City Year Columbia Deploys 24 Corps Members to High-Need Local Schools for Year of Service
September 9, 2013
COLUMBIA, SC – September 9, 2013 – This school year, one million students across the country will drop out—one every 26 seconds. In Columbia, students at greatest risk of dropping out will receive help from City Year Columbia, which has deployed 24 City Year AmeriCorps members for a year of full time service in 3 of the city’s public schools.
On Thursday,September 19th, 2013, City Year Columbia will hold its Opening Day Ceremony at 10:00 AM in the Auditorium of Heyward Gibbes Middle School. South Carolina Attorney General, Alan Wilson, and others will join City Year corps members as they kick off a year of service as tutors, mentors and role models for the city’s most at-risk youth. This year’s opening day comes as the founding organization, City Year Inc., celebrates its 25th anniversary with 2,700 corps members serving in 25 cities across the United States. During Open Day, City Year Columbia corps members will stand in their signature red jackets and collectively take the City Year pledge and students in attendance will repeat their own pledge to come to school every day ready to try their hardest.
Comcast and NBCUniversal sponsors Opening Day at all City Year locations. City Year Columbia Opening Day is also supported by CSX, Richland County, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina, the City of Columbia, United Way of the Midlands, Lexington School District Four, and Richland One School District.
City Year partners with schools and teachers to place trained young adults in schools where they’re needed most to provide individual support to students in grades 3 through 9 who need extra care and attention. Working side-by-side with teachers, our corps members work 12-hour days and use research-based tools and techniques to help students who are struggling, so more kids stay in school and on track to succeed.
Half of our nation’s dropouts come from nearly 10 percent of schools. City Year is focusing its efforts where it can have a major impact on the national dropout rate. Over the next decade, City Year will seek to work in the cities that account for two-thirds of the nation’s dropouts. Together, with its partners, City Year will continue to be part of the solution to our country’s education challenges—tapping into the idealism of young people to support educators and putting students on track to succeed.
Please join us to celebrate City Year’s mission and another year of service in the Columbia community! To find out more about Opening Day, visit https://www.cityyear.org/columbia
