City Year Commends White House, Department of Education on 'Together for Tomorrow' Initiative

BOSTON, Feb. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- City Year, a national organization that unites young people for a year of service in high-need urban schools, commended President Obama, Secretary Duncan, and the Corporation for National and Community Service for the "Together for Tomorrow" initiative announced today, a new initiative to expand community engagement and citizen service to improve low-performing schools.

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"'Together for Tomorrow' is an important and timely initiative that will help harness the civic idealism and energy of American citizens in service to help students get back on track to graduate and help turn around low-performing schools.  It's a win-win-win solution for students, schools and those who serve," said City Year Co-Founder and CEO, Michael Brown.

The "Together for Tomorrow" initiative's efforts will focus on community and family partnerships' ability to boost key measurable student outcomes – Attendance, Behavior, Course performance, and ­College access, the ABCs of improving low-performing schools.

City Year corps members serve as near-peer tutors, mentors and role models in high-need schools, identifying students with a high likelihood of dropping out based on those ABCs – the early warning indicators. 

In total, 2,000 corps members serve over 100,000 students this year in 189 high-poverty schools in 23 U.S. cities.  Since 1988, City Year's 15,100 corps members have served more than 1.2 million children. 

In 2009, with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Brown announced In School & On Track: A National Challenge, a campaign to address the nation's high school dropout crisis and turn around low performing schools by scaling City Year AmeriCorps programs nationwide. City Year's In School & On Track initiative seeks to reach a majority of all off-track students in each of the organization's 23 locations. This year, City Year's largest corps ever – 2,000 City Year AmeriCorps members strong – work every day in nearly 200 high-need schools nationwide keeping students in school and on track to graduate.

City Year AmeriCorps members provide critical student support to the schools disproportionately generating dropouts and to students most at-risk of falling off track to graduate.  City Year is working to address the nation's high school dropout crisis which costs the country on average $300,000 per dropout.  If current dropout rates persist, the economic loss to our nation will total more than $3 trillion over the next decade.  City Year corps members earn an AmeriCorps living stipend, as well as an education award upon completion of their service year.

SOURCE City Year