Week 1 Training + Culture

These past few weeks I have been polished into a City Year Americorps member. I have learned a lot from lectures, discussions with peers, and activities. I will do my best to keep up this blog as a reflection for myself and for others who are interested in the mission/product of City Year.

Week 1 (5/27-5/31)

During this week, we were divided up into "founding teams." The names for these teams were chosen based on many of City Year's founding stories. Mine was called "Ubuntu," which is a South African proverb that means "I am because you are - my humanity is tied to yours." My group of 7 is entirely black except for me and our white group leader. We talked through issues of race, what to expect in the coming year, goals, and socioeconomic status. Everyone was really well spoken and highly educated in social justice - an area that I am less experienced in. We had some great conversations and I learned a ton.

This coming year, City Year has Leadership Development sessions twice a month. In these sessions, we will reconvene with the corps as a whole and break off into our founding teams. When we are back in these groups, we'll discuss situations that arise in our daily work and pick apart different philosophies of City Year called "Putting Idealism to Work" or PITWs. There are over 100 of these PITWs.

City Year has a lot of culture that I was not expecting. As mentioned above, the PITWs outline City Year's goals, ideals, and wisdom. It's interesting that City Year really works on incorporating these in our everyday work day. I feel like most companies have standards, but no one ever refers back to them. I think constantly studying these ideals (almost like a Bible study...) keeps corps members and City Year focused on the mission to empower DC youth.

More culture:

Unity Rallies: We go out to the Mall as a corps (about 160 of us), line up in neat rows and columns, and start doing cheers, stretches, and exercises. The point is to bring attention to City Year. Here is City Year in Orlando doing a unity Rally (it's a little long). I'd skip to 30seconds. My favorite stretche is at 3:53 (power lunges). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCd-OYtjY0Y
We have to memorize the pledge, and do all the goofy dances.

Circles: Before AND after everyday of training or a work day, we get in a circle with our team. We talk about the ideal (or quote) of the day, goals, announcements, and joys/appreciations. It's an opportunity to reflect with the team.

Silent Applause: Rather than snapping or nodding heads in agreement, corps members wiggle their hands (like jazz hands) when they agree with a statement or question. This has become a weird habit. I went out with some friends and we were wiggling our hands in public when we agreed with what someone was saying.

Stand and Declare: When you want to ask or answer a question, you have to pop out of your seat and say your name + "proudly serving at __school name__." This also signals your school team to shout a previously arranged cheer back at you. My team just yells "squaaaad." So far we easily have the most spirit and instant team bond. It's comforting.