Tag Archives: COMPASS

Happy Anniversary, COMPASS at P.S. 273!

November 30, 2018 | 1 Reply

By Manisha Singh
Director, COMPASS at P.S. 273

The Child Center of NY will be celebrating a huge and meaningful anniversary next month. This December marks the 20th anniversary of the agency’s Youth Development division. With dozens of sites and programs, ranging from afterschool services to alternative high schools and internships, YD serves 10,000 children and young adults annually, preparing them for adulthood with the skills, support, and confidence to compete and succeed at school and in life. It’s been a privilege for me to be involved with one of those programs for the past four years. Continue reading →

Halloween Happenings and Fall Fun

November 6, 2018 | Leave a reply

Autumn is such a special time in New York City—especially for children. With the fall foliage, turning of the weather, and spirit of renewal and new beginnings, The Child Center of NY’s early childhood education and youth development programs approach the season as we do most things — with education, fun, and a commitment to connecting the two. Continue reading →

Lights on Afterschool, in True Quest Fashion

October 27, 2017 | 2 Replies

By Jennette Lotrean

Every year, more than one million Americans celebrate afterschool programs and their impact on the lives of millions of children. The Quest ExpandEd program at P.S. 182 proudly participated in this national celebration with our Annual Lights on After School event and, in true Quest fashion, knocked it out the park! Continue reading →

What Summer Slide?

August 11, 2016 | Leave a reply

Students Combine Summer Fun and Learning at COMPASS 273

When educators and parents fret about the summer slide, they’re not referring to a Coney Island attraction. They’re talking about the well-documented fact that summer is a time when students lose about 20 percent of what they learned the previous school year. It’s also a season that can be a “financial and logistical nightmare” for low-income working parents, as they struggle to find affordable care while they earn a living.

We’re addressing both of these issues for 125 families at The Child Center of NY’s COMPASS extended learning program at P.S. 273 in Richmond Hill. Continue reading →

Encourage Diversity in STEM by Teaching It Right

September 9, 2015 | Leave a reply

New York City’s public school students return to school today. While their parents have spent the weekend stocking their kids’ backpacks with new pencil cases and notebooks, let’s hope their teachers have stocked their classrooms with toothpicks, cork, coins, and other everyday materials. The reason is simple: These materials can be used in hands-on experiments that encourage trial and error and the application of complex concepts. That’s the right way to teach STEM to tomorrow’s leaders, and it needs to be an integral part of schools and after-school programs—especially those that primarily serve BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and low-income students, and other groups typically underrepresented in STEM fields.

Continue reading →

Will Mayor de Blasio’s new budget save COMPASS?

May 6, 2015 | Leave a reply

Students on their way to a rally to save their after-school program.

On June 30, nearly 2000 kids will lose the safe, welcoming place they go to every day after school.

COMPASS, the after-school program started by Bloomberg, was never meant to be a permanent part of the city’s programming. But the city may have underestimated how important these programs would become to the kids they serve.

Providing individualized tutoring and homework help, plus a full slate of enrichment activities to help students find their talents and develop social emotional skills, these programs were desperately needed community resources in underserved neighborhoods, and a waitlist quickly formed. But unless the revised budget, scheduled to be released tomorrow, provides funding for the programs, they will be cut.

Maya Abigail, a student at PS 273, woke up on a Saturday and wrote this letter on behalf of her after-school program.

The 17 locations serve 1900 students citywide. Two locations–PS 96 in South Ozone Park and PS 273 in Richmond Hill–are a part of The Child Center’s youth development programs, and students here have been mounting a campaign to save the programs. They’ve written letters, painted posters, held rallies, marched on Queens Borough Hall, and shared videos and images online.

“It is very scary not knowing what lies next for us,” said Shantryce Hare, the director at the COMPASS program at PS 96 in South Ozone Park. Continue reading →

“Lights on Afterschool” Shows Off Students’ Work

November 14, 2014 | Leave a reply

When students geared up for classes after the summer break, afterschool programs launched too, enriching the after-school hours with learning and fun. Across the country, afterschool programs participated in Lights on Afterschool events where they highlighted their programs and how they are helping kids to learn and grow.

At the PS 56 COMPASS program, our programs paired the event with parent orientation and set up a gallery of the STEM-themed projects students worked on. Parents guessed scents and objects at a “Five Senses” display, and looked at clay models of dinosaurs and fossils at another station. Kindergarten students made a color wheel, Continue reading →