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Working on a team, receiving feedback and strategic planning are all key components of the ��ɫ��Ƶ AmeriCorps member role. Across all our 29 ��ɫ��Ƶ sites, every team is led by an “impact manager.” An impact manager’s job is to support their team in keeping students on track to graduation, to establish positive relationships with school partners and to provide leadership development to their AmeriCorps members. To highlight how ��ɫ��Ƶ AmeriCorps members are supported by their Impact Managers on a daily basis, we caught up with Ksenija Taylor, who currently serves with ��ɫ��Ƶ Columbus, and her Impact Manager, Zandra Casto.

As a senior impact manager at ��ɫ��Ƶ Columbus, Zandra manages two teams at Champion Middle School and Trevitt Elementary School. Altogether, Zandra leads and coaches a total of 14 AmeriCorps members through their 11-month journey of service, learning and reflection. Here are some aspects and responsibilities of the Impact Manager role:

Learn more about what you can expect as a ��ɫ��Ƶ AmeriCorps member.

Organizes Regular, One-on-One Meetings

Zandra sets a very routinized and consistent tone with her team to ensure expectations are clear. For the first few months of service, Zandra meets with members of her team on an individual basis every other week (on alternate weeks, AmeriCorps members meet with their Team Leaders).

“Check-ins are vital,” Zandra said. “In my very first check in with AmeriCorps members, I ask them to talk about what they are trying to get out of their ��ɫ��Ƶ experience and what has brought them here. Through my check-ins, I am very intentional about building trust.”

Offers Performance-based Feedback

After the first few months of service, Zandra switches to meeting with her team members once a month. During these check-ins, Zandra shifts the conversations to include more service-focused topics such as lesson planning, interventions and providing performance-based feedback. As an impact manager, she highly values the observation and coaching aspect of her role. It allows her to debrief situations with her team and address specific things aimed at improving their roles in the classroom and growing as leaders.

Ksenija Taylor is a currently serving ��ɫ��Ƶ Columbus AmeriCorps member on Zandra’s Trevitt Elementary School team. Ksenija believes the support from her manager is a crucial part of her success as a ��ɫ��Ƶ AmeriCorps member.

“During our check-ins, Zandra always begins by asking me if there is anything I need,” said Ksenija. “She wants to make sure that I am okay, and that I can do my best for my students.”

Provides Resources

Lately, Ksenija has been creating a lot of flashcards to help her students study and learn. Knowing this, Zandra has gone out of her way to see if Ksenija needs any extra materials or needs anything printed at the office.

“If I need anything to support my students, Zandra makes sure I can get it.”

Helps You Build the Necessary Skills for Future Jobs

As a manager, Zandra ensures that her team knows she’s there to support them during their time at ��ɫ��Ƶ and beyond. She constantly reminds her team that City Year is a unique experience – where they can build and develop a wide variety of skills.

Check out a variety of resources and benefits you can access as a ��ɫ��Ƶ AmeriCorps member and alum.

She helps connect them to people and projects that will focus and refine the skills and connections that will help her team reach their future career goals. For example, after learning about Ksenija’s interest in attending graduate school before pursuing a career in higher education/student affairs, Zandra connected her to another staff member at ��ɫ��Ƶ Columbus who had already gone down that same path. Through this connection, Ksenija was able to gain insight and advice about her grad school application and her future career path.

According to Ksenija, “Zandra does a really great job of managing two different teams and still being there for all of us. She is the main reason why I applied to return to serve a second year with ��ɫ��Ƶ Columbus.”

Impact managers are just one support system for AmeriCorps members. Partner teachers, teammates and ��ɫ��Ƶ staff are also there to help each AmeriCorps member grow as a mentor and as a young professional.

Want to learn more about serving with ��ɫ��Ƶ? Connect with us today: