How City Year helps young people learn and lead

City Year’s “Why We Matter” podcast explores the vital role of education and mentorship in helping students to thrive in school and beyond. Through interviews with educators, students, and community leaders, the podcast delves into the transformative impact of student success coaches and the importance of supporting systemically under-resourced communities in education. Each episode highlights the challenges and successes in fostering academic and personal growth by elevating stories from people in schools.

Read excerpts from a recent episode, Learning and Leading with Symia Stigler, where we interview City Year’s VP of Learner & Leader Program Design Symia Stigler.

Tell us a little about your background and role at City Year.

Before my time at City Year, I worked at the Greater Sacramento Urban League. That’s when I first started engaging with youth development work and really examining different systems and how government, city and schools came together to support young people. From there, I was reintroduced to City Year and joined as the managing director of impact, where I oversaw school partnerships and our day-to-day service.

For the last four years, I’ve been with headquarters, where I serve as the vice president of the National Program Design Team. And really, what that work entails is bridging all the phenomenal research about academic support and social-emotional learning into the hands of practitioners like our corps members.

Research shows the importance of building relationships in the classroom. Why is this so integral to the work of City Year AmeriCorps members in schools?

It’s the foundation of everything we do. We know that learning happens in relationships where there is trust and a sense of belonging.

And when you are with somebody, you know that they care about you. They care about your trajectory, what you’re learning, and how you’re making meaning of your experiences. That’s what really transforms an educational experience—and that’s what corps members can do.

AmeriCorps members, who serve as student success coaches, are there to support the students in our school communities. But at the same time, we’re also supporting corps members in their leadership journeys. How does your team help them develop leadership skills during service?

We think about the personal and professional development that is going to happen. So, [as a corps member], you’re on a diverse team with different people from across the country, and you’re absolutely going to grow your ability to collaborate and communicate across lines of difference.

So, those are some of City Year’s taglines in how we talk about our work, but there are true skills developed in practice over a service year. Folks are also learning about flexibility, adaptability, and resilience.

At the end of your service term—whether that be one or two years—you also have this fabulous network that you’ve built within your city, your community, your school community, and then the young people that you’ve been able to interact with. So, all that makes for a really, fantastic set of skills that student success coaches leave with.

What inspires you about this work, and why does it matter so much?

I am a part of the group of folks who get to be a part of listening and helping to actualize everything that can be possible in education. Young people inspire me, and listening to them inspires me and keeps me going. They give us hope for tackling these complex and challenging issues that we face today.

Listen to the full episode to hear more from Symia Stigler about the work her team is doing to support SSCs in schools