My Favorite Uniform Part: The Quarter Zip

The City Year uniform is a very important part of every City Year member’s year of service. The uniform unites us as a group, as most uniforms do. The uniform makes us visible to members of the community as we travel together throughout the city and do service. In uniting us together the uniform also allows every individual corps member to immediately relate with community members and youth of the city. The red jacket and City Year logo can seem odd but when a corps member enters the community, with their uniform, those around them, especially youth that City Year has served, immediately understand that the corps member is there to serve the community and be a positive force for youth.

Though the red jacket is City Year's signature uniform part, my favorite part of the uniform is a different red: the quarter zip fleece. The quarter zip is a plush and comfortable red fleece with City Year in black across the front and the four qualities of powerful citizenship—spirit, discipline, purpose and pride—across the back. It is light weight enough to wear all day but also nice to have on cold days as an extra layer when the wind would otherwise whip right through your jacket. In reality, it is quite simply the most comfortable uniform piece City Year corps members can wear. On top of all of this, the quarter zips provided to corps members this year were made from recycled plastic bottle caps (which slightly boggles the mind). This makes them not only comfortable but more environmentally friendly as well.

Those who wear the City Year uniform strive to make their communities and neighborhoods stronger by lifting up the youth and civic identity of its members. Without the trademark red jacket, City Year members would more than likely get lost in the crowd and we would be much less recognizable to the community. But nothing can beat the comfort and versatility that the quarter zip fleece provides to City Year corps members.

Eric, 22, Young Heroes Northeast Expansion Team