Safeco Insurance and DML Insurance Services Host City Year to The Storm!

City Year Seattle/King County corps members were treated to a night at Key Arena by
two local supporters, Safeco Insurance and DML Insurance Services, Inc.  After arriving to Seattle just two weeks ago, the corps members excitedly cheered on one of the most skilled sports team in their new hometown while getting to know each other as teammates.

Thanks to the generosity of Safeco Insurance and DML Insurance, City Year corps members cheer on the Seattle Storm!

As Mike Lahoda, second year corps member who assumes the role of Team Leader at Denny International Middle School, stated, the evening was “a wonderful opportunity for our corps to bond in an excited and passionate environment.”

After the All City Matching Band delivered an impressive halftime show, Safeco Insurance presented City Year with a $500 check on behalf of DML Insurance Services.  Both companies have championed City Year for several years, continually providing generous support that directly enables City Year corps members to uniquely tutor and mentor students in Seattle that need extra support and attention. Dena Levine, of DML and a former City Year board member, nearly shouted from the rooftops her admiration and respect for the corps!

Seattle Welcomes our 2012-2013 Corps!

City Year Seattle/King County is thrilled to welcome our largest corps
ever; at 67 members, the 2012 – 2013 corps hails from 21 different states
across the country. Each member of this year’s corps will commit ten months and
1,700 hours of service as tutors, mentors and role models dedicated to helping
students improve attendance, behavior and coursework – which helps students
stay in school and on track to graduate.

Decorating a wall in the City Year office, photos and facts are displayed describing the incoming 2012 – 2013 corps.

Prior to the corps’ arrival, the City Year Seattle/King County staff and senior corps members created a concentrated five week training – called Basic Training Academy – to prepare the corps members with the tutoring, teambuilding and mentoring skills necessary for success in City Year’s six partner Seattle public schools. Training topics include Reader’s and Writer’s Workshops, Student Relationships: Setting Boundaries, Establishing Effective Tutoring Environments, Student Performance Coaching: Attendance Coaching, and Understanding and Addressing Misbehavior.

These new skills will complement the broad experiences and abilities the
corps brings to Seattle, including providing literacy tutoring in juvenile
detention facilities, former years of service with AmeriCorps, Arabic, Hebrew
and Spanish language skills, and years of state-level forensics competitions.
With their depth of experience, intense training and passion for impacting
education, we know this corps will make a difference in the lives of many
Seattle students in the coming year.

For an official introduction to our corps, in less than 30 seconds, click here.

Comcast Service Project at Woodland Park

On Friday, March 10th, City Year corps members collaborated with Seattle’s Parks and Recreation Department, members of the Washington Conservation Corps as well as students from Billings Middle School* to support recreational access to the Woodland Park for Seattle residents.

Comcast supports City Year service projects throughout the year.

Together these three groups worked to lay almost 70 feet of gravel and planted over a hundred plants and young trees.

“It was great to see how much trail building we were able to complete in such a limited amount of time. Working together made the most challenging aspects of the day enjoyable,” said a City Year Seattle corps member.

City Year Seattle is so grateful that Comcast has made projects like this possible for the Seattle corps!

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*Pictures and information of this service project are limited due to the priority of student privacy.

On Time and On Track

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 Elle de la Cruz is 22 and serves as a corps member, mentoring and tutoring Aki Kurose Middle School‘s 8th grade class. She serves in Seattle because it’s her home. Elle wants to be able to serve in her community and give back … Continue reading →

Powerful Service, Powerful Leaders

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City Year‘s tagline is “give a year. change the world.” The understanding of that tagline is found in its inherent duality. A corps member must work to change their outer world: the students and communities they serve, while they simultaneously work … Continue reading →