Prepare to serve with City Year’s pre-service checklist

Congratulations! You’ve applied to City Year and accepted the invitation to serve with one of our sites in 29 amazing cities. You know that your service year—supporting students’ social-emotional development and helping them reach their full academic potential—will have a lasting impact in your school community and in your life. But now that the interview process is done, you’re probably wondering, “what next?”

So, here’s a helpful checklist of things you should do before you start your year of service!

Connect with your Service Year Advisor

If you haven’t already been in contact with a City Year Service Year Adviser, this is your first step to success! Service Year Advisers guide prospective and confirmed AmeriCorps members through their journeys from application to registration. Each site has a dedicated adviser to help field any questions you have and ensure that your transition to service is smooth and meaningful. They have lots of resources to help support you and keep you engaged.

Join Virtual Engagement Sessions

Because service looks different at each site, these welcome sessions will likely vary by location. But no matter where you’ve accepted the invitation to serve, this session will give you a little more insight into what serving students and schools alongside your team will look like for you. You’ll learn more about the city you’ll be serving in, the cost of living, what public transit is like, and which neighborhoods AmeriCorps members choose to live in. In addition to learning about your community, you’ll also get an overview of what service is like at your particular site. You’ll go over topics like the average size of AmeriCorps teams and learn a little more about the school communities and how your site will support your learning and development throughout your year of service.

Your “Welcome to City Year” session will provide you with high-level information, but the “Preparing for Service” session will give you more insight on the day in the life of a City Year AmeriCorps member in your community. You’ll also learn what to expect in the first 30 days of service. While you won’t receive site or team assignments at this session (that comes later!), you should come away from this session having a better understanding of day-to-day service and deeper connection to your site.

Learn more about relocating to and living in your community

Many City Year AmeriCorps members choose to relocate for service. Because we know that this process can be stressful and require careful planning, this session with your City Year Adviser is meant to help support you through that process. You’ll have the opportunity to learn more about finding roommate, cost of housing and things to consider when looking for the right neighborhood for you. This session will also highlight City Year’s relocation stipend, which is meant help offset a portion of your relocation expenses.

Learn more about City Year’s relocation benefits.

Complete onboarding through cyresource

Cyresource is an online platform you will use throughout your service primarily to complete your timesheets and track your service hours. Creating your cyresource account is a small but essential part of your journey to service. Be on the lookout for an email to set your log-in information. The system will guide you through several administrative tasks that need to be completed before you start the background check process.

Complete your fingerprints and background checks

Completed a background check is a requirement for all AmeriCorps members. You’ll receive an email from City Year’s background check team that will outline specific instructions where you’ll be able to complete the process online through Truescreen. You will then need to schedule and attend an in-person appointment for fingerprints through Fieldprint. And it is important to note that some sites will have additional requirements based on their local districts so be on the look out for additional information on this process from your site!

Prepare for and show up on registration day

Registration Day is a critical part of your journey to starting service so it’s important to be prepared! Before starting service, City Year requires documentation for background checks, the AmeriCorps verification process and for completing your tax documents. Your Service Year Adviser will go the specifics of this process with you and answer any questions—big or small—that you might have.

Once you’re prepared and have gathered the required documents, all you need to do is show up on the designated date. Of course, bring your documentation, and get ready to meet site staff and get sized for your uniform! Learn more about preparing for City Year registration.

Interested in learning more about what it’s like to serve with City Year?

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