City Year is a national nonprofit that unites 1,500 young people age 17–24 for a year of full–time community service, leadership development, and civic engagement in 19 sites across our nation and in one site in South Africa. These young leaders come from diverse backgrounds and put their idealism to work by tutoring and mentoring school children, reclaiming public spaces, organizing after–school programs, and holding school vacation camps.

City Year was founded in 1988 by Michael Brown and Alan Khazei and received its first federal funds in 1990 awarded as Demonstration Grant under President George H. W. Bush. It is a public/private partnership and a member of Americorps. The program has been in Columbia, S.C. since 1993 thanks to former USC student body president Marie–Louise Ramsdale’s two–page proposal to Brown and Khazei.

To be eligible to be a City Year Corps member one must be a US citizen or legal resident, a young adult up to age 24 and have a high school diploma or GED (preferred.) The benefits are a $170 weekly stipend, $4,725 educational award, loan deferment, child care allowance, basic health insurance, personal development, and free Timberland uniform.

Justin Elder, a 22– year–old from Los Angeles, Calif. serves at City Year Columbia as the team leader for the Young Heroes program. Young Heroes is a major emphasis of City Year as it brings in 100 middle school students from Richland County to commit to 100 hours of organized community service on 17 consecutive Saturdays beginning in December and ending in May of the following year. The students are engaged in a service project from 9 am to 4 pm each of these Saturdays. The young people are exposed to pressing social issues in our community such as homelessness, tolerance, roots of violence, and disability awareness. They work in teams of eight to ten.

Elder says that City Year Columbia tries to gather as diverse a group of “Young Heroes” as possible. He says, “We are breaking down social barriers and creating a new community. Our goal is to transform these kids to go out and build civic capacity to build communities and change the world.”

The Young Heroes project is open to all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in Richland County. If a young person brings a friend, they get to serve together. Some of the places in our community that have been served by the Young Heroes program are the Second Nazareth Church, Booker T. Washington Cultural Arts Center, Harvest Hope Food Bank, Oliver Gospel Mission, and the Harbison State Forest.

To apply for the Young Heroes program visit www.cityyear.org/columbia or call the office at (803)254- 3349. Mail or fax your completed application by November 20, 2009 to City Year Columbia, Attn: Justin Elder, PO Box 8742, Columbia, SC 29202. The fax number is (803) 254-1297 and the email is jelder10@cityyear. org.