City Year Reviews

Current Employee – been working at City Year full-time for less than a year

Pros – You gain school/teaching experience, but in a manner that has you feeling you're on the outside looking in.

Cons – City Year is ridiculous. They go out of their way to hire "diverse" people, at the cost of results and efficacy. High school grads still wet behind the ears, directionless college drop outs, and college grads with no prospects. They'll hire people who can barely read or write, let alone who should be around children. They hire drug addicts, alcoholics, hateful and downright abusive individuals. Reports of drug and alcohol use AT THE SCHOOL, DURING THE SERVICE DAY are punished with a slap on the wrist. City Year, rather than trying to hire people who will better the schools (or the kids, apparently whom it's all about), cares more about the numbers of "diverse" (cough*inept) people rather than actual results. This is par for the course though. If you notice, City Year very rarely can prove that corps members are actually effective at raising scores or preventing drop-outs. Rather, they just report on the sheer number of hours served, and very dubious stats that are not actually due to CM interventions or service.

We are poorly hired, poorly trained, poorly treated, poorly managed, and largely ineffective. I really regret spending this year with City Year. I wish I had looked into literally ANY other in-school service program, rather than trusting that City Year was a good organization.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at City Year full-time for less than a year

Pros – The students I got to tutor were the only good thing about City Year.

Cons – City Year exploits corps members who are college graduates to the point that it borders on abuse, (While the corps officially boasts of its "diverse corps" consisting of college graduates, high school dropouts, kids taking a year off, etc), the truth is that if you don't feel like working hard (or at all), no one at City Year will force you to do so. There is no such thing as accountability. I found that it often fell to to the college graduates to pick up the slack. There were points when my college grad/college-bound co-workers and I were in the Philadelphia office until 11 at night because each one of us was expected to do the work of 2-3 people. The rest of the team would literally go home and party while we worked. Anyone who complained was called negative and accused of "not being a team player" or "not caring about the children." Which was ridiculous, because the only thing that keeps City Year's hardest workers going are the children in the schools we work in.

Also, because corps members don't have to meet any academic standards before being hired, it is not unusual to see corps members design lesson plans that are factually incorrect. (For example, during my corps year, a group of senior corps members designed a lesson plan about the world's 4 largest religions and the organizers incorrectly said Buddhism came in at number 3. This is incorrect, the answer is Hinduism. When I pointed this out, I was chewed out and told I was being negative.)

Advice to Senior Management – Please get rid of the Scientology-esque culture and weird evangelism. A legendary American political figure had a major surgery during my corps year and all corps members were REQUIRED to sign a get-well card for him. It was just creepy and the only reason we were required to do it was because City Year wanted this particular politician's political support. (As I was signing it, I distinctly remember thinking, "I feel like I'm in North Korea writing a message to the Dear Leader.")

Please require that all incoming corps members take a writing and math test before being hired, It's ridiculous that City Year places 18-24 year olds who can barely read or do math into high schools. (I knew several corps members who couldn't read beyond a 5th grade level (if that), and don't get me started on math comprehension.) How does placing these people in inner-city schools solve the so-called "drop-out crisis?"

Please get a real HR Department that knows how to deal with issues like sexual harassment and homophobia. (There's a lot more that I can say about this, but I'm not sure if it would violate GD's community guidelines.) My team was also not paid on time 5 times and no one at the Philadelphia site apologized, even though human error was to blame.

Please treat your corps members with respect. My project manager was emotionally abusive to us and when it was brought to the attention of management, leadership was more concerned about sweeping the issue under the rug than actually addressing the problem.

Related: Please also give your project managers some managerial training, especially on how to be sensitive to people of non-Abrahamic religions, people of color, and the LGBT community.

