Heckscher Foundation Announces Recipients of RFP Grants

Date: 12/18/07

1. ALI FORNEY CENTER

527 West 22nd Street
New York, NY 10011

Founded in 2002, Ali Forney offers housing, safe haven, support and clinical services to homeless LGBT youth, ages 16-24. The Heckscher grant will go toward needs assessment, staff training and the implementation of a case management system for all of their homeless LGBT youth programs.

2. BODANNA

125 East 7th Street
New York, NY 10009

Bodanna has worked with out-of-school, out-of-work New York City youth, ages 17-24, at "real world" job settings since 1999. Areas of focus include craft, design, arts, retail skills and food services. This grant is to create a centralized data collection and management system for their several job skills programs for disconnected youth.

3. BROOKLYN ARTS COUNCIL

55 Washington Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Since 1966, BAC has been the umbrella group for Brooklyn artists and arts organizations. To keep the arts alive in public education, they partner with 100 different schools and sites, serving 40,000 kids, teachers and parents every year. Our grant will pay for the development and implementation of evaluation tools for their in-school arts workshops, which are funded by the DoE.

4. BROOKLYN BUREAU OF COMMUNITY SERVICE

285 Schermerhorn Street
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11217

For 141 years the Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service has helped disadvantaged children and families from the East New York and South Crown sections of Brooklyn. Their Gary Klinsky Children's Centers (five sites) offer a daily after-school learning environment where children build academic skills and self esteem. A Heckscher grant will allow for improved, coordinated measurement of student outcomes across these five sites.

5. CARDINAL MCCLOSKEY SERVICES

2 Holland Avenue
White Plains, N.Y. 10603

Founded in 1946, Cardinal McCloskey provides social services to abused and neglected children and their families. They serve 3,200 children every year with programs in Westchester, Rockland, the Bronx and East Harlem, including foster children at risk for poor educational performance. Our grant will enable data collection for and evaluation of their Educational Support Program for youth in foster boarding homes --- something that goes beyond what ACS requires of contract agencies.

6. CENTER FOR COURT INNNOVATION

121 Sixth Avenue
New York, NY 10013

The Center for Court Innovation is dedicated to the idea of "problem-solving justice." Their Child and Adolescent Witness Support Program provides mental health services to children ages 3-15 who have been victims of physical or sexual abuse, or who have witnessed such abuse. The Heckscher grant will pay for a baseline evaluation of this initiative to determine whether program adjustments and/or additional evaluation are warranted.

7. CHILDRENS AID SOCIETY

105 East 22nd Street
New York, NY 10010

In 2002, The Children's Aid Society formed a partnership with the New York State Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs and the New York State Office of Children and Family Services to help ease the transition for youth being released from upstate detention facilities to their Bronx and Manhattan homes. This Community Re-Entry Program has established Youth Welcoming Centers and Youth Receiving Centers at six Boys and Girls Clubs. Our grant will enable the creation of a web-based data tracking system to support all system-involved youth cross-agency to improve communication and case management.

8. COMMUNITY SERVICE SOCIETY

105 East 22nd Street
New York, NY 10010

For 160 years the Community Service Society has worked to identify and address the underlying causes of poverty in New York City. Their Worker Assistance Program is a partnership with four local workforce development organizations to provide youth ages 18-24 with extended case management support, including help with family problems, child care arrangements, food stamps, health insurance, child care subsidies and mentoring. The Heckscher grant will ensure that the cross-organization assessment system is coordinated, rigorous and useful to all stakeholders.

9. CREATIVE ALTERNATIVES OF NEW YORK

225 West 99th Street
New York, NY 10025

Established in 1983, CANY helps children affected by trauma --- reaching them through therapeutic drama programs run out of social service agencies, hospitals and schools. Staff training is conducted at the CANY-founded drama therapy program at Mt. Sinai Hospital, which is the only one of its kind in the nation. Our funds will enable the purchase of software to provide case management and assessment of their work.

10. FREE ARTS

1431 Broadway
New York, NY 10018

Free Arts provides underserved children with educational arts programs and mentoring intended to increase self-confidence and life skills. Since 1998 Free Arts has served 23,000 children in more than 35 agencies, schools, homeless shelters, community centers and housing projects. A Heckscher grant will allow the organization to develop an evaluation system for all of their arts/mentoring initiatives.

11. FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN

218 West 113th Street
New York, NY 10026

Friends of the Children is a Harlem-based early intervention mentoring program that helps at-risk kids develop the skills and relationships to become productive citizens. Using full-time, paid professional mentors (called "Friends"), they work one-on-one with children beginning in Kindergarten/1st grade and continuing through high school. Our grant will pay for a third party evaluation of their program.

12. GROUNDWORK

150 Court Street
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201

Founded in 2002, Groundwork's mission is to support underserved children and young people in the East New York section of Brooklyn. They offer after-school classes and a summer academy for elementary and middle school students, and a college prep, youth employment and leadership development program for high school students. Our funds will further their strategic planning process by allowing them to better define outcomes and evaluation practices, as well as to purchase new database software.

13. HUNTS POINT ALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN

899 Hunts Point Avenue
Bronx, NY 10471

The Hunts Point Alliance is a school/community/university coalition created to sustain and nurture the children and families of Hunts Point in the Bronx. Our funding will go toward a "Multidimensional Strengths and Needs Assessment of the Children and Families of Hunts Point" including a capacity survey of existing local service providers.

14. INWOOD HOUSE

320 East 82nd Street
New York, NY 10028

Established in 1830, Inwood House offers programs to thousands of young people every year that help them take charge of their lives. Their Teen Choice Program is a school-based teen pregnancy- and AIDS-prevention effort serving some 2,500 inner city youth annually. Our grant will underwrite a study of the long-term impact of the Teen Choice small group mental health model on NYC high school students' risk factors for pregnancy and HIV/STDs.

 15. KENNEDY CHILD STUDY CENTER

151 East 67th Street
New York, NY 10065

The Kennedy Child Study Center has assisted young children with significant learning difficulties and other early childhood development challenges since 1958. They provide evaluation, diagnosis, therapy, early intervention and specialized pre-school education. Heckscher funds will be used to implement an outcomes-based approach to service delivery for children with developmental disabilities, including the customization of software and staff training.

16. LEGAL INFORMATION FOR FAMILIES TODAY

350 Broadway
New York, NY 10013

Established 11 years ago, LIFT gives children and families the tools they need to navigate the Family Court System, such as court-based programs, a Family Law Hotline, a multilingual Family Law Resource Guide and educational workshops on family law and legal procedures. Our grant will pay for the creation of an online searchable community resource database and an evaluation to determine the efficacy of LIFT's client referrals.

17. NEW HEIGHTS YOUTH

2576 Broadway
New York, NY 10025

New Heights works to inspire promising inner city youth ages 10-18 to be successful in high school, college and life. Using basketball as a hook, New Heights provides other supportive programs including College Bound, the Academic Resource Center, and the Student Athlete Summer Academy to young people from Washington Heights, Harlem and the Bronx. Heckscher funds will be used to hire an outside consultant to develop improved evaluation systems and plan for long-term assessment of program quality and impact.

18. THE OLIVER PROGRAM

44 West 28th Street
New York, N.Y. 10001

The Oliver Program's mission is to cultivate a new generation of leaders by providing exceptional African American and Latino youth with access to selective boarding and day schools. Since 1984, 782 Oliver Scholars have received academic preparation, counseling, community service assignments, college prep, mentoring and alumni support. This grant will strengthen the organization's data gathering and analysis capabilities in line with recently defined quantitative and qualitative outcome criteria --- primarily through the upgrading and customization of database software.

19. OPERATION EXODUS INNER CITY

21 Wadsworth Avenue
New York, NY 10033

Exodus seeks to promote personal growth, educational achievement and leadership among youth in Washington Heights. Programs include after-school activities, mentoring, health and nutrition services, school placement and summer sessions. Heckscher monies will be used to engage an outside evaluator to identify outcomes, establish performance measures and manage data.

20. PUBLICOLOR

149 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016

Publicolor was established in 1996 to use the power of color and design to keep underserved children from dropping out of school by engaging them in community and school projects. The organization has transformed 84 school buildings and 110 neglected community sites since its inception. A Heckscher grant will pay for the design and implementation of an outside evaluation to determine organizational effectiveness.

