City Year Reflection

The program was intended to help cities build schools and provide healthcare and job training.

Analyze the story structure: Tell the children that thinking about the story’s plot helps readers to understand what happens in the beginning, the middle, and the end of a story. Review plot if needed. “Let’s reread City Garden and notice what happens in the beginning, the middle and the end. “

The saying “recalled to life” in Tale of Two Cities (1859) signifies bringing people back from death, but it also reveals the transformation of characters as they face their obstacles.

The space in which people occupy themselves in and call their ‘home’ is often influenced by who they are as individuals. Gender and class roles that are considered as ‘socially appropriate’, affect the ways in which people interact with one another, with their surroundings, and ultimately influence their understanding of their place within a city. An Example of this occurring is discussed by Leslie Kern in her article, “In Place and At Home in the City: Connecting privilege, safety and belonging for women in Toronto”, in which she examines how a specific gender, race, and class of people (women who are white and middle-class) make connections between their social identities and their sense of safety/ belonging within the diverse city of Toronto. Kern (2005) makes the argument that there is a gendered

In 2013, I had the opportunity to assist local public school administrators on the issue of illiteracy and the allocation of resources in inner-city schools. Additionally, I collaborated on a small team to implement plans to provide public housing for the homeless in Orange County, CA. During this time, I also had the opportunity to be a nanny for five kids who were formerly homeless. I was able to be a part of their transition from street life to home life and witness the effects of poverty

In early July, 2014 I had just graduated high school. I decided I wanted to do something spontaneous and to help people. That late may I had gone to a career fair where I obtained an informational packet for AmeriCorps. I didn’t give the packet much thought other than a passing interest. When I graduated I remembered the packet and decided why not. The most important day of my life was the day I officially joined AmeriCorps.

This summer I worked in New York City at Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), which is a non-profit organization for poverty-stricken children and families in Harlem, providing free support in the forms of parenting workshops, a pre-school program, three public charter schools, child-oriented health programs that serve approximately 13,705 children and 13,784 adults. The Harlem Children’s Zone Project has expanded the HCZ’s comprehensive system of programs to nearly 100 blocks of Central Harlem and aims to keep children on track throughout college and into the job market. The organization is made-up of about twenty two programs in total that ensure there are no gaps in-between one phase to the next. For instance if a student needs to take a year off before attending college, HCZ has created programs that will stick with the student during this time frame, in other words providing these students with a strong support group so they are held accountable to attend college in the future. The HCZ is “aimed at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and

Sentinel City appears to be a primarily urban area with very little open space. The houses are mostly multi-family complexes like apartments, condos, senior and independent living centers, that are constructed from brick. Industrial Heights and Casper Park District have older, more dilapidated buildings that were probably factories years ago. Trash and graffiti are abundant within this area. Nightingale Square and Acer Tech Center have more well taken care of lawns, less graffiti, more historical places, and sophisticated dinning and shopping options.

Slam! The door behind us slams shut because one of the idiotic crew members forgot I told Steven to be a look out and only four of us were going in. It was Lucy, Frank, Josh, and I going into the Bushnell Police Department. We were in need of ammo or just some type of weapons. Lucy had a crowbar, Frank had a wood baseball bat with nails in it, Josh had a Katana but it was on its last stand, and I had a Glock 19 with two bullets and an old pipe I found when we went through ST.Louis. We are heading north because the “infected” can’t move well when it is cold outside and it helps more if it is snowing. But we ran into a problem. Josh needs a new weapon and Frank got bit on the leg. When someone gets bit they only last about 20 hours then they get a fever, stomach ache, sharp pains in the back or stomach area, and many more problems. So that leaves us here, in a police station with a guy who can turn into an infected any second. Plus we don’t know who or what is inside the station. People that are alive say infected are more of an easy target than humans. We are only 7 meters into the station and I seen something move down the hall. I brought up my gun so that it was eye height with me. We slowly walked down the hall looking from one room to another. Once we got to the end of the station, near the back where they kept the cells, we seen him. It looked like a young boy maybe 17-18 years of age.

The agency of Public Citizens for Children and Youth has also made great strides in the public school sector of the Philadelphia area. In kairotic and opportunistic manner, in 2003 the agency launched an initiative called, “1% More for Kids Campaign”

I’m moving to Iowa. A city girl from the east coast who has never been more than 5 hours from home, has enrolled in AmeriCorps NCCC, a 10-month National Service program that develops leadership skills and performs community service all over the country.

AmeriCorps offers their services nationwide in areas where economic instability dominates the social environment. Since this is a mission I support, my passion to become a member of the organization starts there. Beyond that, my desire to effect a positive change for minority groups who struggle with immigration issues, as well as not being able to obtain comprehensive resources due to economical deficiencies has been my ultimate goal for as long as I can remember, especially since I was raised in a low socioeconomic household. Fortunately, the quality of services offered to me in school was not determined by my family’s annual household income; I was able to receive outstanding support and assistance. However, there are a plethora of disadvantaged

As I was and still am in the process of applying for other AmeriCorps programs, I have had the chance to speak to two different Teach for America staff members who through their informational meetings showed me the importance of the work I would be doing with Teach for America. As a kid, I grew up in poverty with my mom and four other siblings’ living paycheck to paycheck off government assistance. This experience was my motivation to change my future and the statistics I faced as a Black male who grew up in poverty, and also showed me why giving back to the community was the right thing to do! All my life, I have received help from different people, groups, or organizations from neighbors, to my big brother from the Big Brother Big Sister

After graduating high school, I took a break (gap year) before entering college. I applied to many places then decided to give City Year a chance. I loved everything City Year represented and there was something about the red jackets that drew me to the organization. For eleven months I was a corps member for the New York site that’s my connection to City Year. I was lucky enough to serve in my old Elementary school (no one was aware I had attended the school.) Seeing the man-hours, I and others such as corps members as well as those in the “front office” put in to make sure the students and communities get the best I fell in love with City Year. You could tell everyone was dedicated to the communities they served and being role models for

          The city I propose as a perfect city, would be as close to an ecocity as possible, although have some differences. For example, for electrical needs, I would suggest the city have a solar power plant, but on those desperate times, energy would be bought from other electrical plants from nearby towns or states.