Good Opportunity for New Grads But Can Be a Mixed Bag. - Corps Member City Year Employee Review

3.0
Sep 15, 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Serving the community -Working with children -Opportunities to lead, take on extra responsibilities, and learn new skills -Can be a lot of fun -Education Award -Health Insurance -Learn about business/organizational culture

Cons

-Lots of office politics/favoritism -Inadequate training -Poor recruiting practices and screening of Corps Members before hiring -Attrition -Projects are more often than not under-resourced, poorly planned, and tend to focus more on PR value than impact to the community/those being served -"Tow the line" culture and lack of receptiveness to constructive criticism or creative input -Poor management oversight -Some staff members do not respect Corps Members -Little to no recognition for a job well done -Icy relationships with some schools due to bad behavior or mistakes made by previous Corps Members -Low pay, difficult to live on in major cities

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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