We are pleased to announce that the Foundation has awarded five community-based organizations in New York City $25,000 to improve the quality of their youth programs. This year’s Youth Service Improvement Grantees are:
Fiver Children’s Foundation, an innovative program that provides support services for youth and their families over the course of ten years.
Fresh Youth Initiatives, which provides academic, wellness, college preparatory, and career support services to the Washington Heights community.
Futures and Options, which aims to empower youth of color in New York City to acquire transferable professional skills, pursue higher education, and successfully compete in a global 21st century economy.
South Bronx United, which offers soccer practice alongside academic, college-preparatory, and career support services to over 200 immigrant, first-generation, and at-risk youth in the South Bronx.
Mercy Center Inc., a multi-service organization offering support and opportunities to the South Bronx community.
The Youth Service Improvement Grants (YSIG) program supports activities to improve the quality of direct services for young people ages 5 to 25 in the five boroughs of New York City. The long-term goal of the YSIG program is to strengthen existing services by helping youth-serving nonprofit organizations address challenges or remedy problems at the point of service, where staff and youth interact.
This year’s grantees will take on a wide range of improvement projects, from curriculum development to staff training.
At Fresh Youth Initiatives, staff have reported needing more training to assist students who may seek support for gender- and sexuality-related topics. Their improvement project will train frontline staff in supporting LGBTQ+ participants.
Fiver Children’s Foundation will also provide staff with additional training. Through their improvement project, the organization plans to develop a case management handbook to better equip program associates with best practices for providing one-on-one services to youth participants.
As workplaces moved from physical offices to virtual settings during the pandemic, staff at Futures and Options noticed that students required more preparation for hybrid and remote jobs. Their improvement plan will refresh their curriculum to ensure that students succeed in the post-pandemic workforce.
Mercy Center’s improvement project will also address challenges surfacing out of the pandemic, as staff noticed pronounced challenges in youth participants’ academic and social skills in recent years. Their improvement project will center socio-emotional learning in the development of a new after-school curriculum to address these students’ challenges.
South Bronx United recently received an influx of middle school participants. Their improvement project will develop a new curriculum specifically designed for these students to address grade-specific needs.
“These five organizations are carrying out extraordinary work to provide vital services to youth across New York City, from academic support to mentorship to professional training. We are excited to support Fiver Children’s Foundation, Fresh Youth Initiatives, Futures and Options, South Bronx United, and Mercy Center Inc. as they work to strengthen their youth programming,” said Maya Simeon, who manages the YSIG program.
