City Year Milwaukee is introducing its corps services to Bay View Middle and High School this fall, expanding its presence to nine schools under Milwaukee Public Schools.
The nonprofit organization, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary in Milwaukee, plants young AmeriCorps leaders into schools to support students who are most at risk of simply quitting. City Year Milwaukee belongs to a network of City Year branches in 25 communities across the country and two international offices.
“Since we’ve been in Milwaukee, we’ve found that more schools are requesting a team of our AmeriCorps members because they see the impact City Year has on individual students and the whole school,” said Jason Holton, executive director and vice president of City Year Milwaukee.
The organization estimates that during the 2013-14 school year, its 85 Milwaukee AmeriCorps leaders will invest more than 144,500 hours in tutoring and mentoring roles to help guide students who are struggling academically back on track.
Eight to 10 corps members are stationed full time in each of the nonprofit’s nine partner schools.
“Building positive relationships between youth and adults is critical to our work to improve student outcomes in Milwaukee Public Schools,” said Darienne Driver, Ph.D., MPS acting superintendent. “City Year Milwaukee and its corps members have been strong partners in this work, and I’m proud to say that our partnership is growing.”
To recognize its fifth anniversary and the new school year, City Year Milwaukee will hold a public “Opening Day” event on Monday, Sept. 22. During the event, corps members will be officially sworn into the organization. The event is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the Marcus Center’s Peck Pavilion in downtown Milwaukee.
For more information on the event or to RSVP, contact Luke Fickbohm, development associate at City Year Milwaukee, at lfickbohm@cityyear.org or 414-882-2015.
