Every 26 seconds, a child in the US drops out of school. And every year, up to 25,000 children in the UK drop out of school at the age of 14.
“These are appalling statistics,” says Loretta Smith, US Director of Corporate Citizenship. “So we’re working with a global organisation called City Year to tackle this crisis and keep as many kids in school as possible. We’ve been supporting the organisation at a local level in the US for more than seven years. What we’ve done recently is bring all that activity together so it’s more co-ordinated.”
“So now, as north-east regional sponsor, we’re donating $750,000 over three years. It’s a sizeable investment, but City Year has a presence in every one of our US service areas, so it’s an ideal organisation to support. And in September, it’s starting up in London, so we’ll be getting involved in the UK too. Effectively, it will become our first global community initiative.”
The principle behind City Year is simple. Young adults aged between 17 and 24, often just out of college, work in a school for one year. They receive a small stipend (an internship ‘salary’).
Loretta explains: “The volunteers mentor the students and act as an intermediary between the kids and the teachers, and sometimes between the kids and their parents.
“City Year is very focused – the organisation recently developed a ‘Whole School Whole Child’ programme that identifies the schools with the worst drop-out rates. It sends in a team of 10-15 volunteers to help the students, teachers and parents. Our sponsorship contribution fits with our goal of reaching young children and will fund more than 200 volunteers in New York and New England. It will provide volunteer opportunities for our employees too.”
And, as Loretta says, City Year is crossing the Atlantic later this year.
Julian Buttery, Head of UK Community Relations, explains: “We’re talking to City Year and with our project groups in Hackney, London, to see if we can help things get off the ground. The organisation has had some great successes, with millions of kids seeing its benefits. There’s a fantastic opportunity for us to get involved over here.”
“But it’s is not a case of just doing it in the UK because it’s happening in the US: we need to make sure that any money we invest is relevant to our overall programme. We have ongoing works in Hackney, a target area for City Year, so there’s the potential to link our community education to important capital projects. That’s something we’re looking at right now.”