Introducing
The Flame of Idealism
An Overview of City Year’s Leadership Development Model
BTA 2011
“Give a Year. Change the World.”
Change the
Outer World
Change the
Inner World
Service
Leadership
Development
Changing the Outer World:
Addressing the Nation’s Dropout Crisis
Every 26 seconds
A student drops out of school
• Young people of color are most affected
o
"When more than •
1 million students
a year drop out of
high school, it's
more than a
problem, it's a
catastrophe."
Nearly half of all African-American and Native-American students
will not graduate with their class; less than six in 10 Hispanic
students will.
Dropouts are less likely to be productive members of
society
High School dropouts are three times more likely than college
graduates to be unemployed and eight times more likely to be in
jail or prison than high school graduates.
o Over a lifetime, individuals with a high school diploma earn two
times that of a high school drop out.
o
• The economic impact to society is high
- Gen. Colin Powell (Ret),
Founding Chair,
America’s Promise
Alliance
o
The more than 12 million students projected to drop out over the
next decade will cost the nation about three trillion dollars.
The Crisis is Solvable
The Problem is
Concentrated
50% of the country’s dropouts come
from only 12% of the high schools
There are three off-track indicators that
Likely Dropouts can identify likely dropouts as early as 6th
Can be Identified grade:
• Poor Attendance,
• Disruptive Behavior,
• Course Failure in Math/English
Fact: A relatively small number of corps
members deployed strategically could make a
disproportionate impact on the problem.
Source: Robert Balfanz and Liza Herzog, Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University. “Unfilled Promise: The Dimensions and
Characteristics of Philadelphia’s Dropout Crisis , 2000-2005,” Ruth Curran Neild, Ph.D and Robert Balfanz, Ph.D
Whole School, Whole Child
Whole School: Creating a positive, welcoming environment with participation in
structured group activities to achieve school success
Whole Child: Disadvantaged youth benefit from individual academic attention and
supportive relationships with adults in which to learn and thrive socially and
emotionally
Academic Support
Positive School Climate
After School
Beyond Both/And
City Year has always been
focused on BOTH Service
AND Leadership
Development;
We have recently achieved
a breakthrough
understanding of how outer
and inner change work
together…
Service
Leadership
Development
The Flame of Idealism
Culture
DO: Civic
Civic
Action
KNOW:
Civic
Capacity
BE:
Identity
Uniforms, PITWs, Founding
Stories,
Team-Based, & More!
Competency-Based
The Idealist’s
Journey
Learning
Whole School,
Whole
Values
Training
Child
(Personal
and
Small
Coaching
Heroes
Group
Reflection)
Self-Directed
Together,
theseLearning
promote
Civic
Engagement
Performance
Idealism Management
& Big
Citizenship!
The Flame of Idealism
Key Insights from the
Flame
1.EVERYTHING we do at City Year is part
of a thoughtful, comprehensive leadership
development experience
2.The work of Outer Change (Service) and
Inner Change (Leadership Development)
is interconnected and interdependent
3.Because we aspire to change the world,
we will focus on BOTH outer and inner
change this year
Clarity + Integration =
Power
Service
Whole
School,
Whole Child
Leadership
Development
The Flame of
Idealism
Discussion
Final Thought
You must be the change you wish to
see in the world.
-Gandhi