The Child Center Residential Treatment Facility is a place for youth who have had multiple psychiatric hospital stays and youth with both psychiatric disorders and juvenile justice involvement. It is also a place where young people who have had a rough start find their way to a bright path. Residents at the RTF learn positive coping strategies through which they realize a strength they never knew they were capable of, discover talents they didn’t know they had, and begin to envision and plan for a future based on both those things. For many residents, the RTF’s creative and therapeutic arts programming plays a vital role in their journey. Watch this video, produced by the RTF’s creative arts team—including the young people—to learn more and see the breathtaking, extraordinary art that has come out of this program.
Our Programs
Photo of the Month: Happy National Women Physicians Day!
February 3 was National Women Physicians Day, which provides the perfect opportunity to spotlight Drs. Omolara Uwemedimo, Nicole Brown, and Suzette Brown, whose primary care practice Strong Children Wellness supports healthy families in our communities!
National Women Physicians Day honors the pioneering achievements and ongoing contributions of female physicians in the field of health care. It is symbolically held each year on the birthday of Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman in America to receive a medical degree. That was in 1849. Today, 175 years later, we know that representation in medicine matters. Studies show that having a diverse workforce in health care improves outcomes and makes patients feel respected, comfortable, and valued. It is an avenue through which patients can feel reassured that they are receiving the very best care.
The physicians at Strong Children Wellness (SCW) epitomize the noble tradition begun by Elizabeth Blackwell and the gift that is diversity in health care.
Comprised of three women doctors, SCW partners with trusted community-based organizations (CBOs) to integrate primary care services into their wide array of existing support services and programs. Through this unique approach, families have access to a personalized, multidisciplinary care team that addresses physical, developmental, emotional, and social needs—right in a client’s own community or through virtual visits.
The Child Center of NY is proud to be one of Strong Children Wellness’ partner CBOs. SCW has provided care to more than 300 Child Center clients since our partnership began in 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, when health care for our clients was hard to come by. The partnership has helped an increasing number of our clients receive regular care ever since. The doctors see patients in our Jamaica Family Wellness Center and in our Macari Family Wellness Center in Flushing. We are planning to open a third site for SCW visits at our Cohen Family Wellness Center in Woodside this year.
“As pediatricians, we are often the first to care for children and families with medical and mental health issues, and identify social needs such as food insecurity and homelessness,” Dr. Nicole Brown, SCW’s chief health officer and pediatrician, explains. “Many families face the challenge of navigating complex medical, mental health, and social systems with little support, and receive care that is fragmented and poorly coordinated. SCW’s partnership with The Child Center has transformed the way we practice medicine. We are able to collaborate closely with staff across The Child Center’s many programs to deliver comprehensive care that addresses medical, behavioral, developmental, and social needs. Our partnership has created a ‘village’ of support for families as their children grow. Care is delivered in one setting, creating a ‘one-stop shop’ of services. This has significantly improved access to care for the families we mutually serve.”
Visit the Strong Children Wellness website to schedule an appointment or to learn more!
January Photo of the Month: MLK Day Every Day
Martin Luther King, Jr., Day is an important day at The Child Center of NY. Programs across the organization mark the observance in unique ways that are meaningful to them.
One of those programs is our Beacon at M.S. 226 in South Ozone Park, Queens. The Child Center operates four Beacon programs, which are school-based community centers that offer year-round recreational and learning opportunities for children and adults. In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, our Beacon M.S. 226 elementary school students created MLK portraits, which you can see them proudly hold up in this month’s photo of the month.
In an accompanying discussion with Group Leader Vare McNeil, participants talked about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I have a dream” speech. They spoke about what the themes of the speech mean to them. Participants agreed that, as fourth-grade student Amisha said, “No one should be mistreated because of their skin color.” They also talked about another core part of Dr. King’s character, which was the importance of always making sure you are “doing for others,” which is a core principle of The Child Center.
“The ideals that Dr. King stood for are the ideals we strive for every day: equity, kindness, service, and excellence,” says M.S. 226 Beacon Director Ronell John.
