Budget cuts put public service in peril

By Kemba Gray and Zach Meyer, 10/10/2003

EIGHTY-SEVEN billion dollars is a lot to ask, even for the difficult task of building a democracy in a country that has never had one. Two hundred million dollars? Not as impressive. Well, that's how much money AmeriCorps, the country's premier federally funded national service organization, asked for last year. They didn't get it.

So what? Why should you care?

City Year is one reason.

City Year is an AmeriCorps program that strives to improve the nation from within by doing community service in 15 sites across the country. City Year provides services ranging from domestic violence prevention to environmental protection, with the primary focus on teaching underprivileged children how to fight social injustice and "build a beloved community," a term taken from a speech made by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Think of City Year as the "domestic Peace Corps."

City Year was founded here in Boston in 1988 and since then has revitalized more than 3,617 outdoor spaces, worked with more than 364 corporate partners, served more than 772,250 children, and completed more than 10.9 million total hours of service.

Whether you know it or not, if you live in Boston (or any of the other places where a City Year site is located), City Year has positively affected you. Maybe you take walks in a park beautified by City Year. Maybe you use a public garden space set up by City Year.

Then again, maybe you know how City Year has affected you. Maybe a City Year corps member is a positive role model and mentor to your child. Maybe you have found a no-cost, enriching place to send your child (City Year for Kids) while you work through school vacations. Maybe City Year helped you recover from an abusive relationship. Or maybe you are one of the thousands of proud City Year alums who during your year of service gained valuable skills and a new perspective on life.

We are City Year Corps members. We are an 18-year-old white male born and raised in Wayland and a 22-year-old African-American female born and raised in Roxbury. Although we have grown up with two different backgrounds, we have joined forces to do national service because we think it is our duty as citizens of the United States.

One of us serves on the East Boston team teaching the "Building a Beloved Community" curriculum to middle school students. The other serves on the environmental initiative team teaching elementary school students in a hands-on outdoor classroom setting, which allows them to experience and appreciate nature, an opportunity that many children in the city wouldn't have without City Year.

Every team at City Year works with kids at an after-school program and completes physical service projects at least once a week. We work 50-hour weeks and get paid a living stipend that is the equivalent of about $3 per hour. We are proof that the youth of today do care and are ready to make sacrifices for our country.

We both have friends who wanted to serve in City Year but couldn't because of the cuts in funding. As a result of these cuts, this year's corps has 60 fewer members than last year, a cut of 37.5 percent. Keep in mind that City Year is just one of more than 1,000 AmeriCorps organizations, many of which got shut down entirely.

As City Year Corps members, we constantly keep in mind the lives of children, who will be leading our country in the near future. We are planting seeds in the young so that when they grow they can be leaders and role models for the subsequent generation. Our funding has been cut, and while these cuts have been devastating, we are still striving for excellence and striving to make a difference.

This is an important year for City Year and AmeriCorps as a whole. We must and will prove that national service is an important component to building a stronger, more ideal community.

Kemba Gray and Zach Meyer are City Year members who live in Boston.