (the cello player from the first retreat) played the banjo and I played the spoons while another corps member rhymed freestyle on top of it all. I look forward to the first hip-hop album featuring the banjo. We also had a number of staff and corps members lead workshops on personal talents of theirs such as karate, personal fitness, knitting and crocheting (my scarf is now coming along slowly but surely), and hip-hop dance. Now, back at work, I definitely have more insight into individuals around here!
All in all, ATR was great. It provided some time for us to get to know each other a little better, as well as a chance for us to refocus our energy on what’s to come!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
CYDC Tries a New Literacy Initiative
It’s only the first month of the 2007 and even though I’ve only been here a year and a half, I think I can honestly say it’s been one of, if not the busiest months in CYDC history. Sometimes the holiday break puts things on a slight pause and it takes corps members a few weeks to get back into the swing of things – this has not been the case for this corps. They came back from their break ready to go!
The CYCLE Team (City Year Campaign for Literacy Education) put on an event called Literacy Island. Athletically- talented youth are often given opportunities to showcase their talents through school and community sporting events, but students who have more literary talents aren’t often given that opportunity. That’s why the CYCLE team put on Literacy Island.
Literacy Island was an evening event held at the MLK Library in downtown DC. It was for 6th to 12th grade from all over DC. Some students came and read pieces that they had written. Others simply displayed their written work and let visitors read them. I was quite blown away by some of the younger poets that I heard. The older ones were of course excellent too, but I guess my expectations were much higher for them. There was a DJ, some of the students sang, and a number of people wondered in from the library to see. Again, I think it most importantly showed the young people that their talents are not going unappreciated.
President George W. Bush visits City Year DC!
This year, we had over 500 volunteers serve with us at our MLK Day project at Cardozo High School. We knew this year’s MLK Day was going to be big, but we had no idea how big it would eventually get.
One week before the event, we found out that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was going to attend our service project. What we did not know were the friends he would bring with him: namely, the President of the United States!
President Bush showed up at Cardozo High School around 10:30am. Followed by a sea of television cameras and secret service, his first stop was a mural we had designed that depicted U Street (where our Headquarters are). He painted with some CYDC alumni for a bit, then moved upstairs to meet with the Young Heroes in the library, where they were writing letters to victims of Hurricane Katrina. The President addressed the crowd of middle-schoolers with some words of appreciation for their work and went on with his busy day. Needless to say, we were all a little star-struck. To view the CNN clip of the President’s visit, check out: http://www.cnn.com/video/partners/clickability/index.html?url=/video/us/2007/01/15/nat.mlk.day.celebrations.wbma
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
A Tribute to Our Foundation
A few weeks ago on Monday November 13, here in DC we celebrated the groundbreaking of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. WOW! What a fantastic ceremony! With a list of speakers overshadowed by no other event: Oprah, President Bush, President Clinton, Barrack Obama, Maya Angelou, Tavis Smiley, Martin Luther King’s children, Jesse Jackson, Dorothy Height, and the list just keeps on going. We are in the fortunate position here in DC to have been offered many volunteer slots to help the day run smoothly. Even though we had to begin the day at 6am, (which required some corps members to sleep at the office because public transportation at that time of the morning is less readily available) it was all worth it. The best part wasn’t the proximity to these notable individuals but hearing their words of respect for the memorial and the movement it honors. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter awakened everyone to the fact that the memorial is not a reminder of problems that once were and have since been overcome, but instead a reminder of the problems that still plague us and today are too often overlooked. This is the first memorial around the National Mall that doesn’t pay tribute to a past president or war. Instead of memorializing a man who was elected to office to make changes in our country from the top down, it memorializes a man who brought people together to take a stand against injustice and make changes together from the bottom up. It does not memorialize a war that once happened long ago and far away but a struggle that continues daily right here in every corner of our country. City Year’s foundation revolves around many great leaders of the past and present: Mother Teresa, Ghandi, Caesar Chavez, Malcolm X, Anne Frank, and Nelson Mandela to name a few. Each of their legacies of idealistic actions guides our service but none more than does the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Oprah referenced King’s words that “Everyone can be great because anybody can serve.” We use this quote a lot at City Year, but hearing Oprah say it made me think again deeply about what it actually means and how true it is. King’s ideal of a Beloved Community involved people coming together from all backgrounds in the common action of service to learn that we are all just people and that, as we often say, “the bonds of our common humanity are stronger than what often tears us apart.”