Ronell says he strives both to impart these values to his students and to live them himself. Citing another famous quote by the great civil rights leader, Ronell says, “’If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’ I walk into my program with this mindset because I want my participants and members of my team to know that I care about them and the work that I do. I try to model that dedication for our participants. They all have gifts and have so much to give to their communities. The participants and team members I am privileged to work with bring pride and honor to Dr. King’s memory.”
December Photo of the Month: Holiday Wishes Do Come True!
Bishop, 5, just started his first year at Hammel Houses Cornerstone Community Center in Rockaway Beach, Queens. He was so excited to receive plushies as his gift through The Child Center of NY’s Holiday Toy Drive because “plushies are my favorite toy!”
Every year, The Child Center organizes a holiday toy drive for families for whom the holidays mean deciding between putting food on the table or providing a gift for their children. The Child Center Holiday Toy Drive aims to bridge the gap and bring unexpected joy to our families by offering new, unwrapped toys during this special time of year. Every dollar donated goes toward purchasing gifts. The impact of this generosity reaches beyond the tangible presents—it’s about restoring confidence and dignity to families who can create cherished memories for their children.
Krystle Raghubeer, the Hammel Houses Cornerstone Community Center’s director, states that all the kids were excited to receive the presents that they had wished for. Thank you to everyone who donated to the toy drive and made dreams come true this holiday season for children like Bishop!
While the toy drive made Bishop’s dream come true for the holidays, Krystle and her dedicated team at Hammel Houses Cornerstone Community Center work hard every day to ensure dreams that Bishop doesn’t even know he has yet can come true when he gets older. That’s because Cornerstone programs, funded by the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development and supported by our generous donors, offer children a safe and fun place, right in their own neighborhood, where they can continue to learn after the school bell rings and engage in enrichment opportunities, from STEM to the arts, that allow them to explore their strengths and discover all they are capable of. Cornerstones are open to the whole community so that members of any age can learn, grow, and build community. What a gift for the new year!
Editor’s Note: While our Holiday Toy Drive has ended, you still can support children like Bishop in making their dreams come true by donating to support our programming. Every dollar counts, and we will put all gifts right to work!
Photo of the Month: Lights On Afterschool and Mental Health at Roosevelt Island Beacon
On October 26, two of The Child Center of NY’s founding principles came together in a beautiful way at our Roosevelt Island Beacon at P.S./I.S. 217 in Manhattan. Staff and students celebrated Lights On Afterschool to shine a spotlight on afterschool programs while participating in the “Kinder, Braver Together” campaign, a partnership between The Child Center and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation to raise mental health awareness. This month’s Photo of the Month collage tells the story!
The Child Center began in 1953 as a single children’s counseling center, and a commitment to mental health remains at the heart of everything we do—from offering therapy at our wellness centers and at schools to embedding mental health in our early childhood education and afterschool programs.
That’s why we are so excited to announce that The Child Center is partnering with Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation and jack.org to make a profound impact on youth mental health. A key priority is to have as many people as possible obtain the Be There Certificate, which teaches the public to recognize when someone might be struggling with their mental health and how to safely support them while maintaining their own mental health. The Be There Certificate is a free, self-paced, interactive online course designed for young people but accessible to all.
The Child Center is committed to having all of our staff and community obtain the Be There Certificate. The Roosevelt Island Beacon team was among the first to earn their certificates, and we think they are rocking the “Kinder, Braver Together” hats they earned as a result!
The team proudly wore their hats during the program’s Lights On Afterschool event last Thursday (center photo in the collage above). Launched in 2000 by the Afterschool Alliance, Lights On Afterschool celebrates afterschool programs and their important role in the lives of children, families, and communities. The Child Center operates more than 20 such programs, and each year they join the national Lights On Afterschool effort to draw attention to the many ways they support students by offering them opportunities to learn new things—such as dance, robotics, and community service—and discover new skills. The events send a powerful message that millions more kids need quality afterschool programs.
This year’s Lights On event at Roosevelt Island Beacon was a collaboration between The Child Center and Youth Center, another afterschool program on the island.
