Long-Time City Year Supporter, Bain Capital, To Serve As Organization's National 25th Anniversary Sponsor

BOSTON, Sept. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- City Year, a national nonprofit organization that recruits young adults to serve for one year as full time tutors, mentors and role models in high-need urban public schools, announced today that longtime supporter, Bain Capital, has made a $3 million gift to support the organization's work in high need schools around the world and will serve as the National Sponsor of City Year's 25th anniversary events occurring in multiple cities during the next several months.

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"We are excited to have Bain Capital as our National 25th Anniversary Sponsor," said City Year CEO and Co-Founder, Michael Brown. "Contributing time, talent and resources, Bain Capital has been essential to City Year's success since our founding years. We are so grateful for their deep commitment to City Year and our work to help students and schools succeed."

Since City Year's inception, Bain Capital and its employees have supported City Year with more than $25 million in donations and hundreds of volunteer hours by the firm's employees.  Bain Capital partners and employees have participated in firm-wide volunteer service days, served as advisers and board members, organized fundraising and awareness events, and contributed generously to the organization financially.

As one of City Year's earliest supporters, Bain Capital sponsored a team of corps members and later co-founded the organization's endowment in 1998. This gift permanently endowed the Bain Capital Team of young adults in service. Since then, more than 150 City Year members have served on the Bain Capital City Year Team, contributing more than 250,000 hours of service in the Boston community. Bain Capital also helped found City Year's annual Investment Community Breakfast in Boston, now in its fifth year.

"City Year and Bain Capital share a common belief that supporting young people's education, growth and development is the single most important investment we can make in our future," said Jonathan Lavine, Managing Partner of Sankaty Advisors, Bain Capital's credit affiliate. "City Year is an incredible double bottom-line investment. It helps students in high poverty public schools succeed, and at the same time develops corps members into civic-minded leaders of tomorrow. As supporters of the organization for more than two decades, we are honored to sponsor City Year's 25th Anniversary."

Lavine and Josh Bekenstein, a Managing Director of Bain Capital, are long-standing members of City Year's National Board of Trustees. Lavine will become Chair of City Year's national board this week.

Bain Capital's 25th Anniversary gift to City Year will help the organization provide more full-time tutors, mentors and role models in high poverty schools, supporting the In School and On Track campaign and Long Term Impact plan to address the nation's dropout crisis.

As the National Sponsor of City Year's 25th Anniversary, Bain Capital will serve as the presenting sponsor at events around the world that raise awareness of City Year's work, celebrate City Year's 25th anniversary, and help to raise more resources for the organization, beginning with "Red Jacket Weekend," a series of events in Boston, where City Year was founded.

Red Jacket Weekend will take place from September 20 to 22, and will include an alumni open house at City Year headquarters, the swearing in ceremony of City Year Boston's 25th anniversary corps with Boston's Mayor Thomas M. Menino, and a day of service at the Hennigan Elementary School in Boston. The weekend will close with a reflection on the power of idealism and national service during a brunch featuring Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the wife of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, at the John F. Kennedy Library.

"This fall, City Year Boston welcomes 265 talented and committed City Year AmeriCorps members into our 25th anniversary corps, ready to serve and support teachers, students, and  schools," said Sandra Lopez Burke, Vice President and Executive Director of City Year Boston. "Bain Capital's generous support of Red Jacket Weekend provides City Year Boston with the opportunity to celebrate our alumni, school leaders, community partners and all of the champions who have supported our service for a quarter century."

As National Sponsor of City Year's 25th Anniversary, Bain Capital will also help secure additional resources for the organization's work and mission in all its locations, both in the U.S. and abroad, by serving as National Gala Sponsor in City Year's 25 domestic locations and two international affiliates in Johannesburg and London. In spring 2014, Bain Capital will serve as the Presenting Sponsor of City Year's 25th Anniversary national benefit, which will feature the iconic Boston Pops orchestra at Boston's Symphony Hall. Bain Capital gift also includes a $1 million contribution to City Year's Silver Anniversary Fund, which supports City Year's Long Term Impact plan to address the nation's high school dropout crisis.

City Year was founded in Boston in 1988. From its first corps of 50 young adults, City Year now deploys 2,700 City Year AmeriCorps members to more than 250 high-poverty urban schools nationwide, serving more than 150,000 students each day in 25 US cities. Since its founding, more than 18,000 City Year members have dedicated more than 26 million hours of service nationwide.

City Year has been a leader in the growing national service movement, serving as an inspiration for the founding of AmeriCorps, founding Voices for National Services, and helping to secure the passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in 2009, named after the late Senator Ted Kennedy.

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 25 communities across the United States and through two international affiliates, 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 students in school and on track to graduate.

About Bain Capital, LLC: Founded in Boston in 1984, Bain Capital has grown into one of the world's largest privately-held investment firms.  Bain Capital's affiliated businesses – Bain Capital Private Equity, Sankaty Advisors, Bain Capital Ventures, Brookside Capital and Absolute Return Capital – manage approximately $70 billion in assets for endowments, pensions, foundations and other institutions and individuals.  With more than 900 employees in ten locations around the world, Bain Capital is committed to building great companies, supporting the communities it serves and operating with the highest integrity.  Through Bain Capital Community Partnership, the firm and its employees promote a culture of giving back by donating time, expertise and resources to nonprofit organizations in communities around the world.  For more information on Bain Capital Community Partnership, please visit baincapital.com.

SOURCE City Year