NYC Mayoral Service Awards

At Citizen Schools, we envision a world in which schools, companies and families partner to provide students with a set of real-world learning experiences that put them on a path to college and career success. Here at CSNY, we are lucky to have volunteers representing so many different fields each semester. From an introduction to neuroscience with Columbia University, to a public speaking master class with a Googler, we couldn’t do what we do without our amazing CTs! CSNY recognizes the hard work and dedicated service of our volunteers through the NYC Mayoral Service Awards.

Spring WOW! Season Highlights

This spring, we were proud to host another successful WOW! season in California. From yoga and tai chi to backpacking, web design and more, our students had no shortage of amazing apprenticeships to chose from this semester. We're so proud of all that our students have learned - and so thankful to all our amazing volunteer Citizen Teachers!

CaliforniaWhitney BuckleyJune 25, 2018WOW!, backpacking, tai chi, web design

Citizen Schools Celebrates, Connects and Transforms at Annual BenefitED Gala

On Tuesday May 1, the Citizen Schools community gathered at the Computer History Museum to celebrate our community at our annual BenefitEd 2018 Gala. So many of our amazing partners had the opportunity to connect with our students, volunteers, school partners and each other, to celebrate yet another successful semester of hard work and apprenticeships at our WOW! Gallery, and to help transform the lives of our Bay Area students.

CaliforniaWhitney BuckleyJune 25, 2018benefitEd

Entrepreneurship Apprenticeship Inspires Students to Raise Money for Charity

Yearlong apprenticeships come with a unique set of challenges; the challenge of keeping students engaged for a full year, the challenge of creating an extensive curriculum to incorporate a years’ worth of learning, and the challenge of finding volunteer Citizen Teachers willing to make twice the usual time commitment for an apprenticeship (it’s usually just one semester!). This spring, the Entrepreneurship Apprenticeship at Renaissance Academy at Fischer in San Jose, CA, a first of its kind, certainly had its share of challenges - but the outcome was more than Stephanie Lin, the AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow overseeing the class could have imagined.

Biogen Foundation Awards Citizen Schools $2M Grant in Support of STEM Education

Citizen Schools has been awarded a $2M grant from the Biogen Foundation as part of the foundation's recently announced STAR Initiative. As 1 of 6 recipients of the STAR (Science, Teacher Support, Access and Readiness) Initiative, Citizen Schools will expand its signature apprenticeship program to provide hands-on STEM courses, taught by experts, to thousands of middle school students in the Somerville district, and to support classroom teacher instruction during the school day.

Biogen Foundation Selects Grantees to Receive $10 Million Investment for STEM Education

The Biogen Foundation today announced the six nonprofits that will share a previously-announced four-year, $10 million grant to drive the development of local STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education ecosystems in Cambridge and Somerville.

Media Coverage, MassachusettsWhitney BuckleyJune 19, 2018biogen, Biogen Foundation, STEM education, STEM

Citizen Schools Celebrates Community, Partnership and Student Success with WOW!NOW Breakfast at JFK Library

On Friday June 1, Citizen Schools’ diverse community of volunteer Citizen Teachers, corporate and community partners, AmeriCorps Teaching Fellows, Citizen Schools staff, students, family and friends gathered at the John F Kennedy Presidential Library in celebration of the impressive work of our students, Teaching Fellows and volunteer Citizen Teachers over the last year.

Citizen Schools Massachusetts Students and Alumni Receive Awards in Honor of Andrew Balson and Sherif Nada

Every year, Citizen Schools honors the impact that Andrew Balson and Sherif Nada have had on Citizen Schools in their former roles as National Board chairs and in their current roles as Directors Emeriti with the presentation of two awards - The Andrew Balson Leadership Award and Sherif Nada Legacy Award. These awards are presented to two current and two former Citizen Schools Massachusetts students, respectively. This year, the award ceremony was held on May 22, 2018 and members of the community, staff, family and friends joined our National Board to celebrate at Citizen Schools headquarters in Boston.

Project Exploration Wins 2018 STEM Coalition Challenge

Project Exploration was selected from 92 applications from 82 communities across 35 states, representing more than 1,800 nonprofits, companies, school districts, and local government partners. Project Exploration (PE) is honored to have been selected as a finalist in the US2020 Challenge. As a finalist, Project Exploration sent representatives, Natasha Smith-Walker and Kelsey Galante, to attend the US2020 Collaboratory in Pittsburgh in February 2018.

Farrell runs clinic, donates school supplies in Somerville

New England Revolution right back Andrew Farrell recently visited the East Somerville Community School as the Revs wrapped up their apprenticeship program through Citizen Schools with a clinic and a donation of school supplies.

