City Year's 15th Anniversary

CITY YEAR'S 15TH ANNIVERSARY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, on June 4th hundreds of talented, motivated young men and women will meet in Boston to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of City Year. In 1989 the first group of young people completed a year of service to their community, inspiring what would become AmeriCorps. Now, 15 years later, City Year will hold its annual meeting in the city where it began. Since then, thirteen additional cities have welcomed the young idealists in red jackets and Timberland boots who, in their own words, "are young enough to want to change the world and old enough to do it."

City Year recruits start each day with "PT," a trademark exercise routine to wake up the mind and spirit to take on the challenges of the day. They move on to challenge the apathy in the communities they serve. They spend each day tackling illiteracy, tutoring, refurbishing buildings, improving access to health care, and changing lives in many other ways.

City Year participants also work tirelessly to encourage others to serve, attracting volunteers through Serve-a-thons and special service days that focus community efforts on a particular project. They spread their love of service and highlight local problems that can be solved by working together.

"Cyzygy," their annual meeting, is a time when they celebrate service and discuss strategies to improve recruitment, retention and the quality of service. Just as they work to improve communities, they work to improve the way communities address their problems, and engage others in the search for effective solutions.

When they launched City Year in the 1980's, Alan Khazei and Michael Brown had a noble vision that spending a year in service to community could become the norm. They foresaw a domestic Peace Corps that could transform lives and rebuild communities. At the time, many thought they were impractical dreamers. Today we know they were practical visionaries and we are all proud to witness the results of their vision. Happy Birthday, City Year!