City Year Jacksonville celebrates 10-year anniversary, mentoring local students

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — All this week, City Year Jacksonville is reflecting on 10 years of mentoring students at schools in underserved communities.

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It’s all part of what they are calling Red Jacket Week.

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“It’s a time where we are really reflecting on that cycle of opportunity that we are creating for young people in our community,” said Allishia Bauman, the executive director at City Year Jacksonville.

Allishia said her group places 18-to-25-year-olds called student success coaches, inside classrooms, and they wear red bomber jackets inside the school.

“Schools, the community, students know when they see a red jacket, it symbolizes hope, it symbolizes support, it symbolizes someone’s that going to be there,” Allishia said.

RELATED: City of Jacksonville celebrating 10-year partnership with City Year, helping kids reach their goals

Those coaches provide support for students alongside the teachers, but its not just academic support.

“We are helping them get to that graduation but to what end...,” Allishia said. “They can then go off and be amazing leaders in our community.”

Allishia said 10 years ago, they first started in 2 schools, and now they’ve touched more than 20.

In Duval county, the organization provides more than 680,000 hours of local tutoring, mentorship, and service.

And with the organization’s long-time commitment to help Duval’s youth, Allishia is celebrating this week, hoping to continue that cycle of opportunity.

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“Just kind of telling the community thank you for all the support in the last 10 but also this is what we are going to continue to do for the next 10 years,” said Allishia.

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