Citizen Schools - citizen teachers

clipped from citizenschools.org clipped from citizenschools.org In the summer of 1994 Boston was a city searching for answers to an exhausting downward spiral of youth crime, crumbling neighborhoods, and struggling public schools. Three opportunities awaited discovery: the long, empty hours of out-of-school time; the crucial transition of middle school in a child’s education; and the cumulative power of real-world professionals teaching their knowledge to kids, hands-on. The social entrepreneurs who brought the idea and the place together were Citizen Schools co-founders Eric Schwarz and Ned Rimer. They decided to volunteer to teach 20 5th graders at Dorchester's Paul A. Dever school. As a former reporter, Eric taught an apprenticeship in journalism. Drawing on his years running the EMT squad at the University of Vermont, Ned taught first aid. Together with a bare-bones staff, they called themselves Citizen Teachers. Neither predicted the spectacular response of the children involved—how much they learned, and how much they loved it.