<p>So I've been looking into the City Year program with Americorps, but I can't really seem to find any information beyond what's on their website. I'm looking for anyone with first hand knowledge about the program i.e. former/current volunteers or their parents. I thought that the parents forum would be the best place to post this since most of the other forums are just full of people moaning about how they got rejected from the ivies.</p>
<p>I know a bit. The program has students that are post-high school and post-college. The program has super values and helps a lot. I was at a City Year event and I was very impressed with the attitude and insight the City Year youth exemplified. They all spoke highly of the program and felt it was a good choice for them. Good luck with your research on the topic.</p>
<p>Thanks.
Anyone else?</p>
<p>I checked into this with my son. It is a great program and, if at age 18, you can live it home, a good option for a gapyear. My concern is that if you live away from home to do Citiyear,you are expected to secure your own housing and rental contract (they will help you find sources and subsidize the housing). Additionally, it is up to you to arrange your own transportation (a problem if you don’t live near trains/ buses). I think it would be a good option for my son when he has more life experience. He has never lived on his own and I don’t think is ready to manage paying rent, purchasing all of his own food and managing his transportation at 18. If you have the maturity to handle all of that, I think it is a wonderful option.</p>
<p>Thanks hornet!</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there is no City Year program in Denver, so I would have to go somewhere else. I certainly do believe that I could handle living on my own, although the whole idea of participating in the program makes me nervous. I know it would be good for me as a person though.</p>
<p>bump 10char</p>
<p>You can Google for blogs by participants. There are some differences in experiences depending on the location you select and how they run their program. </p>
<p>Our daughter planned to do Americorps for 2009-10 gap year between HS and college and could not get a placement at her selected location because they maxed out on college grads who couldn’t secure employment! From what I read in the media, all of the service opportunities–Peace Corps, Americorps, Teach for America, etc.–were inundated with far more students than they could place because of the economy.</p>
<p>My advice, then, would be to research the programs, and if you decide this is something you want to pursue, get moving, put forward the strongest presentation you can and have a Plan B just in case.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I’ve actually been looking for members’ blogs, but have only been able to find 1-2 that were remotely informative. If you know of any good ones I would appreciate the information. I can’t decide on any of the places to apply for though, so I may just ended up having them pick one for me. I never was good at deciding what I wanted. I once spent an hour in the grocery store trying to pick a candy bar to buy with my precious dollar! I figure that they’ll forward my application to the location with the lowest ratio of applications:openings if I do that which could improve my chance of acceptance.</p>
<p>Hey, I’m one of the 2010 - 2011 City Year Corps members, so I can try and answer some of your questions. I haven’t actually started the program yet (begins mid-August, depending on location), but I did a lot of research initially before I applied.</p>
<p>If you apply to serve most where you are most needed, they’ll still offer you a choice between three locations.</p>
<p>Good luck on your application!</p>
<p>Thank you LessTraveledBy</p>
<p>Reviving this thread to see if anyone has updated or additional experience with City Year. We’re close to NYC so my son could live at home…anyone done this? It is hard for me to get a good read on the program from the information I could find so far but it seems like a perfect low-cost, high-impact gap year option.</p>
<p>Anyone with info?</p>