Good for a college break, but not for anyone over 23 - Senior Corps Member City Year Employee Review

3.0
Nov 4, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Professional development skills Networking opportunities Meet like-minded people your age Looks good on a resume Education award Learning to work with all types of people (personality-wise, but also cultural differences)

Cons

Education award is severely limited. Not only is it taxable, it is only applicable to federal loans in good standing. Also, if you work for a second year, you may no longer be eligible for loan deferment and since you won't get the ed award until the end of your term, it's pretty useless. It is also not applicable to any bills you may have acquired from courses taken prior to your year of service (i.e. if you serve from 08-09, you can't make payments toward classes from Summer 2008 or any time earlier than that).

Explore other reviews about City Year

5.0
Apr 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Well-organized/structured Transportation, healthcare, and AmeriCorps benefits Lots of teambuilding

Cons

Long days Uniforms A lot of professional development

1.0
Feb 3, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

if you put up with a year of lies, burnout, empathy fatigue from working with kids you can’t save, below minimum wage, then you can get a lot of money at the end.

Cons

they use the fact that you care about these kids to get you to put up with any and everything. that 900 something dollar check is basically 10 dollars an hour while you have to be an english and math tutor to multiple students, emotionally support them. mind you majority of these kids are experiencing poverty, several grades behind their reading and math level, extremely syndications home lives. these kids go through more than the average adult and you didn’t sign up to be a therapist. they are vague during the interview about the task and what you’re actually doing for a reason. so many other task and responsibilities. mangement does not care about you at all. they won’t care if you get injured, they won’t try to defend you to outside sources. i won’t ever get over how my school had teachers telling them kids they would never amount to anything, wouldn’t graduate, got called slurs, yet we stayed there, basically had to “turn the other cheek” and “be the lights” in the school….. majority of the people you work with WILL QUIT because who would want to stay in an environment like this. but majority of the people that leave will be black. that’s very telling.

2
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