Driving Community Transformation: Giving

Driving Community Transformation

Zone 126 is proud to present Driving Community Transformation , a bi-monthly feature on the work we are a part of in zip codes 11101 , 1110 2 , and 1110 6 .

A Note from Maritza

As we close 2015, Zone 126 has much to be grateful for. Through our wonderful Implementation Partners, 835 children and families are being served so far in school year 2015 - 2016. We are on track to serving more than 2,500, an increase of 13% from school year 2014 - 2015!

Zone 126 is building Cradle to Career Community Schools at the ten schools that are primarily attended by children living in NYCHA public housing developments -- Astoria Houses, Ravenswood, and Queensbridge. With our 21 implementation partners, children and families are receiving arts, literacy, math support, adult education and mental health services, and nutrition education, just to name a few.

In our baseline year of service, school year 2014 - 2015, we learned that our Zone elementary students attained increases in attendance and academic improvement. As we continue to scale our partnerships and deepen the portfolio of services provided to children and families in the Zone, we will see more attendance and academic growth throughout elementary, middle, and high school! Our vision is for every Zone child to graduate from high school prepared for college and enter the workforce with the skills needed to thrive in a 21st century world.

Thank you for your continued support in helping our Zone children and families succeed!

Wishing you and yours a joyous holiday!

Program Spotlight: NYU ParentCorps

NYU ParentCorps has been a Zone 126 Implementation Partner since November 2013. Friends School (for children) and ParentCorps (for parents) classes initially launched at PS 17Q in February 2014. ParentCorps classes have been held in both English and Spanish and are facilitated by PS 17Q's on site social worker over the course of 14-weeks for families of Pre-Kindergarten students. ParentCorps is a family-focused, school-based intervention that supports families prior to children’s critical transition to school. Since the initial pilot, the program has continued to thrive at PS 17Q. This current school year, ParentCorps has a group of 17 parents in their Fall/Winter English session under the facilitation of PS 17Q's social worker. At a session this past month, parents were asked to praise one another, and when one parent said she felt like a failure, another parent responded with the following encouragement, "You are doing the best you can at this time, at this moment, in this world. We are doing the best we can and being able to share here, it feels good"

ParentCorps is remarkable in how they teach parents how to support their children and families. The Fall/Winter English session closes in February 2016, and a Spanish session will start in Spring 2016.

Student Spotlight: Long Island City High School

Students from partner school Long Island City High School (LICHS) prepared breakfast for LICHS' Legislative Breakfast this month. Pictured are seniors in LICHS' Academy of Hospitality & Tourism-Culinary Arts. Zone 126 asked the students what they most enjoyed about the program -- Marvin (right) liked that he had the opportunity to have an internship at a Midtown restaurant. Through the program, Ana (middle) learned the ins and outs of working in a kitchen and also shadowed a chef in an internship. Laura (right) was able to learn how to cook and try something new -- including interning at the Whitney Museum restaurant!

Upcoming Events

January 2016 Cradle to Career Convening

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

8:30 am - 10:30 am

Variety Boys & Girls Club Queens

21-12 30th Rd

Long Island City, NY 11102

Further Reading:

The power of an impassioned principal - feature on principal from New Orleans [The Atlantic]
How one teacher responds after a student told her she couldn't understand his problems because she was white [The Washington Post]
What we lose when we ignore our youth [The Hill Congress Blog]
Study finds a drop in low-income student enrollment in higher education even though national graduation rate has steadily increased [Inside Higher Ed]

In the Zone:

Jacob A. Riis Settlement House's involvement to mobilize voters in Queensbridge for community change [The New York Times]
We're featured in America's Promise Alliance blog: NYC GradNation Summit Recap
Join the Zone 126 team! We're looking for a VP of Development & Communications, Community School Director, and Community School Coordinator. Send cover letters & resumes to admin@zone126.org!

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