I realize I haven't yet posted about what I'm doing this year, but I figured now is the perfect opportunity. Give me a second to explain, and then I promise I'll get to the style and fashion tie-in!
This year, I am working for
City Year Los Angeles, a national non-profit organization that places 17-24 year olds
in urban elementary and middle schools to help combat the dropout
crisis. We provide tutoring, mentoring, in-class support, and after school programs for
under-served communities in 20 cities around the US and two international affiliates. In Los Angeles, 200 dedicated Corps Members are currently serving in 17 schools across the city.
The statistics are staggering. Almost 50% of students in low-income communities will not graduate high school. More than 1 million students will drop out of school this year. High school drop-outs are 3 times more likely than college graduates to be unemployed, and 8 times more likely to be in jail or prison than high school graduates.
Personally, I could not let statistics like this go unchanged. After graduating college this past year, and hoping to start a career in education, I decided to join City Year to (hopefully) be a part of a solution. I am doing my year of service in a 5th grade classroom at an elementary school in South Los Angeles, and I honestly wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It sounds cliche, but I know that I am making a difference every day when I get to help these kids get up to grade level, understand what they are learning, and get back on track to graduate.
So, why post about this now? Well, it turns out that City Year just recently partnered with
J Brand Jeans in an awesome move that is both fashion-y and do-good-y. J Brand Jeans is debuting a
special limited collection of 3 colors of jeans (vine green, berry and
taupe) with 100% of profits from these sales going directly to City Year Los Angeles. The
collection will be available online only (
http://www.jbrandjeans.com) starting October 18th until it sells out.
To be perfectly honest, there's no way I could afford a pair of these jeans (they call it "a year of full-time service" and not "a year of full-time well-paid work" for a reason, people!), but I really, REALLY hope that you can. And that you'll consider buying a pair and supporting this amazing, effective cause.
To learn more about City Year, check out
their website.
To learn more about the J Brand Jeans partnership, check out
this piece from The Hollywood Reporter.
And please, let me know if you buy a pair! Also, if you'd like to repost this or spread the word, I surely wouldn't mind. ;-)
Thanks so much for reading.
*Now's probably a good time to say that anything I post in this blog is my personal opinion and not representative of City Year or AmeriCorps*
