Year of service yields lifetime of benefits

When he graduated last year in the top 2 percent of his high school class, Zein Tawil could have gone anywhere. He chose Anna Shaw Middle School.

Well, to be accurate, he chose City Year, which sent the 19-year-old from Gilbert, Ariz., to the Southwest Philadelphia school where he spends 10 hours a day, four days a week, tutoring, mentoring and, generally, counseling childred like Nikolai Hobbs.

Hobbs is a 14-year-old who struggles a bit with reading. But with Zein's help, he no longer shies from reading aloud in class. "He's helped me a lot," Hobbs said Monday as he and Zein spent an hour on pronunciation and reading. "It is not as hard now."

Most Philadelphians know City Year as the red-jacketed crew that does morning calisthenics outside the Municipal Services Building. A closer look reveals more than just color-coordinated jumping jacks.

City Year is, in fact, one of the nation's most respected service-oriented, nonprofit organizations. And one with strong Philadelphia ties.

Joe Banner, president of the Philadelphia Eagles, and David L. Cohen, Comcast Corp.'s executive vice president, are two of only three executive board members from outside the Boston area, where City Year has headquarters. And with 225 corps members - about 60 percent from the area - City Year of Greater Philadelphia is equaled in size only by New York among the program's 19 branches.

A favorite of corporate America, the program is poised for broader attention with President Obama's call for more voluntary national service and the push to expand Americorps, the nation's civilian service force and a City Year sponsor.

City Year was founded in 1988 by a pair of Harvard graduates with the modest goal of changing the world. It asks 17- to 24-year-olds to surrender a year of their lives for $195 a week and a $4,725 education award.

In exchange, they get to spend long days doing the grunt work of public service. Here in Philadelphia that work is largely in 25 city schools such as Shaw.

"I can tell you I felt a sense of purpose and fulfillment every day when I walked into the office," recalled Christopher Arlene of Mount Airy, a 26-year-old graduate of the program who is now enrolled at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

"It is the kind of environment where someone who is curious and ambitious is going to get opportunities they would not get elsewhere and at their age. I was a project manager, 24 years old, and I was managing two teams, 14 people."

Such testimonials have helped persuade firms such as Pepperidge Farm Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Timberland Co., and Aramark Corp. to become national sponsors, at a minimum commitment of $1 million over two years.

Locally, 19 organizations, including David's Bridal Inc., NutriSystem Inc., Sunoco Inc., and the Eagles Youth Partnership, sponsor teams here at an annual cost of up to $100,000.

Comcast is among the largest sponsors locally and nationally, with $27 million in direct and in-kind contributions over three years.

"I think there is just a perfect fit between City Year and Comcast," said Cohen, noting that City Year operates in many of Comcast's markets.

As important, Cohen said, is City Year's emphasis on literacy, volunteerism and leadership development, goals Comcast encourages in its community programs.

Cohen came to Comcast in 2002 with a bias toward City Year. As chief of staff for then-Mayor Ed Rendell, Cohen said he heard City Year's successful pitch to the city administration in 1997.

"I'm not ashamed to say I had tears in my eyes," he recalled.

Among the lead salespersons was Banner, who had been exposed to City Year when he owned a successful clothing business in Boston. Banner was so taken by City Year that, after selling his business, he spent two years as a volunteer.

Banner says he was struck by the "exponential impact" of City Year.

Its volunteers find "their lives completely changed by the experience," he said. "And then there are all the people they are serving. Finally, there are the friends and family members of both groups. They are changed by the experience as well."

Abby Gray, a teacher at Shaw Middle School, arguably is someone whose world has been positively affected by City Year.

She runs an intervention program at Shaw that relies heavily on three City Year volunteers, including Zein, who hopes to be accepted at the University of Pennsylvania after his year of service.

"They are a fundamental part of our school," she said. "Look at Zein. He is just 19, hasn't been to college, yet I quickly saw he could size up a situation and make decisions an educator would make. They are all like that. They are just awesome."