300 City Year AmeriCorps Members Pledge Year of Service in L.A.’S High-Need Schools
LOS ANGELES, CA (September 11, 2015) – Mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles Unified School District Board President Steve Zimmer joined City Year Los Angeles and hundreds of AmeriCorps members today in kicking off a year of service in L.A’s lowest-performing schools. The high-energy event at downtown’s L.A. Live included an announcement by the Los Angeles Clippers Foundation of a $3 million gift to City Year in support of their service in Watts elementary schools.
The 309 City Year AmeriCorps members sworn in during the Opening Day ceremony will be dispersed to 26 schools in Watts, South L.A., Boyle Heights and Koreatown. They will offer individual support to 10,000 at-risk students as part of a national effort to increase high school graduation rates.
“Los Angeles depends on City Year as a critical partner in public education,” said Garcetti. “City Year corps members have a tremendous impact on the lives of students through their role in the classroom, and as mentors and role models. I commend them for their choice to serve and thank them for being a vital part of moving the needle on L.A.’s graduation rates.”
City Year corps members serve full time in schools, providing students with tutoring, in-class support and extended day programs, as well as organizing school-wide initiatives to increase academic achievement and student engagement. Since its founding nine years ago, City Year Los Angeles has directly served 20,000 students in LAUSD and supported 100,000 students with whole school initiatives such as after-school programs and school-wide events.
“City Year is a vital, important organization that embodies our Foundation’s mission of making a positive difference, every day, to children in L.A.,” said Gillian Zucker, President of Business Operations, L.A. Clippers. “The donation to City Year demonstrates that the L.A. Clippers – from Steve Ballmer to Doc Rivers to every member of the organization – is committed to investing in the education of children in Southern California.”
The $3 million gift to City Year marks the largest donation ever made by the L.A. Clippers Foundation.
“The Clippers Foundation gift is transformational for City Year Los Angeles – one that allows us to grow into the largest full-time AmeriCorps program in all of California and the largest City Year corps in the country. This means thousands of kids will get the support they need to succeed in school and beyond,” said Andrew Hauptman, Chairman of Andell Inc., and Co-Founder and Chair of City Year Los Angeles.
