.png)
Founded in 1988, City Year is a trailblazing, youth-powered organization. The City Year community believes that all students can succeed and that developing the skills and talents of young people contributes to strong, vibrant communities—outcomes that benefit all of us. A proud member of the AmeriCorps national service network, City Year partners with public schools in 29 US cities across 21 states and through international affiliates in South Africa and the UK. Diverse teams of City Year AmeriCorps members, ages 18 to 25, provide research-based student, classroom, and school-wide supports to help students stay in school and on the way to graduate from high school, ready for college and career success. Working to create the conditions that enable students furthest from opportunity to learn, develop, and reach their full potential, City Year AmeriCorps members provide vital support, focusing on where the need is the greatest and partnering with students who are at risk of dropping out. Supporting the learning and development of the AmeriCorps student success coaches, City Year provides a powerful double bottom line: improved outcomes for students in schools and the cultivation of the next generation of leaders through its alums.
City Year Los Angeles was established in 2007, with a small start-up team and 75 AmeriCorps members serving in eight Los Angeles schools. As the largest school district in the state, the Los Angeles School District serves more than 600,000 students across 1,000 schools. City Year is a key partner to the Los Angeles Unified School District and Equitas Academy Charter Network in creating equitable learning opportunities for all students and developing the city’s future leaders. This school year, 170 AmeriCorps members will be deployed in 24 schools across Los Angeles, serving as tutors and mentors and implementing City Year’s Whole School, Whole Child program in the city’s most under-resourced schools. Backed by City Year’s research-based program, City Year Los Angeles AmeriCorps members support whole schools and build strong relationships with students to intervene, focusing on the early warning indicators that can predict a student’s likelihood to graduate high school—helping teachers and staff in delivering instruction that serves the development of the whole child and is responsive to the evolving needs of Los Angeles’ youth.
City Year is seeking an innovative, dynamic, entrepreneurial, and people-focused leader to serve as the senior on-site executive, the Executive Director. The position offers the right candidate the chance to play a key role in advocating for and promoting public education in Los Angeles schools through national service. The Executive Director is responsible for ensuring City Year Los Angeles achieves its impact, revenue, district partnership, and external relations goals and will lead efforts to boost City Year’s visibility and brand awareness across Los Angeles. A successful site leader and collaborator is a natural coalition-builder, people developer, and influencer who leads with both tenacity and humility.
Serving as the primary champion of City Year’s impact locally, the executive director leads the organization’s efforts to keep students in school and on track to graduate college and career-ready, while also ensuring the sustainability and continuity of the site. Reporting to the Market President, this visionary change agent will lead 45 staff and 170 AmeriCorps members serving in 24 partner schools. The Executive Director will invest in the development of and draw on the skills and experience of a dedicated, talented, and highly effective Senior Leadership Team. Additionally, the Executive Director works in partnership with the City Year Los Angeles Board, comprised of 15 influential leaders representing the Los Angeles public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Glenn Gritzner serves as Board Chair; he leads the board with an ambitious vision and a deep sense of urgency around City Year’s work in the Los Angeles community.
As the strategic and operational leader responsible for uniting a wide range of public and private stakeholders, City Year Los Angeles’ Executive Director acts as a key advocate for educational opportunity and student success to diverse audiences. Therefore, the Executive Director will engage to foster connections between the site and City Year national operations, school leadership, community and corporate partners, government representatives, individual donors, and foundations. They should also recognize how organizations and teams can collaborate to enhance their missions and goals, establishing mutually beneficial partnerships and outcomes. This executive will intuitively understand the relationship between the site’s contributed revenue and its ability to boost the city's educational outcomes and student success. The Executive Director will inspire the community, offer vision, find common ground, and leverage strong local support to ensure City Year Los Angeles continues to benefit from robust external relationships, access to best practices and new ideas, and partnerships. This connector will be expected to mobilize powerful coalitions, including Board members, district leadership, and school partners, City Year AmeriCorps alums, private and public sector investors, and local, state, and national elected officials to accelerate greater educational opportunity for underserved students.
The Executive Director also serves as a Senior Vice President for City Year Inc.’s national organization and, as such, strengthens the connection between City Year’s national initiatives and the local work in Los Angeles by managing relationships at City Year’s national headquarters and contributing to the national strategy through network-wide project teams.