July 1, 2004

Sen. Dianne Feinstein and former San Jose Mayor
Susan Hammer honored at City Year’s ‘Starry, Starry Night’ benefit

More than 500 citizen supporters, business and community leaders turned out for an elegant fund-raising dinner Tuesday to celebrate the 10th year of City Year San Jose/Silicon Valley.

City Year’s mission is to build democracy through national service. It is an offshoot of AmeriCorps, which was created by former President Bill Clinton during his presidency. City Year seeks to put idealism to work by tapping the civic power of young people for an annual campaign of service. The goals of this campaign are to generate transformative community service, break down social barriers, inspire citizens to civic action, develop new leaders for the common good and promote and improve the concept of voluntary national service. In this area, over 650 corps members have provided more than one million hours of service over the past decade.

United States Sen. Dianne Feinstein received City Year’s highest honor, the Lifetime of Idealism Award. Feinstein is credited with helping to restore AmeriCorps funding this spring. There was also a special tribute to former Mayor Susan Hammer, who brought City Year to San Jose while she was a mayor.

Founded in Boston in 1988, City Year has established programs in 15 locations throughout the United States and has founded a site in South Africa. Lead investors in City Year include The Atlantic Philanthropies, Cisco Systems, Inc., Comcast, CSX, MFS Investment Management¨, and The Timberland Company.