Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
Two years ago Suzanne Goldsmith, a young Harvard-educated reporter, signed on for her own "season of service" with City Year, the widely praised. Boston-based community service program frequently endorsed by President Clinton as a model for the nation.
A City Year is the story of that year - an honest and gritty account of the triumphs and setbacks faced by an idealistic and experimental social program in its infancy.
Together with a diverse team of young men and women - including a Burmese immigrant, a white prep-school graduate, a foster child, an ex-convict, and a black middle class college student - Goldsmith helped renovate a building for the homeless, tutored school children, reclaimed a community garden from drug dealers, and organized a community street-cleaning day.
The year included backbreaking but gratifying work, the sense of family that comes from collaborative labor, and the potential strength of diversity. It also involved an unwanted pregnancy, financial troubles, and arrests. One team member was shot to death; another ended up in jail. A City Year is, in part, the story of an uphill battle in urban America, in part, an uplifting recipe for social change.
As the Clinton administration considers public service for all young Americans, and with people as diverse as Sam Nunn, Robert Coles, and William F. Buckley, Jr., endorsing national service, A City Year offers the first true glimpse of what a "season of service" really means.
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
Previews available in: English
Subjects
Community development, City Year (Service corps), Volunteer workers in community development, Urban Community development, Community organization, Community life, Volunteers, Boston (mass.), social conditions, New York Times reviewed, Bénévoles en développement communautairePlaces
Boston, MassachusettsShowing 2 featured editions. View all 2 editions?
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
1
A City Year: on the streets and in the neighborhoods with twelve young community service volunteers
1998, Transaction Publishers
in English
1560009071 9781560009078
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
2
A City Year: on the streets and in the neighborhoods with twelve young community service volunteers
1993, New Press, Distributed by W.W. Norton
in English
1565840933 9781565840935
|
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
Book Details
Edition Notes
Classifications
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Source records
Internet Archive item recordmarc_openlibraries_sanfranciscopubliclibrary MARC record
Better World Books record
Library of Congress MARC record
marc_columbia MARC record
Work Description
A City Year is the story of twelve young people enrolled in a program that aims to re-engage America's youth - not by serving them, but by asking them to serve others. In the fall of 1990, journalist Suzanne Goldsmith signed on for a year of participant-observation in City Year, the widely praised, Boston-based community service program President Clinton would later draw on as a model for his national service program, AmeriCorps.
This book is the story of Goldsmith's experience, an honest and gritty account of the triumphs and setbacks faced by an idealistic social program in its infancy.
It is also a window into the lives of Goldsmith's teammates: twelve young people who faced enormous personal and group challenges in the course of their effort to become "part of the solution." They were from extraordinarily diverse backgrounds: a Burmese immigrant, a white prep school graduate, a foster child, an ex-convict, a black middle-class college student. Together they helped renovate a building for the homeless, tutored school children, and reclaimed a community garden from drug dealers. At the same time, they experienced challenges of their own: homelessness, college application essays, unwanted pregnancy, arrests, and a confrontation with death. They also experienced backbreaking but gratifying work, the sense of family that comes from collaborative labor, and the potential strength of diversity.
A City Year is both the story of an uphill battle in urban America and an uplifting recipe for social change.
Links outside Open Library
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?July 13, 2024 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
December 15, 2022 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
August 6, 2021 | Edited by New York Times Bestsellers Bot | Add NYT review links |
August 15, 2020 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
December 10, 2009 | Created by WorkBot | add works page |