WHAT'S NEW

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Joins City Year for Make a Difference Day!

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and City Year DC corps member Johnny Gonzalez worked together on a mural at Garfield Elementary School.

On Saturday, October 24, City Year partnered with the Garfield Elementary School in Southeast DC to plan and lead a local service project as a part of the nationwide service event, Make a Difference Day. Over 100 volunteers came out to help create a more welcoming learning environment for the Garfield students. The day began with a short program featuring City Year Washington, DC Executive Director Jeff Franco and Garfield Elementary Principal Angela Tilghman.

Throughout the day, City Year corps members worked in partnership with volunteers from CSX, Deloitte, Playworks, Corporate Executive Board, and Heads Up, as well as Garfield Elementary teachers, staff, families, and students. Volunteers painted over 20 murals throughout the school and helped clean out and organize two classrooms. In addition, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and his family joined in the effort by painting a brightly-colored mural in one of the school's main hallways.

Thank you to all of the volunteers who worked hard all day and made a real, positive impact on the school. Want to see and hear more about the service day? CLICK HERE to view a short video about the project created by myImpact.org, an organization that seeks to promote volunteerism by sharing stories of service.

Interested in joining City Year for a Saturday service project? City Year organizes service projects regularly and would love for you to join us! Dates for this year's service projects include: 

• December 12, 2009
• January 18, 2010 *MLK Day*
• February 13, 2010
• March 20, 2010
• April 24, 2010 *Global Youth Service Day*

To find out more information about any of these service days, please contact Joel Shuherk.

HIGHLIGHTS

Help a Middle or High School Student Become a Hero!

2009 Young Heroes and City Heroes  participants paint a mural to raise awareness about issues of racism.

Do you know a young person who wants to learn more about their community? Tell them about the Young Heroes and City Heroes programs! Young Heroes is a Saturday service-learning program for middle school students in the DC metro area. City Heroes builds off of the Young Heroes experience and is a Saturday service-learning program for high school students. Students who participate in the Heroes programs work on diverse teams to learn about pressing social issues and learn how they can take action to address these issues in their community. For 16 Saturdays between mid-December and May, the Heroes learn about a social issue in the morning, and then spend the afternoon participating in a community service project related to that issue. Last year's program covered topics such as hunger and homelessness, domestic violence, and valuing different abilities.

This year, the City Year Washington, DC Heroes program will be bigger than ever, with 125 Young Hero middle school participants and 75 City Hero high school participants. Applications are due no later than DECEMBER 5, but apply early to reserve your spot.

In addition, the Heroes program is looking for adults 18 years and older to serve as Team Leaders. Team Leaders volunteer to help facilitate the Saturday lessons and service projects and serve as role models to the middle and high school participants. No preparation or prior experience is necessary!

CLICK HERE for more information about the Heroes programs, about becoming a Team Leader, or to download an application. With additional questions, please contact Program Manager Stef Vestal at 202-742-7396.

City Year Opening Day Powerfully Kicks Off the Year!

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton leads DC's 100 corps members in the AmeriCorps pledge at Opening Day 2009.

On Friday, October 2, more than 250 guests joined City Year Washington, DC's 100 corps members to officially kick-off the service year at City Year's Opening Day ceremony. Held for the first time at Freedom Plaza, the event was a powerful and energetic way to publicly launch City Year Washington, DC's 10th year of service in the community.

The corps members quickly got the crowd energized by starting the ceremony with a Physical Training (PT) demonstration. After PT, Secretary of the District of Columbia Stephanie Scott thanked the corps members for their service on behalf of Mayor Fenty and officially declared October 2nd "City Year Day" in the District of Columbia. Executive Director Jeff Franco then provided remarks appreciating all of City Year Washington, DC's service partners, board members, alumni, and financial donors for their partnership. Jeff specifically recognized this year's seven team sponsors: The Acacia Group, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, The Case Foundation, Comcast, CSX, National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and Serve DC.

The second half of the program began with Deloitte's Managing Partner for Greater Washington Gary Tabach announcing Deloitte's new national partnership with City Year as a National Leadership Sponsor. Then, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton provided a keynote address highlighting the important work that corps members will do this year to help DC children succeed, both inside and outside the classroom, and administered the AmeriCorps pledge. Ward 5 DC Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. also joined in the celebration, administering the City Year pledge to the corps members, which officially kicked off their year of service!

If you weren't able to join us for this inspirational day, CLICK HERE and choose City Year Opening Day from the on-demand drop down menu at the top of the page to watch DC16's online coverage, or tune in to DC16 during October to watch the ceremony on your TV. Thank you to everyone who joined us on Opening Day to help launch the 2009-2010 service year!

IN THE NEWS

DC Channel 16 Features City Year Washington, DC's Opening Day

The official DC government channel - DC16 - is running coverage of City Year Washington, DC's Opening Day ceremony at numerous times throughout the month. Tune in to catch highlights from the day. Want to watch it now? CLICK HERE and choose City Year Opening Day from the on-demand drop down menu at the top of the page to watch coverage of the ceremony on the DC16 website.