Idaho STEM Action Center Wins $50,000 Grant for Mentorship Program

The Idaho STEM Action Center, an agency added to the Governor's Office in 2015 to give Idaho students more access to and guidance in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, announced today that it is one of eight winners of the US2020 STEM Coalition Challenge. The challenge, which is a nationwide competition that rewards programs bringing STEM "mentoring and maker-centered learning" to underserved students, splits $1 million in cash and support among chosen STEM-related agencies, companies and nonprofits. The Idaho STEM Action Center is slated to receive a $50,000 cash award.

US2020 Announces Winners of STEM Coalition Challenge

Eight winners were selected from a pool of nearly 100 communities representing close to 2,000 partners across 35 states looking to bring more STEM mentorship and maker-centered learning opportunities to students across the country in creative and compelling ways.

With a Challenge, US2020 Spurs Effort to Bring New Learning Models to Low-Income Schools

Eight community organizations from across the nation were recognized today at the Maker Faire in San Mateo, California for developing innovative models to scale STEM mentorship and maker-centered learning experiences for students in low-income communities.

Buffalo science education initiative a winner in national STEM Coalition Challenge

Buffalo’s Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Partnership (ISEP) is one of eight groups from across the country named by US2020 as a winner of the 2018 STEM Coalition Challenge, a competition for communities nationwide to bring hands-on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) mentoring and maker-centered learning to underrepresented students.

Revolution Players Visit East Somerville Community School

They’re helping to start a “Revolution” on the field – and in the classroom. Members of the New England Revolution Major League Soccer team will visit students at the East Somerville Community School, at 50 Cross Street in Somerville on Thursday, May 17 at 5:30 pm. as part of Citizen Schools’ apprenticeship program - which provides students with hands-on, project-based learning experiences that connect what they learn in school to real world career pathways. Revolution starting Defender Andrew Farrell, along with Marketing Supervisor Matthew Miller and a coach from the New England Revolution Academy, will be on hand, delivering school necessities donated at a recent Revolution home game and playing soccer with the students.

Beyond Sport & 49ers Foundation to Host 2nd ‘Beyond Innovation’ Summit at Iconic Levi’s® Stadium May 22-23

On May 23 2018, Beyond Sport and the San Francisco 49ers Foundation will hold the second installment of the Beyond Innovation Summit in Santa Clara, California. Expanding on the successes of last year’s event and the subsequent launch of the Sport & STEM Alliance, Beyond Innovation will bring together global experts, inspirational innovators and committed decision-makers to discuss state-of-art approaches to leveraging sport to improve, empower and create new approaches to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education. Upwards of 200 delegates will explore the unique opportunity sports presents to help prevent the predicted shortfall of 85 million skilled jobs in the global economy by 2020.

Celebrating Our Team: Citizen Schools Annual Awards

Each spring at Citizen Schools brings a flurry of energy and activity. Spring WOW! season: the culmination of another year of programming and celebration of the hard work of our students and campus teams; graduating yet another class of our hard working AmeriCorps Teaching Fellows; and the palpable buzz and youthful excitement you find in any school environment that grows with each passing day that brings us closer to summer.

NationalWhitney BuckleyMay 14, 2018AmeriCorps, eric schwarz, Tulaine Montgomery

Utilizing Blended Learning to Close Opportunity and Achievement Gaps: Lessons from Citizen Schools Digital Courseware Pilot

In the 2016-17 school year, Citizen Schools completed the second year of our initiative to pilot and evaluate digital courseware across our national network to learn more about how best to integrate technology into Expanded Learning Time (ELT) for middle school students.

Celebrating Volunteering With Joy

Volunteers come from all walks of life. Usually, they choose a cause that they feel passionate about or that they can relate to. Most volunteers are interested in making the difference and leaving a legacy in the organization they serve. Whether that impact is sustainable or not, depends on the community and the organization itself. However, their heart, dedication, and joy to serve others is what matters the most. In observance of National Volunteer Month, we decided to celebrate the individuals that bring our mission to life: our volunteers. Their passion, courage, and determination to join us in closing the opportunity gap inspires us everyday.

Women’s Audio Mission: Volunteer Spotlight

This semester, San Francisco-based nonprofit Women’s Audio Mission (WAM) partnered with Citizen Schools to teach apprenticeships at two of our middle schools in Oakland: Roots Academy and Greenleaf. The apprenticeship, called Girls on the Mic, educates girls about audio technology, recording and sound engineering through music and media. The goal of the program is to drive girls’ interest in STEM and introduce them to technology-based careers in a traditionally male-dominated field.

CaliforniaAndrew LuckApril 19, 2018Citizen Schools California

Read our latest news