2009 Selected Strategic Highlights
Our SingleStop USA/Community College Initiative, aimed at expanding opportunities for youth to attain college degrees by connecting them to the government funds and services for which they are eligible, has been an enormous success. We established a model program at Kingsborough Community College to help low-income, high-need students draw down previously untapped benefits such as food stamps, health care, child care and tax credits — because access to basic resources increases the likelihood that a young person will be able to stay in college and obtain a degree, leading to higher earning potential.
Leveraging our founding support and the program’s results at Kingsborough, SingleStop is now working with CUNY administration and individual community college presidents to expand this initiative to all the remaining CUNY campuses by early 2010 (in time for tax season).
Responding to the dramatic increase in the number of poor and “newly poor” New Yorkers seeking supplemental food from pantries and soup kitchens, we provided grants in early 2009 to three organizations that serve large numbers of families with children. The largest grant went to Yorkville Common Pantry, which distributes grocery packages to 1600-1800 families, three times a week, in an area with the highest incidence of obesity and diabetes in NYC. Later in the year we worked with YCP to develop a Nutrition Initiative for Children and Families. This program will provide 450,000 nutritious meals based on fresh produce, and includes classes and workshops so that families can become more knowledgeable about using fresh ingredients and healthy recipes.
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. Working creatively with the agencies responsible for these youth during the critical period before they leave care, we organized the City, foster care providers and nonprofits around a specific model solution. “The Academy” has received substantial praise from NYC officials and key social service advocates and now involves some 300 youth from four foster care agencies in education 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 proud that the Academy made the transition to alternative funding sources in 2009, which reflects widespread recognition of the model’s success.
We continued our major support for Teach for America. TFA’s mission is to eliminate educational inequity by harnessing the talents of our nation's most promising future leaders. TFA recruits outstanding recent college graduates from all backgrounds and career interests to commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools. And TFA provides the training and ongoing support necessary to ensure their success as teachers. Beyond these two years, TFA alumni bring strong leadership to all levels of the school system and every professional sector, addressing the extra challenges faced by children growing up in low-income communities, building the capacity of schools and districts, and changing the prevailing ideology through their example and advocacy.
We made a final grant to the Bridge Builders initiative in the Highbridge section of the Bronx, as the project made a successful transition from private support and administration to public funding and community control. We have been active members of a collaborative of prominent funders, government officials and service providers working in this neighborhood, which has historically had the worst foster care record in New York City. 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.
Our strategic initiative to build “campus” libraries in public school buildings saw the completion of a beautiful, state-of-the-art library at the Prospect Heights campus in Brooklyn. Run by New Visions for Public Schools, the project leveraged City Council dollars and established governance by a multi-school team.
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. We celebrated the achievements of our Urban Scholars Program which also provides critical manpower to needy public service organizations while encouraging careers in service and the not for profit industry.
For the fourth year, we ran our own successful program for high school students, which offers individual tutoring and college guidance to a small group of juniors and seniors from Urban Assembly schools. Our goal is to find students whose lives and expectations can be transformed by exposure to outstanding supplemental academic experiences. This year’s program had some clear improvements over earlier ones, including a summer tutoring component and foreign language instruction.
We provided major support for the small schools initiative of the Urban Assembly, a model network that contracts with the City to operate 22 schools serving more than 7,400 students — and whose accountability measures exceed those of other experimental DOE programs. Each school is organized around a central educational and professional theme, ranging from law, government and justice, to design and construction.
Our Heckscher Foundation-conceived Teacher's Aid Program (TAP) continued in 2009. It 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 efforts to learn more about the effects and benefits of extended-day schooling culminated with the release of a study by 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 will hopefully guide funding agencies, policymakers and school officials as they consider the implementation of extended-day schooling in New York City.
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