Our AmeriCorps members build strong relationships with students and partner with teachers and principals to help create school environments where students feel safe, connected and welcomed.
A growing body of research finds that positive, caring relationships are essential to creating engaging learning environments—in other words, students learn when they have supportive relationships and feel physically and emotionally safe. These relationships help to enable the trust, confidence and perseverance necessary for students to acquire critical skills and mindsets, practice and make mistakes, and engage more deeply with their learning.
AmeriCorps members form trusting relationships with students—in the classroom, in the hallways and after school—that support their learning engagement and academic motivation.
He was that person you could go to if you were having a bad day. I was terrible in math. I had thought about giving up and just not coming to school anymore. He would pull me out of math class and go over anything I didn’t understand. I would not have passed Geometry or Algebra II without him.
11th-grade student talking about her City Year AmeriCorps member Student
Creating a positive learning environment
Consistent presence
AmeriCorps members are not just there when a student struggles with math or when they raise their hand in English, but also when the student argues with a friend or leads their team in gym.
Understanding of students’ unique strengths and challenges
The caring relationships that City Year AmeriCorps members develop with students help ensure that students receive the individualized support they need to build on their strengths and overcome challenges.
Trust and belonging
With this full view of the student experience, AmeriCorps members work with the school to help create a welcoming environment where all students feel they belong and are excited to engage and learn.
How students learn
Learning is a process of weaving together different skills. City Year helps students strengthen the skills essential for success in and out of school—social, emotional and academic.
City Year and our partners commit to multiple years of service in systemically under-resourced schools so that students “grow up with City Year”—our seven-year promise to students.
