Posts in National
After-School Choice Matters Too

esident Trump revealed his first budget proposal to Congress yesterday, and it comes with a 13 percent cut to the Department of Education’s budget. One program the Administration proposes to eliminate completely is the $1.1 billion 21st Century Community Learning Centers program (21st CCLC), which provides grants to communities for out-of-school-time programs serving students in high-poverty and low-performing schools. 

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TF Alumni Spotlight: William Otto Katt

After graduating from The College of New Jersey and earning a graduate degree at the University of Connecticut, Otto Katt knew he wanted to make a difference. Inspired by the Citizen Schools mission, he moved to Boston and began working with middle school students as a Teaching Fellow leading academic enrichment and interventions. After his two-year commitment, Otto decided the classroom was the place to continue his impact. He joined the 2012 Teach For America Charlotte corps and began leading his own middle school social studies class. His passion for education only grew, and he is now a Teach For America Capitol Hill Fellow, bringing his classroom experience to Washington, D.C.

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Trump’s proposed AmeriCorps cuts would trim .03 percent of the federal budget — but slash support at 11,000 schools

Through another AmeriCorps program, Citizen Schools, 41 corps members act as teaching fellows in high-needs middle schools in Harlem and Brooklyn, where they also help mobilize community partners to volunteer, said Wendy Lee, executive director of Citizen Schools NY.

“Our entire operating model is based on having AmeriCorps service members in schools,” Lee said. If funding were cut, she said, “We’d either have to rethink staffing or rethink the way our model is delivered.”

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Bank of America, Kerry Sullivan, Recognized by Voices for National Service for Commitment to National Service

On February 14, 2017, Bank of America was awarded the Corporate Service Award by Voices for National Service at the 14th Annual Friends of National Service Awards in Washington, D.C.  The award recognizes their investment in the civic health of our nation through support of national service. We were proud to celebrate alongside Kerry Sullivan, President of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, and her team - and honored to call them a partner.

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Lessons From Year One as CEO: Our Role in the Education Sector

Winter marks a set of important anniversaries for Citizen Schools:  the anniversary of our incorporation on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1995;  the anniversary of Black History Month, which offers the country an important reminder of the perseverance and resilience necessary to forge a more just and equitable society; and, now, my first year anniversary as our CEO.  I am proud to stand on the shoulders of giants in fulfilling our mission to close opportunity gaps to restore economic mobility in this country - and every student’s shot at the American Dream.  

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Citizen Schools Expands Focus on Applied Science with Support from Dell

Today Citizen Schools, a national leader in providing project-based apprenticeship learning for middle school students in high-need, public school districts, announced, with support from Dell, its plan to expand its focus on applied science apprenticeships for students across the country. Dell joins AmeriCorps, Biogen Foundation, Cisco and Fidelity as a National Leadership Partner, Citizen Schools’ lead corporate investors.

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Questrom’s Link Day Offers Expertise to Nonprofits

Chi Vo and Marisabel Jaramillo, two staffers from local nonprofit Citizen Schools, came to Link Day at the Questrom School of Business last Saturday looking for help in attracting more volunteers from diverse backgrounds.

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Browne School Students Learn To Program Robots at Microsoft Thanks to Grant from All Points North Foundation

This semester, our students traveled to the Microsoft offices in Cambridge, MA, every Thursday to take part in the ‘Robotics with Microsoft’ apprenticeship. The students programmed their own robots alongside Microsoft engineers and programmers. They learned about sensor technology and fundamental coding skills. The students worked in teams and came up with solutions through their own design ideas.

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Introducing Citizen Schools' New Civic Engagement Coordinator, Zoe Pilla!

I graduated from Northeastern majoring in Business Administration and Marketing, with minors in International Affairs and Social Entrepreneurship. While at Northeastern I worked for a year and a half at 3 different internships, my favorite one being at Pine St Inn, which is the biggest center for homeless resources in New England, where I worked in Workforce development.

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