Smith Barney Sponsors and Serves on City Year Opening Day
MIAMI – City Year, a national youth service organization, celebrated its 20th anniversary today with the launch of City Year Miami. At a spirited Opening Day ceremony at The Miami Beach Colony Theater, 80 dedicated young adults pledged to serve the children and families of local children and schools as the 2008-2009 City Year Miami corps.
These diverse men and women are among more than 1,450 City Year corps members in 19 locations across America who, together, will serve 2.5 million hours to community and country. This is the largest corps in City Year’s 20-year history, and this Opening Day – sponsored by Smith Barney – comes days after TIME magazine’s special report on service in which City Year was featured as one of the recommended “21 Ways to Serve America.”
As citizen service gains momentum nationally – including the recent support from Senators John McCain and Barack Obama at the Presidential Forum on Service on 9/11 – each of these young leaders is making a difference by serving 1,700 hours as tutors, mentors, and role models, who also lead transformative physical service. They live the City Year tagline: “give a year. change the world.”
City Year Miami is a true public-private partnership being launched with the generous support of a $1 million founding grant from The Children’s Trust, a $1.2 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and $1 million in federal AmeriCorps funding through Volunteer Florida. Corporate partners sponsoring diverse teams of corps members are Bayview Financial, Comcast, CSX and Royal Caribbean International/Celebrity Cruises.
Local champions were instrumental in the launch of the site, and spoke at the Opening Day Ceremony, including bestselling author and City Year Miami Board Co-Chair, Brad Meltzer, Modesto Abety, CEO, The Children’s Trust, Commissioner Carlos Gimenez, Miami-Dade County, Wendy Spencer, CEO, Governor’s Commission on Volunteerism – Volunteer Florida, Lorenzo Lebrija, Miami Program Director, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Kevin McCarty, Senior Vice President, Citi Smith Barney and School Board Member, Dr. Martin Karp.
“Our dedication to improving the lives of children and families in Miami-Dade County is the reason we support City Year,” said Modesto Abety, CEO of The Children’s Trust. “The young leaders of City Year provide a powerful example to the children they serve, encouraging students to work hard, stay in school and thrive.”
Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, explained the Foundation’s support: “City Year provides our region with the opportunity to create young, civic-minded leaders, while at the same time helping in an area that needs more resources: our schools.”
“Smith Barney is honored to partner with City Year through our own service and also by our sponsorship of Opening Day,” said Kevin McCarty, Senior Vice President, Smith Barney, Miami. “Today’s event kicks off an extraordinary year of service that will make a difference in the lives of countless children, transform communities and improve neighborhoods both here and across the United States.”
As part of Opening Day, the young City Year leaders put their pledge into action by engaging citizens and Smith Barney employees in service projects. In Miami, City Year and Smith Barney employees came together to beautify Liberty City Elementary by painting murals, building playground benches and planting a school garden
City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz attended Opening Day and said, “City Year gives young people the opportunity to serve and gain the skills that will help them grow as leaders and community volunteers for the rest of their lives.”
With the support and dedication of partners such as Smith Barney – and National Leadership Sponsors Aramark, Bank of America, Cisco Foundation, Comcast, CSX, Pepperidge Farm, Pepsi, Timberland and T-Mobile – City Year Miami will celebrate its first year of dedicated service, and City Year, Inc.’s 20th year of service.
“We are honored to celebrate the start of our 20th year with the launch of City Year Miami, and with the largest nationwide corps in our history,” said City Year CEO and Co-founder Michael Brown, who was in Miami for Opening Day. “Across the country, young people will pledge to serve their community, nation and world as City Year corps members. I am inspired by the can-do idealism of the City Year corps, and the excitement of our champions and partners in Miami. This is a powerful launch for a year dedicated to making a transformational impact on the lives of thousands of children.”
“Every nonprofit says they want to “change the world.” City Year does it – better than anyone,” said Brad Meltzer, best selling author and City Year Miami Board Co-Chair.
The 80 corps members pledging to serve Miami will tutor and mentor school children, organizing and leading after-school programs, school vacation camps and generating positive school climate through programs designed to increase student satisfaction and excitement about learning; lead students in service and leadership programs that help them understand challenges in their communities (such as homelessness, hunger and violence) and how to address those challenges through service; inspire citizens to action through transformative physical service projects such as reviving community spaces; and implement an innovative new service component focused upon disaster readiness and response, instilling a culture of preparedness with schools and community partners in the Miami area.
The 1,450 corps members serving in the United States join 200 young people already in service in South Africa – where the service year is underway. They follow in the footsteps of the 11,400 alumni who have served more than 18 million City Year corps members since 1988, and will make their own impact in the year ahead.
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City Year unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service, giving them the skills and opportunities to change the world. As tutors, mentors, and role models, these young leaders make a difference in the lives of children and transform schools and neighborhoods across the United States and in South Africa. City Year is a proud member of AmeriCorps. For more information, please visit www.cityyear.org
Smith Barney is a division of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. (Member SIPC). It is a leading provider of comprehensive financial planning and advisory services to high net worth investors, institutions, corporations and private businesses, governments and foundations. With approximately 14,600 financial advisors in nearly 800 offices, Smith Barney offers a full suite of investment services, including asset allocation, private investments and lending services, hedge funds, cash and portfolio management, as well as retirement, education and estate planning. Smith Barney currently has more than 9.2 million client accounts, representing $1,482 billion in client assets. For more information, please visit www.smithbarney.com
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on ideas and projects that create transformational change. Visit www.knightfoundation.org.