“We came together to show the community the importance of afterschool programs and how integral they are to a young child. All the projects we showcased were created by the participants in both programs and featured the theme of lights,” Program Director Ricardo Turenne explains. “The students also spoke about how afterschool has helped them. They spoke eloquently and from the heart about how they have pursued their interests, formed friendships, got academic support to succeed in school, and discovered strengths they didn’t even know they had. It was inspiring. This is why we do what we do.”
September Photo of the Month: Community School M.S. 72 Celebrates Attendance Awareness
September is Attendance Awareness Month, and there’s no better place to celebrate it than at Catherine and Count Basie Magnet School for Multimedia and Performing Arts M.S. 72.
The school’s theme this year is “Lights, Camera, Learn.” The bulletin board in this photo represents the Daily Homeroom Challenge, which involves classrooms competing for a place on the “Walk of Fame.” The homeroom class that receives the highest attendance percentage rate for the month is rewarded with a “Spin-the-Wheel” event to earn prizes such as Bluetooth headphones, free uniform attire, cosmetics, backpacks, snacks, and more.
M.S. 72 is what is known as a New York City Community School: a school defined by partnership between the school and an embedded community-based organization (CBO), like The Child Center of NY, that coordinates and delivers services to young people and their families—from mental health for students to adult education resources for parents and caregivers. Students, often known as “scholars,” receive high-quality academic instruction, and the CBO addresses barriers to academic success by collaborating with parents, teachers, community members, and, most importantly, students.
One of those barriers is absenteeism, especially chronic absenteeism, which New York City Department of Education defines as missing 20-37 days—a month or more of school—per academic year.
“If scholars aren’t in school, they can’t learn, they can’t be inspired, and they can’t be engaged. The more school they miss, the harder it becomes to catch up, and the more hopeless it all starts to seem. At the high school level, this cycle can cause dropping out to feel inevitable,” explains Saran Shields, Vice President of Youth Development here at The Child Center.
The Child Center works with its 18 Community Schools, from elementary to high school, including M.S. 72, to reverse this cycle so that scholars can be present and engaged in their learning—and see how much they are capable of.
Understanding that young people don’t exist as students in a vacuum, Community Schools support the whole child, their entire family, and their learning both inside and outside the classroom. For example, healthy young people attend more days of school, and so Community Schools offer services such as vision care, medical care, and mental health centers. The more time students spend at school, the more they learn, so Community Schools stay open after school and over the summer, offering enrichment activities such as arts, music lessons, and robotics.
With a strong school administration and support from our team, results are profound at The Child Center’s Community Schools. At August Martin High School in Jamaica, for example, the graduation rate rose from 24 percent in 2015, when The Child Center first became lead CBO, to a remarkable 73 percent three years later. The graduation rate now stands at 91.67 percent—higher than the NYC average of 83.7 percent.
At M.S. 72, the 2022-23 school year closed out with an attendance rate of 90 percent. It is currently at 91 percent with a goal of increasing that rate by 4 percent by June.
“The attendance team at M.S. 72 meets every week to continuously find ways to combat severely chronic absenteeism and chronic absenteeism,” says Nicole Johnson, community school director at M.S. 72. “These strategies include but are not limited to home visits, daily tardiness and absenteeism phone calls, parent meetings, and ongoing attendance incentive events throughout the year. Our team is extremely dedicated, and we are so proud of our scholars and their families for making education their priority.”
To learn more about how Community Schools help young people thrive, visit the NYC Department of Education’s Community Schools page, and to learn more about how The Child Center fosters increased attendance at its Community Schools, read Saran Shields’ 2018 blog post on the subject (yes, we have been working on this a long time!)
Program Spotlight: Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP)
It’s back-to-school season, and 15-year-old Ethan (far left in the above photo) feels ready and full of a sense of confidence he built slowly but surely this past summer.
