4 October AmeriCorps Alumni Spotlight: From City Year to City Council October 4, 2021 By Sarah Short AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps Member Stories, Impact Stories, Member Impact Story 0 Elizabeth Brown served the community in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at City Year in Greater Philadelphia in the 2002-2003 AmeriCorps project year. At City Year, AmeriCorps members serve full-time in schools during the academic year as tutors, mentors, and role models. By focusing on attendance, behavior, and course performance, which identify students who are at risk of not graduating on time, AmeriCorps members are uniquely positioned to help students and schools succeed. Currently, Brown is a city council member in the City of Columbus. Q: What was your role as a member? What community issues did you address? A: I worked to promote literacy and service learning in the Philadelphia Public Schools, primarily as a corps member at Harding Middle School, but also as program director for a citywide spring break camp. Q: What was your favorite memory from serving? What did you enjoy most about your experience? A: One memory always stands out of a boy named Nigel in the sixth-grade English class where I served as a teacher’s assistant. He told me he was totally uninterested in school, and we would often take laps around the school when his behavior needed some attention, chatting about life, his concerns, and more. Halfway through the school year, the teacher and I worked on a poetry unit for the class, and Nigel learned about Langston Hughes. Something awakened in him, and not only did he devour the material, but he also was motivated on his own terms to copy Hughes’ poetry into an illustrated book—above and beyond the class assignment—showing what spoke to him the most about it. It was a small moment of understanding what resonant material can do for a child’s sense of wonder about the world and sense of motivation too. Q: How has AmeriCorps service influenced where you are today? A: My AmeriCorps service taught me some of my greatest lessons about the intersection between public policy and people’s lives. In the classroom, kids are facing not just the result of education policy—class size, old or new textbooks, teacher support—they are also facing whatever they brought to school with them: housing policy, food availability, wages, and criminal justice systems that determine the mobility their families have access to outside the classroom. Q: Would you recommend joining AmeriCorps to your peers? Why or why not? A: I recommend AmeriCorps service to every group of young people I speak with. It is a transformative thing to spend a chunk of your life entirely dedicated to service. The peers you meet share your sense of commitment, and the people you serve are examples of the promise and greatness of every neighborhood. To learn more about the AmeriCorps program and to read more alumni stories, click here. Related Posts AmeriCorps Alumni Spotlight: Improving Diversity in Medicine Through AmeriCorps Service In 2020-2021 AmeriCorps project year, Gavin Wu served with Corps for Rural and Urban Successes in Health (CRUSH). Wu's service inspired him to continue providing opportunities in medicine to marginalized populations. Wu is currently a student at The Ohio State College of Medicine. AmeriCorps Alumni Spotlight: Addressing Mental Health Through AmeriCorps Service Gurneet Raina served at Corps for Rural and Urban Successes in Health (CRUSH) from 2013 to 2015. Raina's service year was an inspiration to apply to medical school and then eventually pursue psychiatry. Gurneet Raina is currently a second-year psychiatry resident through Summa Health. AmeriCorps Alumni Spotlight: From Service to a Career in Serving Families IN 2005-2006, Nick Jones served at Children's Hunger Alliance where he helped address childhood hunger, healthy eating and living and obesity. Nick continues this work today as the Director of Healthy Neighborhoods Healthy Families at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Celebrating 25 Years of AmeriCorps On October 8th, 900 AmeriCorps members, alumni, program staff, and community leaders came together to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the AmeriCorps program. Members from across the state of Ohio came to Columbus to celebrate and be celebrated. Read a few reflections of the day from our AmeriCorps Program Directors. AmeriCorps Member Impact: City Year Cleveland A member serving with City Year Cleveland reflects on his second year of service and how mentoring and education go hand in hand. AmeriCorps Alumni Spotlight: Braedy Hall Braedy Hall is an AmeriCorps CRUSH alum. She served with the program for 2 years. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati this year with a B.A. in Political Sciences and Government. As an AmeriCorps CRUSH member, she served with the local Cincinnati High Schools and helped students identify health disparities within their school and community. She has helped students create sustainable community health projects. Comments are closed.