City Year Columbus has been around for more than 20 years, but since 2010 the organization has become more strategic about its mission.
That’s paying off as the nonprofit expanded into two new schools this academic year — Trevitt Elementary and Champion Middle schools — to bring its total up to six.
“Our goal is for our students to be able to have a City Year core member from the time they start third grade until they get to 10th grade,” says Tasha Booker, executive director and vice president. “Studies have shown if a student gets to 10th grade on track, on time, they are four times more likely to graduate from high school.”
City Year is a federal AmeriCorps program, where recent college and high school graduates commit to a year of service. They work in the schools every day, helping students who are at risk of failing English and math, have an average daily attendance rate of less than 90 percent and behavioral challenges.
In return, the 54 volunteers receive a monthly living stipend and close to $6,000, which can be used for future education costs or to pay back student loans.
Booker says City Year is already seeing results from the expansion.
“Champion Middle School reported a 50 percent decrease in behavior incidents over last year, which is huge, and they’ve attributed it to the additional support of City Year,” she says.
Focus down
City Year used to respond to Columbus City Schools as they asked for help.
“We weren’t really strategic and thoughtful into where we went,” Booker says.
Now, the organization is focusing on the elementary and middle schools that feed into four high schools.
Through laser-like focus, City Year hopes to have a long-term impact, following students to higher grades and providing a continuum of programming — a concept based on research by Johns Hopkins University’s School of Education.
“So it just made sense to follow the research and not be so sporadic with the kind of programmatic services we provided,” Booker says.
It’s important, no matter what your organization, to connect your mission with the need and results, she says.
However, one continuing challenge has been that City Year used to be a physical service organization. Some people still think that the nonprofit will help beautify playgrounds or remove graffiti.
Booker says it’s hard to say no but still necessary.
“We had to be willing to walk away from that, so that we could truly make a pivot to serve students in need,” she says.
A calculated risk
Not everyone will understand your end goal, and with so many organizations focused on education the message can get watered down.
Booker says City Year has worked hard to show why it needed additional resources from its funders in order to support two more schools.
The seven schools in this particular East High School feeder pattern are failing the Ohio Department of Education’s report card. She says City Year had to decide if it was in its best interests to grow now when the announcement came out that this particular neighborhood needed more resources, or wait to go through the AmeriCorps funding process.
“We took a risk, not having all of the funders lined up, and said, ‘We are serving a critical need, and that funders will come.’ And that wasn’t necessarily the case,” Booker says.
It took more effort than she expected to find private donors who could supplement the district and AmeriCorps funds.
Making sure you have champions to help beyond the first year of growth is critical. So, Booker says if you do take that risk, make sure it’s calculated.
“Do your research, get some early yeses and leverage those,” she says.
If you can show impact and results, early investors will believe that you can replicate it to scale. Then, it’s a matter of “seeing is believing” to generate the excitement for more investment.
Break down silos
It’s also important to realize that you can’t do it alone — collaboration and partnerships are essential.
“I see sometimes nonprofits can exist in silos, as much as corporations can,” Booker says. “They think they are the only ones doing this.”
You might be competing for funds, but don’t think of other nonprofits in the arena as your competition. She says if you find others to work with, it’s easier to get support because funders want to maximum their giving.
When a nonprofit is expanding, your partners are key. Booker says that the Columbus City Schools has been adamant about making sure it is a good partner, while City Year is just as committed to partnering to serve the district’s needs as role models, mentors and tutors to students.
