Linda Rodriguez, Director of Early Childhood Services, is excited that the Ficalora funding will bring center-based expansion to Head Start, as well as the Pre-Kindergarten programs The Child Center also offers. It will allow for the purchase of much needed new equipment to update the classrooms and expand desperately needed child care services in the community.

Joe Ficalora is a son of Queens, so his gift is one that makes perfect sense. His foundation is specifically committed to supporting children at risk in Woodside, Jackson Heights and Corona. We thank him for his commitment and generosity.

A Grant that Makes a Difference Now and Into the Future
The Child Center is one of five organizations chosen by The Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) to receive capacity building technical assistance. The goal is to strengthen the agency's core so that it can contribute to be a leader in providing effective programming to the community's most at-risk children and youth.

The Wallace Foundation, which helps support the DYCD program, funds after-school programming and research because its leadership understands that 80% of children's waking hours are spent outside of school but for "too many young people, the end of the school day signals long hours of boredom and risk rather than the chance to participate in enriching learning activities such sports, arts or homework help."

“We were thrilled to be selected,” said The Child Center’s executive director Sandy Hagan, “because our after-school programming has grown rapidly in the last several years and we want to make sure that our agency infrastructure and fundraising capacity effectively address the needs of the families we serve.”

DYCD was instrumental in awarding the technical assistance grant and is coordinating the process, pulling together consultants including The Children's Aid Society, the Nonprofit Finance Fund, the Accounting Management Fund and the lead agency, The Community Resource Exchange. Our board and administrative staff are now in the process of prioritizing needs so that the technical assistance will have the maximum impact on its ability to serve children and youth effectively. We will keep you posted on where we go from here.
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Social worker Amanda Etienne, project director for the last four years, is a visionary advocate who sees hope in every situation, even the dire risks facing young people today. In Etienne's first year, TIPP trained 21 peer educators who counseled 110 teens on HIV prevention. Last year, it trained nearly five times that number who reached out to more than 2,200 youth. Since its founding six years ago, TIPP has grown to include outreach on dating violence and self-esteem, and provides expanded opportunities for community service--all with a peer-to-peer model.

WATCH TIPP'S ORIGINALLY PRODUCED VIDEO, "CLASS IN SESSION" HERE.

TIPP peer educators who attended Cable Positive's Youth AIDS Media Institute University in Washington, D.C. in late March got a special mention in this online article.

College Bound
More than 80 students, ages 16-20, at The Child Center’s collaboration with Aspirations Diploma Plus High School, have taken tours of four-year colleges this past spring with more to come! Many of these students had never visited a college before or believed that college was an unattainable option for them. They have taken a peek into campus life and culture, and have ventured into worlds where they are the racial minority. Our students have been inspired, encouraged and highly motivated to pursue college careers and we already have college bound students in our first graduating class. This is especially notable because 100% of the students at the high school had attained so few credits toward graduation when they transferred to the school that they were at risk of dropping out before the earned a high school diploma.
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Special Thanks
Many thanks to the Ronald McDonald House Charities, and to executive director Margaret Berger, for its generous grant to the Ira Meyer Children's Center, which enabled our group of children and teens from the Home-Based Crisis Intervention, Stepdown and Blended Case Management Programs to see Stomp on Friday, May 29th, as part of our Concentrated Socialization Program. This was the first time that many of the children had seen a professional theatrical production.
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