City Year youth describe humble efforts

After spending his first year in the City Year program working at an elementary school in California, 18-year-old Nate Howland wanted to dedicate his second year to helping students in his home state of New Hampshire.

Some of his friends in the national service program asked why he wouldn’t want to stay in California. Howland, a native of Hampton, said there is a perception that there isn’t any real need in New Hampshire. But that couldn’t be further from the truth, he said.

“There’s need everywhere,” Howland said.

Howland is part of a group of young people who are spending the school year working with students at the Phoenix Program, the city’s program for at-risk students.

City Year is a nonprofit organization that offers young people, 17-24, a chance to dedicate 10 months of paid service to working with children, typically from low-income families. About 1,500 young adults take part in the program each year.

They receive a weekly stipend of about $200 and are responsible for paying rent and finding ways to get by.

“They work 50 hours a week and are making less than minimum wage,” said Taylor Ferguson, development manager for City Year. “Part of the City Year experience is to live humbly.”

Ferguson and members of the City Year group working in Nashua met with members of the Nashua Board of Education on Monday night to give an overview of their work in the city. In addition to working with students at the Phoenix Program from Monday through Thursday, they also meet after school with students at Elm Street Middle School to help with their homework.

Though Howland is from New Hampshire, the others in the City Year group hail from across the country, from Colorado to North Carolina. All wearing their red City Year jackets, the members introduced themselves to the board members:

•Katie Jacobson, 23, Ridgewood, N.J. Jacobson went to college in Maine and wanted to return to New England for her service. “I’m glad to be working in New Hampshire, especially Nashua. I love getting to know the kids at Phoenix and Elm Street.”

•Adriana Freedman-Scott, 19, Raleigh, N.C. Freedman-Scott took a year off from school after graduating from high school, but said she was unhappy working in a dead end job. “It’s a great way to incorporate service and working with children,” she said.

• Dylan Leigh, 18, Colorado. “I have a deep, unwavering belief that all of our success is tied to each other’s success,” Leigh told the board. Growing up, Leigh said he didn’t have anyone to look up to or any strong relationships with people in his school. He is hoping to be able to provide that to students in similar situations in Nashua.

• Jawad Ashour, 23, Houston. Ashour said he decided to join City Year to get a glimpse of what teaching is like, especially working with students who come from troubled home lives. “I could see myself doing that as a lifetime goal,” he said. “I had a number of professors who impacted me in very special ways.”

• Tally Washington, 21, New Jersey. Born in Philadelphia and raised in a small New Jersey town, Washington said she wanted to give back to a community like hers where kids are “silently suffering.”

Leigh talked about his experience working at the Phoenix Program. He told board members that the kids give him a lot of trouble sometimes and often reject the help he is trying to give them. Part of his learning process has been trying to “turn the cheek and give that help,” he said.

Things are getting better as he spends more time at the program, he said.

“Today was one of the best days I’ve had,” Leigh said. He was able to work closely with a couple of students who had been a problem for him in the past and go over a lesson on the Mayflower Compact.

“It was really cool to see that happen,” he said.

Jacobson works with sixth-grade students at the Phoenix Program. They can be rambunctious at times, but “you can tell they really look up to us,” Jacobson said. “The positives outweigh the negatives.”

City Year receives a third of its funding from the AmeriCorps program, of which City Year is an extension. The rest of its funding comes from donations from individuals and corporations. City Year also works with schools in Manchester and on the Seacoast.

In addition to working specifically at the Phoenix Program and Elm Street in Nashua, there also other programs run through City Year, said Brian Dwyer, program manager. One of those programs is Young Heroes, which has a group of middle school students giving up their Saturdays from January to May to do volunteer work throughout the city and learn about issues facing their community.

“We try to make it fun for them,” he said. “We make it real hands on,” Dwyer said.

The Learning Curve appears Thursdays in The Telegraph. Michael Brindley can be reached at 594-6426 or mbrindley@nashuatelegraph.com.