City Year Receives Coveted 4-Star Rating From Charity Navigator for Eighth Consecutive Year

BOSTON, March 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- City Year, Inc., an education-focused nonprofit organization, announced today that it has received the highest rating – Four Stars -- for the eighth consecutive year from Charity Navigator, America's premier charity evaluator, for its sound fiscal management and commitment to accountability and transparency.  Only 1% of the organizations rated by Charity Navigator have received at least eight consecutive 4-Star evaluations.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110714/NE35509LOGO)

"At City Year, we strive to adhere to good governance and sound fiscal management in order to execute our mission in a fiscally responsible way," said Michael Brown, CEO and Co-Founder of City Year, whose corps of 2000 City Year AmeriCorps members serve full time nationwide in high-need public schools to help keep students in school and on track to graduation. "This exceptional rating helps demonstrate to our supporters and the public that we are worthy of their trust and continued investment," he said.

"City Year's ability to demonstrate sound fiscal management has contributed to its measured growth over its 23 year history, instilling confidence in supporters from the private and public sectors alike," said Stephen G. Woodsum, Chair of City Year's national Board of Trustees. In 2009, City Year announced, "In School & On Track: A National Challenge," its plan for scaling its work in high poverty schools nationwide to address the nation's dropout crisis and help turn around low performing schools.

According to Charity Navigator as the nonprofit sector continues to grow at an unprecedented pace, savvy donors are demanding more accountability, transparency and quantifiable results from the charities they choose to support. The rating process has been established to provide donors with essential information needed to give them greater confidence in the charitable choices they make.

About Charity Navigator

Charity Navigator works to guide intelligent giving. We help charitable givers make intelligent giving decisions by providing information on over five thousand charities and by evaluating the financial health of each of these charities. We ensure our evaluations are widely used by making them easy to understand and available to the public free of charge. By guiding intelligent giving, we aim to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace, in which givers and the charities they support work in tandem to overcome our nation's most persistent challenges.

Charity Navigator is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization under the Internal Revenue Code and does not accept any contributions from any charities we evaluate.

About City Year

City Year is an education-focused, nonprofit organization founded in 1988 that partners with public schools to provide full-time targeted intervention for students most at risk of dropping out. In more than 20 communities across the United States and through two international affiliates, our teams of young AmeriCorps leaders support students by focusing on attendance, behavior, and course performance through in-class tutoring, mentoring, and after school programs that keep kids in school and on track to graduate.

SOURCE City Year