That’s because Ethan spent July and August busily working his summer job at Benjamin Franklin High School, where he joined in team-building activities, participated in restorative justice circles, and developed work readiness skills. He even took an academic course for credit to boot! His days consisted of challenges to solve, people to greet, and a never-ending stream of important work to be done—and Ethan wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Ethan is a participant of The Child Center of NY’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). An initiative of the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development, SYEP is the nation’s largest youth employment program, connecting NYC youth between the ages of 14 and 24 with career exploration opportunities and paid work experience. Through SYEP, participants explore different interests and career pathways, develop workplace habits and know-how, and engage in learning experiences that strengthen their social, civic, and leadership skills.
Brittany Dailey is the SYEP director at The Child Center, where she oversees SYEP programs at 10 schools. “When I started in 2019, we had 200 youths enrolled in our SYEP programs,” Brittany says. “This summer, we had 914 young people participating in SYEP.”
That figure includes 94 teens who are from asylum-seeking families. This is important, Brittany says, because these kids do not have Social Security cards, making it hard for them to find employment elsewhere. They often struggle financially and have faced hardships no child—or adult, for that matter—should have to face.
All 914 Child Center SYEP participants are between the ages of 14 and 21 and attend schools that The Child Center supports throughout the year. Those who are 14-15 years old, like Ethan, work on project-based lessons (PBLs) that focus on career readiness. For example, this summer they engaged in a Shark Tank-inspired PBL, through which they pitched products addressing social injustice. One participant created what he called “Bundles of Joy,” distributing baskets for people experiencing homelessness. Students learned how to pitch their ideas, write business proposals, and produce commercials. They made T-shirts with logos they created and explored social justice issues that ranged from climate change to LGBTQ+ rights to immigration and sold the t-shirts to support their cause.
Participants ages 16-21 were ready for real-world work experience. Through community partnerships, Brittany and her team placed participants with an array of local employers. Youth worked at restaurants and barber shops to get a feel for small business operations; the JFK Redevelopment Community Information Center to learn about careers in aviation; and the offices of New York State Senator Leroy Comrie and Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman to get an inside look at careers in public service.
New this year was an academic component to SYEP: Students had the opportunity to take an academic course for credit. This allowed teens to advance their scholastic goals while gaining important work readiness skills.
When the summer ends, participants are eligible for The Child Center’s Work, Learn & Grow programs, which help students make a smooth transition from high school to college and the “real” world by building college readiness, earning college credit, learning essential job readiness skills, and completing a paid internship.
“SYEP is important for so many reasons,” Brittany says. “It’s important because we don’t know why they need the money; some participants are supporting their families. We might think 100 dollars a week isn’t much, but it’s huge for an undocumented family, who may not be treated fairly by other employers who can take advantage of their vulnerable status. At 14 years old, these are the problems they have.
“It’s also important because now they’re not leaving high school not knowing what the work world is like. Through the internships, participants learn what they like, and even what they don’t like. They may discover they don’t ever want to work in a restaurant! They understand how taxes work. Teens like Ethan now know that they are capable of learning valuable skills and doing a job at a level of excellence that makes them proud. This is as crucial a part of their education as anything, and I love being a part of it.”
The Elite Steppers of M.S. 289: from Afterschool to Gracie Mansion
By Marissa Lutchman Dayaram
Program Director
The Elite Steppers dance team from the SONYC afterschool program at Queens United Middle School 289 began the last school year with hopes of entering and competing in the DYCD Step It Up NYC Competition. While the girls did enter and make it to the second round of the competition, what happened next was far more rewarding and valuable for the participants and their growth!
The Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) created the Step It Up NYC initiative to leverage the performing arts to build community leadership capacity in young people ages 10-20. Dance and step teams not only compete, but also plan community service projects and develop citywide social campaigns to speak up about issues that impact their communities.
The teams were charged with exploring a topic related to their community as well as representing 50 years of hip-hop. The girls chose to focus on gun violence, as it is something that has been affecting them all. Gun violence in schools had become so prominent throughout the country, and the participants had peers who had been exposed to gun violence during and after school. Just within the community alone, there have been so many incidents and reports that the girls felt moved to represent this through their dance and step.
As part of the project, the team partnered with a community-based organization called 100 Suits that helps prevent violence and promote unity and safety within the team’s community, and throughout New York City. With the help of 100 Suits staff, the Elite Steppers conducted outreach on the streets, spreading their message by interviewing and speaking to people, and performing for the community as well.
