Volunteerism

Give a year, change the world.

That's the motto that both Michael Brown and Alan Khazei have built City Year around for over 20 years.

City Year volunteers are young people who work in many different roles to help communities: tutors in urban and rural schools, administrators of after-school programs and vacation camps, as well as a variety of other leadership and development activities. A City Year corps member might spend an average day doing anything from helping plan an after-school recycling program, to constructing a new playground.

Through their commitment to a full year of service, City Year hopes that students will become part of their adopted communities, leaving a lasting impact on those around them.

So far it's been an unquestioned success: since its founding in 1998, City Year has graduated more than 12,500 alumni, served more than 1 million children, and completed more than 20 million hours of service.

Volunteer Corps Member Christina Gomez tells of her experience in the program:

A while ago, our team led volunteers cleaning up back alleys in a tough part of town. Some groups were able to clear out an alley, and then paint it with murals. Other groups were able to beautify the alleys with landscaping.

One group, though, had a whole day's work just clearing out the alley, until the only thing left standing was the old basketball hoop. I could tell the volunteers in that group didn't feel their work had been transformative. They did not know they had made a difference.

But as we were packing up our tools, some kids from around the corner came by and brought a basketball and started playing in this space for the very first time. Their laughs and shouts echoed in the alley.

With sore backs, aching legs, blistered hands, those volunteers really understood what they had accomplished.