Alan Khazei

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1991

Alan Khazei

City Year

http://www.cityyear.org/

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Education & Youth Leadership

The Bold Idea:

As roommates at Harvard Law School, Alan Khazei and Michael Brown spent nights discussing social problems in the US. How could there be so much disparity in a country so rich? In addition, Brown and Khazei were concerned by the racial polarization they were seeing in the nation. When they graduated in 1988, Brown and Khazei started City Year in Boston, Massachusetts.

An Action Tank for national service, City Year seeks to demonstrate, improve, and promote the concept of national service as a means of building a stronger democracy. City Year unites a diverse group of young adults, ages 17 to 24, for a demanding year of full-time community service, leadership development, and civic engagement. In 1993, The Clinton Administration used City Year as a model for its Americorps program and in 1994, The Timberland Company and Digital became national founding sponsors of City Year’s national corps in a tremendous act of corporate leadership.

Since inception, City Year has graduated 7,100 alumni; served over 772, 000 children; completed 10.9 million hours of service; partnered with 360 corporations and 1,140 service organizations; engaged more than 820,000 citizens in service; and launched international efforts in South Africa. City Year has established programs in Boston; Chicago; Cleveland; Columbia, SC; Columbus; Detroit; New Hampshire; New York; Philadelphia; Rhode Island; San Antonio; San Jose/Silicon Valley; Seattle/King County and Washington, D.C. City Year's vision is that one day, the most commonly asked question of an 18-year-old will be: "Where are you going to do your service year?"

(Note: Echoing Green supported Alan Khazei, Michael Brown and City Year in its early development, but through another grant program.)

Biography:

Alan Khazei co-founded City Year in 1988 and served its CEO until 2006. Founded in 1988 with 50 young people in service in Boston, City Year today enlists more than 1,200 young adults, in 16 communities across America and in Johannesburg South Africa, for a demanding year of full-time community service, civic engagement and leadership development. Mr. Khazei is now a fellow at the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Mr. Khazei has received numerous honors for his leadership in the nonprofit sector - in 2006, U.S. News & World Report recognized Mr. Khazei and Michael Brown as among America's Best Leaders, and the two leaders of City Year have also received the Reebok Human Rights Award and the Jefferson Award for Public Service. Mr. Khazei currently serves on the Board of Directors of Citizen Schools, Harvard Alumni Association, New Profit, Inc., Share Our Strength, and on the Advisory Board of America's Promise, the Partnership for Public Service, and the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. An honors graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Mr. Khazei currently lives in Jamaica Plain, MA with his wife and daughter.