City Year KC launched in July 2015 with 16 AmeriCorps members serving two schools. The Foundation was a lead funder providing early local support that helped establish a City Year chapter in Kansas City to partner with teachers and schools to increase student support, learning, and engagement.
Support grew for the KC chapter, which allowed for the pilot to launch as a collaborative effort among the Foundation, Kansas City Public Schools, Kansas City Mayor Sly James’ office, and several other community leaders.
City Year Kansas City now serves in four partner schools with 40 AmeriCorps member slots serving 2,000 students.
“Every year since opening in 2016, City Year Kansas City has exemplified collaborative community engagement and strong partnership with the district and their school partners to drive impressive impact results for the deserving KC students,” said Jim Balfanz in 2018 (then president of City Year), CEO of City Year. “I attended the opening of the site and could sense then, based on the enthusiasm and investment of critical partners and the whole community that we’d have the chance to do great things there.”
City Year Kansas City is a 2026 Kauffman Foundation Project grantee. The funding supports a college access and completion project to strengthen students’ college and career readiness while building the professional and leadership skills of AmeriCorps Student Support Coaches.