2008 Selected Strategic Highlights
Our SingleStop USA/Community College Initiative is aimed at expanding opportunities for youth to attain college degrees by connecting them to the government funds and services intended for them. Our SingleStop initiative will establish a model program at Kingsborough Community College that will supplement access to financial support with legal and financial counseling to create a support system that will help low-income, high-need students.
We completed sponsorship of the enormously successful Summer Food Outreach project to increase access to and use of the free breakfasts and lunches available to all NYC children in the summer. The third and final phase of our grant drove significant increases in participation: 5.88% in breakfast; 3.17% in lunch; and 4.04% in total meals citywide -- translating into an additional 277,708 meals served in summer 2008. Our grant also led to partnerships with NYCHA, the Parks Department, Brooklyn and Queens public libraries and soup kitchens.
We continued to support child nutrition and health by sponsoring a successful pilot program to serve breakfast in public school classrooms, based on studies that show a correlation between eating breakfast and increased academic performance. During the 2007-2008 school year, 28 schools participated citywide, with more than 3200 breakfasts served. The Office of School Food tested several different delivery mechanisms and are now well positioned to continue the program in an increased number of schools.
We continued to work with a collaborative of prominent funders, government officials and service providers on the Bridge Builders project in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, which has historically had the worst foster care record in New York City. The Foundation is now supporting the transition of the project from private to public funding. The Bridge Builders' community-based prevention strategies are showing strong results, with the Highbridge foster care census declining in comparison to similar neighborhoods and many more families receiving preventative care.
Five years ago we conceived of a plan to address the needs of the many young people who "age out" of the NYC foster care system with very little preparation and no safety net. The Foundation's "Academy" has received substantial praise from NYC officials and social service advocates and now serves some 200 youth from five foster care agencies with innovative education support and workforce preparation. The program's hallmarks are comprehensive assessments and intake, individualized service plans, and an atmosphere that provides the "connectedness" that these young people need to rebuild their lives. We are working with the Vera Institute of Justice to assess the program.
We expanded our CPIC Fund for Service Internship Program, which places minority and other youth at host organizations in New York City, providing manpower and on-the-job training in and for nonprofit agencies. This past summer, the CPIC Fund for Service Internship grew to include student interns working for 19 leading New York City nonprofit organizations that serve children and youth.
For the third year, we ran our own successful internship program for high school students, combining service to not-for-profit agencies, individual tutoring, college guidance and life skills training. All of our interns have received college acceptances and scholarship grants, and one of the Foundation's 2007 interns, Shiyah Trotman, was awarded a Leonore Annenberg Scholarship.
We continued to support the small schools initiative by funding the Urban Assembly, a model small schools network that contracts with the City to operate 17 schools and whose accountability measures exceed those of other experimental DOE programs.
The Teacher's Aid Program (TAP) addresses the needs of teachers who serve under-resourced communities by providing funds for tools and supplies that are excluded from standard classroom budgets. TAP grants typically range from a few hundred dollars up to $1,500.
Our strategic initiative seeking to learn more about the effects and benefits of extended-day schooling continued with a study at the National Center for Children and Families at Columbia University's Teachers College entitled: Extended-Day Schooling in New York City: Examining Prevalence, Content and Structure, and Academic Benefits. The project is expected to guide funding agencies, policymakers and school officials as they consider the implementation of extended-day schooling in New York City.
Our innovative plan to build "campus" libraries in public school buildings has nearly completed a model library at the Prospect Heights campus in Brooklyn. Run by New Visions for Public Schools, the project is designed to create a model state-of-the art library facility with City Council dollars that will later be managed by a multi-school team. Both university and corporate partnerships will be sought to sustain the facility.
Take the Field, a public/private partnership to rebuild New York City's worst public school athletic facilities that the Foundation helped to create, celebrated a successful conclusion. Take the Field built a public/private coalition that developed the concept of providing naming rights to the fields, convincing the City to match every $1 in private donations with $3 in government funding. Our initial grant led other funders to support the concept and eventually raised $36 million in private sector funding and $97 million in public sector funds to rebuild 43 state-of-the-art outdoor athletic facilities, including the facilities at John Dewey High School in Brooklyn which was named for the Foundation.
In 2008 we saw the completion of the northernmost playground in Central Park, located at 110th Street and serving the upper Manhattan community. In addition, Heckscher funded the renovation of the far West Side 70th Street Ball Field, located under the Westside Highway next to the Hudson River. We also celebrated the completion of the Heckscher Foundation Children's Garden and Playground in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Finally, The Foundation's 1926 Heckscher Ballfields and Heckscher Playground anchor the southern end of Central Park. These parks and gardens are enjoyed by tens of thousands of children year-round.
We again celebrated the achievements of our Urban Scholars Program which provides critical manpower to needy public service organizations while encouraging careers in service and the not for profit industry.
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