City Year, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students stay in school, recently kicked off its Milwaukee operation by having corps members welcome students back to school on the first day.
Corp members are made up of 18 to 24 year olds who have volunteered for a year of service in schools around the neighborhood.
“Milwaukee schools have a lot of the same issues that are facing schools across the nation, poor graduation rates due to poor attendance, bad behavior and poor course performance,” said Jason Holton, executive director of City Year Milwaukee. “The city of Milwaukee, and a few core people were instrumental in getting City Year to come here, their energy was unmatchable.”
According to Holton, Julia Uihlein, vice president of the David & Julia Uihlein Charitable Foundation was one of the first people to nominate Milwaukee for a City Year program. Former Superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools William Andrekopolous was also on board early on. Both Uihlein and Andrekopolous now serve on City Year Milwaukee’s board of directors.
“It was an unusual case,” Holton said. “But we wouldn’t turn down a city that didn’t really want or need our assistance.”
City Year was founded in Boston Massachusetts; they now have programs all over the country. Holton is a Milwaukee native.
City Year Milwaukee selected six schools in the Milwaukee area including, Alexander Mitchell Integrated Arts Elementary School, Eighty-First Street Elementary School, Northwest Secondary School, Rogers Street Academy, Roosevelt Middle School, and South Division High School. Each school will have around ten City Year Corp members, including one senior corp member, Holton said.
“We had over 20 schools in the area apply to be a City Year school,” Holton said. “The selection process was based on need, strong leadership in the schools, the schools commitment to making a difference and their ability to integrate the City Year corps members into their team.”
“It was an honor and a privilege for us to be selected as a City Year school,” said Floyd Williams, principal at Northwest Secondary School. “We definitely need their help. We are a grade 6 through grade 12 school, attendance is a major concern. We found in the past that kids at the freshman level need a lot of intervention when they get to high school.”
City Year corps members will primarily work with the students in grade 6, 7, and 8 at Northwest Secondary, Williams said.
“We’re hoping that by building that foundation through City Year early on those kids won’t have as many issues when they transfer to high school academics,” he said.
City Year corps members will be present at each of the six schools from the first bell and will also run a variety of afterschool programs for the kids. In some schools they will partner with organizations like the Boys & Girls Club to continue and expand afterschool programs already in place, Holton said.
In its first year, City Year has built a staff of 60 corps members, each receives a small living stipend and commits to ten months of service, Holton said.
Zach Glembin, senior corps member and Anthony Staton, corps member, are two of the ten corps members who will be serving at Northwest Secondary School. Both grew up going to an MPS school.
“I have a deep urge to give back, particularly to the MPS community,” said Glembin. “Mentors played a huge role in my life. I wasn’t the perfect student either, and so to be able to give back and be that ‘near peer’ for someone who might be in a situation similar to me growing up is nothing but a blessing.”
City Year Milwaukee will host its opening celebration on Friday Oct. 1 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Cathedral Square Park in downtown Milwaukee. According to Holton, executives from the City Year Boston headquarters will be on hand for the celebration. Watch the video below to learn more about City Year Milwaukee
