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Air and Sea Summer Adventures
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super big thank you to Bloomberg for donating four fun-filled field trips to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum and the New York Aquarium to 200 kids from our Hunts Point Beacon. Our children were fascinated to learn about the “top-secret” Growler submarine, the supersonic Concorde, and the Gemini II space capsule while aboard the Intrepid and to see rare black-footed penguins, tomato frogs, loggerhead sea turtles, and sand tiger sharks at the Aquarium. According to Michelle James, Director at Hunts Point, “This was truly an experience of a lifetime!”
Lights Camera Action!
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wo ground-breaking rockin’ performances, five original songs, four inspiring dance routines, and one new guitar were the highlights at the finale performance for this season’s Road Recovery program at The Graham School. The Road Recovery program brings entertainment industry professionals whose lives have been personally affected by addiction or adversity to the campus to share their knowledge and experience with current Graham students. Through ARTS (A Road to Success) activities, our Road Recovery participants learn to show care and compassion for one another through original music scores, choreography, and original spoken word. The creativity and positive environment created by the program allows students and mentors to have open interactive discussions about addiction, adversity, and most importantly, recovery. Together, we nurture and develop a culture of caring that impacts our entire campus. One of Graham's newest rockstars
Best of Bloomberg thank you banner
Take Me Out to the Ball Game!
Graham Windham Selected to Pilot ACS’s Youth Financial Empowerment Program
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s part of NYC Administration of Children Services’ system-wide effort to address the issue of youth aging out of foster care, Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner John Mattingly announced the launch of a unique financial literacy and savings program called Youth Financial Empowerment (YFE). Graham Windham’s Preparing Youth for Adulthood (PYA) Division was honored to be selected last year by ACS to pilot the program that teaches our youth essential financial literacy skills and also provides matching funds of up to $2,000 in Individual Development Accounts. These savings can be applied to secure and maintain stable housing, to pursue educational opportunities, and to obtain vocational training. We are pleased to report that under the leadership of our Youth Development Coordinator Michelle Richards, our YFE pilot was such a success that it was featured in ACS’s Division of Quality Assurance What’s Working Summer 2010 Newsletter.
Graham Windham Hosts Russian Delegation Root root root for the home team
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hanks to Alex Rappaport, Marketing Assistant at the New York Mets, for donating 100 tickets to Graham Windham so our kids and families could cheer on the Mets at Citi Field last month. Even though the Phillies won the game, everyone had a ball! 6
THE GRAHAM WINDHAM RECORD
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n September 29, 2010, Graham Windham FPPS’s Brooklyn office hosted a delegation of Russian ministerial, parliamentary, and non-profit sector officials interested in learning about the US foster care and adoption system. The group was visiting the United States as guests of the United States Department of State International Visitors Program. FPPS’s Sofiya Rusakova gave a tour of the Brooklyn facility, introduced the group to our dedicated staff, and for three hours, fielded questions on social services and medical care for US foster children, as well as questions on the adoption process. Graham Windham FPPS was proud and honored to receive this opportunity to represent our nation’s foster care system.
FALL 2010/WINTER 2011