21. QUEENS COMMUNITY HOUSE

108-25 62nd Drive
Forest Hills, NY 11375

Formerly Forest Hill Community House, Queens Community House was established 30 years ago as a community-based settlement. They serve 7,000 children and youth each year at 40 sites throughout Queens. Funds will be used to develop a cross-program evaluation system for their youth department and to purchase a database for tracking client progress toward defined outcomes.

22. QUEST YOUTH ORGANIZATION

PO Box 26724
Brooklyn, NY 11202

Quest provides after school performing arts programming to Brooklyn youth from the Bedford Stuyvesant community, including a drum and bugle corps, a chorus, and a rhythm and blues band. All programs are enhanced by adult mentoring and tutoring. The Heckscher grant will go toward a first ever strategic planning process, including research, performance measurement system development, program assessment, professional development and the creation of a final report/action plan for organizational growth.

23. RED HOOK INITIATIVE

595 Clinton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231

The Red Hook Initiative offers programs and services for 250 Red Hook residents each month, targeting children and youth ages 9-21. Areas of focus include education, employment, health outreach and community development. Their proposal positions them as the lead agency of three neighborhood nonprofits that seek to engage a single consultant to establish both group and individual outcome measures and evaluation tools. The other nonprofits are Girls for Gender Equity and Mixteca Organization.

24. REEL WORKS TEEN FILMAKING

357 Ninth Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215

This film arts organization was created to provide Brooklyn high school students ages 15-19 with outlets for creative expression and alternatives to negative behaviors. A 20-week Lab Course leads to more in-depth classes and summer opportunities. A Heckscher grant will allow Reel Works to undertake an Evaluation Expansion Project that will build on an existing survey tool to create new assessment instruments and analyze the resulting data.

25. RIVERDALE NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE

5521 Mosholu Avenue
Bronx, NY 10471

Located in the northwest Bronx since 1872, Riverdale is the only non-sectarian agency in the community offering early childhood education, job training for teens, and family programs. Their Youth Internship Program, which is the core service of the RNH Teen Program, provides experiential learning in collaboration with local businesses and agencies. Heckscher funds will allow the development of a new computerized participant and outcome tracking system for the Teen Program to replace an inefficient paper system and provide comprehensive data on clients.

26. ST.VINCENT'S SERVICES

66 Boerum Place
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Founded in 1869, St. Vincent's is a full service agency providing care and support to children and their foster and/or birth families. The American Dream Program ensures that every young person at SVS can pursue a college, technology/trade or graduate education, regardless of government support and with full coverage for tuition, tutoring, counseling, room and board, health insurance and incidental expenses through graduation. A Heckscher grant will underwrite a first-ever outside evaluation of the American Dream Program to improve recruitment and implementation strategies.

27. URBAN YOUTH ALLIANCE

442 East 149th Street
Bronx, NY 10455

Urban Youth Alliance is dedicated to providing quality-of-life, educational, prevention and support programming for Bronx youth. Their BronxConnect Program is a community-based alternative-to-incarceration initiative that provides juvenile offenders with court advocacy, case management, mentoring, anger management, substance abuse, educational assistance and youth development activities. Our grant will support the design and implementation of a long-term recidivism study of youth served by BronxConnect, as well as a data tracking system to capture future outcomes.

28. WILDCAT SERVICE CORP.

17 Battery Place
New York, NY 10004

Wildcat seeks to bring self sufficiency to educationally and economically disadvantaged New Yorkers. Within that mission, they have provided workforce and youth development services to young people for 25 years, particularly through structured internship placements. They have requested Heckscher funds to purchase software to manage all aspects of their multiple youth internship programs. Customization of the software will also allow for the creation of a job bank that can be matched to client profiles.

29. WOMENS PRISON ASSOCIATION

110 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10003

Founded in 1844, WPA was the first organization dedicated solely to the needs of female ex-prisoners and assists in the transition from incarceration to independent community living. Their Youth and Family Services Program targets more than 400 children annually with the goals of avoiding foster care placement and easing reunification after parental release from jail. Our grant will enable the purchase of an add-on to their existing information system that can record detailed demographic and needs information about clients' children and track service provision -- going beyond their current capacity to monitor only adult clients.