NEW: John Legend Rocks the House for City Year

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

GoLocalProv Features Team

It was a star-centered, Starry Starry Night in Providence.

Grammy-winning artist John Legend drew more than 400 guests who celebrated the work of City Year's corps members in four Providence middle schools. The event highlighted several student success stories, including a video profile of Helen, a Providence 8th grader who has improved from an F to an A in math since receiving academic support and mentoring from a City Year corps member.

Sweet tunes and testimonials

It was not only a night of Legend's music, but of testimonials to the power of City Year's program. Brearn Wright, Roger Williams Middle School Principal, offered moving remarks about his own personal hope for the success of his students and school, as well as the essential role his City Year team has played in improving school climate, increasing student attendance and engaging youth in critical learning opportunities.

Superintendent Thomas Brady spoke of City Year's before-school attendance initiative. Student-level data shows that participants have improved their average daily attendance at a faster rate than their peers. He urged the audience to invest in programs like City Year that provide direct academic support to students and build collaborative relationships with teachers and administrators to best serve at-risk youth.

Call to action

City Year Rhode Island's Executive Director, Jennie Johnson, put forth a call to action, asking guests to prioritize ending the high school dropout crisis and to look to City Year as a key partner in the effort. "Ending the high school dropout crisis was never going to be an easy task," Johnson said. "It is a monumental one, but it is also an essential one. And, here's the bottom line. City Year Rhode Island is all in."

At the end of the evening, Mayor Angel Taveras was joined on stage by Madavin Vong, a straight-A student at Gilbert Stuart Middle School. Together, they welcomed and introduced John Legend, nine-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist and champion for education equality to Providence. In his remarks, Legend called attention to his own experience with excellent teachers, mentors and caring adults who helped him achieve success and thanked the City Year corps members for being those caring role models for Providence's youth. Before sitting at the piano, he dedicated the song Wake Up! from his new album to the City Year Rhode Island corps. After Wake Up!, Legend continued his set with Green Light from his album Evolver and finished with the song Shine, which he wrote for Davis Guggenheim's documentary, Waiting for Superman.

Starry Starry Night raised approximately $125,000, which will directly support the organization's programs in Providence.

Photos: Kevin Middleton, David Levesque

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