Stop expanding. Part of the reason City Year is so insane is because sites set unrealistic recruitment goals. The Philadelphia site literally hires people off of the street to fill their quotas each September. I'd rather have a committed, literate corps of 75-100 young people than a corps of 300 that was mostly composed of dead weight.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at City Year

Pros – There are many opportunities for professional development for those willing to take those opportunities--especially if you'd like to work with students in the future. This is a great way to get real, practical experience in the classroom managing and lesson planning. If you are considering a career in teaching but aren't sure, this may be for you. In some cases it can be a HUGE wake up call.

I've found that the "culture" of CY is corny and lame, yes, but that in most cases it does foster a caring atmosphere and one in which people are reading and willing to help one another.

There is great diversity in the corps. I met people who otherwise I'd never have met, many of whom were interesting, wonderful people.

It's a huge learning experience. You develop discipline, endurance, and any number of other important skills...at the very least you won't come out of the year with fewer skills than you started with (although you may be considerably more jaded).

Cons – I'm going to try to be completely fair in this review:

The stipend is so low that it's downright insulting.

Deviating from CY culture and expressing discontent is frowned upon.

Long hours. For instance, I was expected at work at 7:40 and 95% of the time did not leave until 6:40. Having a nap while on hours is not allowed. Driving a car while on hours is not allowed (not even if you have your own car and your own health insurance). Riding a bicycle without a helment, however is OK with the rules. Rules are poorly thought out and unevenly enforced.

While there are many high achieving corps members in CY, work ethic is extremely varied and tends toward a lack of accountability. Those who chose not to hold themselves responsible are usually not held responsible. In general, CY is more caught up in enforcing details in the rules such as not being EVEN ONE MINUTE LATE to "team circle" or having one's shirt tucked in than it is to important things like, you know, actually doing work while at work.

Corps members are required to wear a dehumanizing uniform. I could deal with wearing a jacket and a pair of khaki pants, but there are a lot of little rules about the uniform that one can be written up about: socks MUST be black or white. Hair bands MUST be black. Wear a watch and a hair band on the same wrist? Don't even think about it. Lose your mandated nametag? Get ready to spend what equates to like 3 hours of work (seriously!) on a replacement nametag.

There is a disparity when it comes to what different CY sites actually DO in schools....this even occurs between different schools at the same site. Some sites just do tutoring. Some sites just do in classroom assisting. Etc, etc.

Many things are done inefficiently for no apparent reason (i.e. how trainings are run, websites required for use, how attendance is kept track of...it goes on and on). Over and over I was told the same schpeal : "sometimes it seems like this isn't the best way to do things, but trust City Year!"

Worst of all: I have some serious beef with the CY service model. It didn't start out as an in schools non profit, and I have the feeling that the switch was made largely because it's easier to rustle up money for such causes.

Recruits are anywhere from 17-24, mostly fresh out of high school or college. Pretty much nobody has any formal education training. CY provides trainings but the quality of those trainings varies from site to site and are generally NOT run by teaching professionals or any other such qualified individuals but rather senior corps members or staff who are training on education mostly through the lens of their previous experience solely with CY. Needless to say, trainings are NOT good enough. Corps members are essentially given a few blitz trainings on "helping children read!" and are then handed a list of students and are thrown into a school and are told to "start tutoring in literacy." Teachers at the school often are totally clueless about why CMs are pulling students out of their classrooms--some schools have awkward or downright poor relationships with CY, though to be fair some have great relationships as well.

I can only speak from my experience at my site in CA, but CMs were also expected to run an extended day after school program. That means actual classes, not just playing outside and babysitting. Most CMs are totally unqualified to be doing such work (including myself when I first started). I can say that being thrown into a classroom with minimal training and experience was one of the worst, most stressful experiences of my life. A good learning experiences, but also literally one of the worst experiences of my life.

On the whole, the experience is largely shaped by the program at your particular school, your team, and your manager (as with most jobs).

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at City Year

Pros – The best reasons to work for City Year are 1) a job experience that will allow you to get any job you'd like when you're done, and 2) the education award.

Cons – 1) 50+ hour work weeks with little to no time off permitted at less than $4/hour
2) Very poor health insurance
3) Total structural disorganization
4) Poor leadership
5) Blurry goals and vision
6) Dissonance between the ideals of the organization and the treatment of its workers

Advice to Senior Management – Treat City Year corps members as successful human beings and not as ignorant children.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at City Year

Pros – If you are passionate about community service and working with youth and don't mind sitting around for hours on end doing nothing or a frustrating workplace.

Cons – If you have a problem upper management will turn it around on you. Basically, there is nothing wrong with City Year, the problem is you. Time is not managed well at all. Expect to find yourself with nothing to do for hours on end. No one cares if the other people on your team do nothing; a lazy work ethic is considered "diversity" there. Whatever happened to Americorps:Getting things done? Also, the pay is incredibly poor but you do get an education award.

Advice to Senior Management – Accept the fact that the problem is with the organization NOT your employees. Only then will you ever be able to accomplish anything worthwhile.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at City Year full-time

Pros – -The education award you get is helpful...(but you have to claim it on your taxes as income)
-Working with students
-It's satisfying to know that your corps year is only for 10 months.

Cons – The organization is very controlling and values their image and branding over their corps members and the work they do. In addition, City Year is very interested in not just the positive notion of diversity but also showing off physical diversity in a forceable way. For example, during yearly events that promote City Year, corps members are chosen/invited to go based on their race and gender.

Working in the schools is very challenging as well. City Year is very data-driven. Corps members are either assigned/get to choose their a group of 15-17 students to put on their focus list. These students are chosen based on the prediction that they have the most potential for growth - therefore the students that are extremely below grade level proficiency will not be able to be a focus list student...

I think that data-driven work is great only when it provides unbiased inferences. However, City Year only appears to want positive data. Of course if a corps member works with a student in a tutoring/mentoring session throughout the year, their grades will improve! So of course the data will 99% most likely be positive. What a great model for showing off genuine information to potential sponsors and supports of City Year. (sarcasm~)
My question is what happens to former focus list students the next academic year, if they don't have City Year. Most likely, grades will go down...too bad no data is found on that.

Another negative side to City Year is the fact that it is open to anyone with a high school degree (ages 17-24). I don't mean to be too judgmental but City Year has some crazy corps members that they accept. I always heard this fact around the office: "You are special because you are 1 out of 6 that made it to the corps!") What a bunch of malarky. I think (1) you shouldn't be able to work with City Year straight out of high school and (2) there should be a GPA cut off. Not only are there crazy corps members, some (I KNOW), do not know how to be positive role models to their students/understand what they are tutoring their students in.

City Year is also very inefficient. But you can read all the other comments below or you can become a corps member yourself and then take down the establishment from the inside!!!!

Advice to Senior Management – The organization is growing faster than your management can handle. Chill out.
#makebetterhappen
Become more knowledgable and approachable about the work you're actually doing.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at City Year full-time

Pros – Education reform, community engagement, end the dropout rate, diverse team, like-minded, progressive individuals,

Cons – non-supportive environment for upward mobility within organization, unequal access to leadership opportunities, bad senior leadership placement - lack experience and management skills, overworked, lack of accountability, disorganized and undocumented data systems and misuse of donations

Advice to Senior Management – limited opportunities to move up, only lateral movements

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at City Year full-time for less than a year

Pros – You meet some good people and fall in love with the kids that you work with. You do get to participate in cmmunity organizing events as well.

Cons – Tons of wasted time, long hours and barely any compensation. They really misconstrue what the job entails and most people end up doing a job they didn't sign up for. There is constant inflexibility on the end of the organization while they expect flexibility on every poorly planned event and training they hold themselves.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to the corps members and stop making them do useless things

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at City Year full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great culture, committed coworkers, real impact on students.

Cons – Hard to grow at the organization, under payed for similar positions at other nonprofits, leadership is not properly vetted.

Advice to Senior Management – Seek more training on leadership. Take more time off so that when you come to work, you are 100% committed and ready to serve.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at City Year full-time for less than a year

Pros – Kind of useful life experience.

Cons – That treat people like dogs

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company