To be most honest, this is the reason I came back to City Year for a second year. In light of all the services City Year provides it does nothing better than break down the usual barriers between young people from vastly different experiences. Every City Year site across the country has an MLK space in their office. Here in DC, in addition to housing most of the corps members’ office work, the MLK space is also where we have our monthly community meetings. At a community meeting I can look around the circle and see young people from all over the country and DC, those who grew up in private school, foster homes, all black neighborhoods, all white neighborhoods, urban areas, rural areas, college grads, high school grads, GED-certified individuals, homosexuals, heterosexuals, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Agnostics, Atheists, athletes, intellectuals ALL sitting together in the MLK space with their common desire to serve. In what other work environment could I get that experience? It took the dreams and actions of MLK and thousands of people in the movement he represents to make this a reality. Our daily actions are tributes to them and continue the work they started so that one day we could possibly consider our whole country an “MLK space.” I like the thought of that.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Service Year in Full Swing Gets a Presidential Nod
Now that we’ve been in service about a month, all the corps members seem to be finding the service challenging, but all the more rewarding. The AOL Civic Engagement team has already planned and implemented four service days at three different elementary schools and one homeless shelter! Our City Bridge Foundation DECYDE – Dramatic Empowerment City Year Drug Education - team has taught their drug education curriculum in 17 middle school classrooms AND performed their skit show eight times in school auditoriums all over the city! The Case Foundation Young Heroes team, in addition to serving as teachers’ aids three days a week at Garrison Elementary, has also already reached their goal of students interested in their spring semester service learning program – this is after giving only two-thirds the number of recruitment presentations they expected to. The CSX HOPE – HIV/AIDS Outreach Prevention Education – team has begun delivering the Making Proud Choices curriculum to 15 middle and high school classrooms around the city with many more to come! Our Acacia Group CYCLE – City Year’s Campaign for Literacy Education – has been vigorously tutoring one-on-one with kids of all ages while also preparing for their first literacy showcase at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library.
Despite our busy service schedules team’s, we have been given some pretty cool opportunities to experience Washington, DC. Being in the Nation’s Capitol, there are often events at which corps members get to represent City Year and meet prominent figures in politics. Just the other week, a City Year alumnus who is now a Georgetown undergraduate called us about a conference on campus he was going to attend. The conference was about serving the common good and featured Georgetown Alumnus, Bill Clinton. He had an extra ticket and thought it would be great for a current corps member to join him. Fortunately with only a single day’s notice, we were able to send a corps member the following morning. When President Clinton walked out on stage he immediately spotted our corps member Jess’ City Year red jacket. Upon noticing the corps member, President Clinton promptly saluted her in front of the rest of the crowd! After he spoke, at first Jess went to stand in line to get to meet him, but realized it was way too crowded. Plus, she had kind of already gotten her acknowledgement from him, so she was satisfied. As she walked away, she felt someone grab her on her shoulder and turned to see who it was. Before she even realized it was President Clinton, he was hugging her. He hugged her and said, “Thanks for doing what you’re doing.” We often get recognized in our jackets by children all across the city. Sometimes we’ll get called out by a local sponsor. These encounters are very uplifting, but this one is even more so. To not only be publicly acknowledged with a salute by the former Commander in Chief and founder of Americorps, but sought out through a crowd of fans and then hugged and thanked means a lot. Part of being a City Year Corps Member is humbly serving, but after an encounter such as this, it’s hard as a City Year Corps Member to not add at least a brief strut to our step.
