ClintonSchool

A Discussion with the CEO and Co-founder of City Year
Date: 11/1/2007

City Year cofounder Michael Brown discusses the birth growth of the full-time community service and leadership development program. Brown tells the story of City Year’s start beginning as a conversation between him and his partner Alan Khazei in their dorm room in 1979. Since then, the organization has put that conversation into action through service across the country. Brown tells about his 1982 experience working for Congressman Leon Panetta and how it changed his outlook on public service. It was during this time that he was introduced to a piece of legislation called HR2500, a bill that set up a commission to study voluntary national servants. Brown shares five insightful main points from the piece of legislation, but speaks specifically about the fifth point as it struck him personally on what was occurring in America during the 1960s. Brown shares how he was impacted from that moment on to create a youth core soon to be called City Year and how this national service organization was built form the ground up as well as put into action.