City Year Hosts Congressional Luncheon At National Leadership Summit

WASHINGTON, May 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Senator Michael Bennet and Congressman Chaka Fattah will be among the guests making remarks at City Year's Congressional Luncheon in Washington, DC tomorrow, May 16, as part of the organization's 2012 National Leadership Summit. The luncheon comes as City Year stakeholders meet with members of Congress throughout the day to discuss the transformative impact that City Year AmeriCorps members are having on school reform efforts.

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A panel discussion will include such education leaders as Dr. Robert Balfanz, Co-Director of the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University; Frank Barnes, Chief Accountability Officer, Boston Public Schools; Justin Cohen, President of the School Turnaround Group, Mass Insight Education; Meaghan Gorski, a City Year alumna and Senior Program Manager at Detroit Collegiate Prep; and Ricardo Martin, Principal, Detroit Collegiate Prep. The panel discussion will explore how AmeriCorps members can be strategically integrated into struggling schools to enable the effective implementation of proven school reform strategies.

This event will mark the release of a white paper co-authored by City Year President, Jim Balfanz, and Bill Andrekopoulos, former Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools, examining the implementation gap – the gap that results when school staff members' time and school resources are not sufficient to meet the intensity of student need. The authors explore the impact the implementation gap has on school reform and dropout prevention efforts, and identify AmeriCorps members as an innovative strategy for providing schools with the human capital infusion required to successfully meet students' diverse needs at the right scale and intensity.

At the luncheon, Deloitte, the corporate sponsor of the white paper and a City Year National Leadership Sponsor, will announce a renewed multi-year commitment of nearly $4M comprised of financial and pro bono resources to help City Year keep students on track to graduate.

Today, at its National Leadership Summit, City Year launched its Long-Term Impact strategy, a plan to challenge the urban graduation status quo in America and impact the futures of thousands of students who attend America's highest-need schools. Learn more about City Year's Long-Term Impact strategy here.

SOURCE City Year