A City Education: Bridging the Gap Between Communities and Schools
In our A City Education series, two City Year corps members share their experiences working as tutors and mentors in schools in hopes of closing the achievement gap and ending the dropout crisis.
For our most recent City Year New York community meeting—a gathering of all 254 corps members in the city—I was asked to share what motivated me to join City Year. I told my peers I joined because I thrive in a community environment where a shared goal and vision become a catalyst for action. One of the principles that City Year corps members look to for guidance and perspective is Ubuntu, a shortened version of a Zulu proverb that means, "I am a person through other people. My humanity is tied to yours."
But I admit that when I first started serving at P.S. 50, a kindergarten through eighth grade school in East Harlem, I worried about how well an external organization like City Year would be able to really integrate into the school community. In the three months I've served at P.S. 50, I've learned that it’s possible to effectively connect