At the same time, the team members were equally dedicated to achieving excellence in their dance routines. They practiced and prepped from January to June for one hour three times a week!
In March, the team discovered that their hard work paid off and they had made it past the first round.
At their second-round performance, they did not know that a special guest, DYCD Commissioner Keith Howard, was observing in the background. He was so impressed by the Elite Steppers’ performance about gun violence that he decided to feature the team in a public service media campaign. A crew filmed them, and the video was posted on DYCD’s Instagram and YouTube accounts, which in turn caught the attention of NYC’s very own mayor, Eric Adams!
Commissioner Howard and Mayor Adams were partnering on a campaign to “Stop Gun Violence,” and they invited our Elite Steppers to perform at Gracie Mansion as the opening act for the mayor’s youth summit. They hosted the team at the mansion, gave them a tour, and a private room with snacks and drinks for them to practice. After their performance, Mayor Adams met with the girls to tell them how much he appreciated what they were doing. He went on to speak to the audience about the message the girls relayed through their performance and how impactful it was.
The Elite Steppers have since been called upon for a whirlwind of performances. Most recently they stepped at a Saturday Night Lights summer kickoff event at Basketball City at Pier 36 in Manhattan and shared their message on ending gun violence. They performed for an array of guests, including Commissioner Howard, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, former NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, NBA stars John Starks from the NY Knicks and Albert King from the Brooklyn Nets, and all the youth from the basketball teams who were in attendance.
Thirteen-year-old Elite Stepper Ava spoke for all her teammates when she said, “Being on the team taught me life lessons: how to work together, be stronger, and have respect for my teammates and myself. It was fun to experience everything that we did, traveling to the city and stepping for not only our school, but for the mayor! I can’t wait to do it again. Being an Elite Stepper is one of the best things that has happened to me so far in my middle school years.”
August Photo of the Month: Ready for Back to School
Our 2023 Backpack Drive gets students ready and excited for their academic journey!
Sean, the smiling boy you see in this picture, is starting second grade this year at P.S. 56 in Richmond Hill, Queens. He’s also starting his third year at The Child Center of NY’s COMPASS afterschool program. Thanks to the generous supporters of our 2023 Backpack Drive, Sean is prepared and excited for the academic adventures to begin!
The Child Center operates more than 20 afterschool programs, either on site at children’s schools or in community centers close to where they live. All of them provide a meaningful connection to what they learn during the school day. Activities are based on each school’s and community’s needs, as well as students’ interests; however, all our afterschool programs maintain a mix of homework help and menu of enrichment activities in the areas of literacy, STEM, visual arts (Sean’s favorite!), performing arts, sports, health and nutrition, leadership, and community service. A full 100% of our COMPASS programs received a DYCD rating of “Meets Standard” or above during the 2022-2023 school year.
Our P.S. 56 program also has a robust Ready Readers curriculum for second graders like Sean. It’s part of our literacy strategy that works to ensure all our students can read at grade level. This includes our Literacy Leaders sight-word program, which has extraordinary results: By spring, 87 percent of participating students had improved their sight-word skills, and 72 percent were reading at grade level (compared to the participating schools’ average of 49 percent reading at grade level in third grade, the first year of school testing).
Wondering about the girl in the photo? That’s Sean’s sister, who is starting kindergarten and our afterschool program this year with her brother. She’s not so sure what it’s all about yet. But once she begins kindergarten with her stocked backpack and discovers new activities and friends at afterschool, we know her smile will be as big as her brother’s!
As our young scholars head back to the classroom, our backpack drive is still going. Through this annual campaign, funded exclusively by generous supporters, The Child Center provides backpacks filled with grade-appropriate supplies to 4,000 young people in Child Center programs. The goal is to ease the financial burden on struggling families and empower children to focus on their education. Please visit our backpack drive webpage for more information on how you can help children like Sean and his sister start the school year right. Every dollar you donate goes directly toward purchasing fully stocked backpacks, and it takes less than minute.
It’s not too late to spread those smiles!
You must be logged in to post a comment.