Promise in Action
What’s Inside 2 From the CEO
3 Children’s Aid Joins Task Force to Prevent Childhood Drownings
4 & 5 Longtime Supporter Steven Soderbergh Donates Production’s Proceeds to Children’s Aid
8 National Center for Community Schools Helps California Lead the Way
Fall 2023
From the CEO Dear Supporters, In our last report, it was my pleasure to share our newly updated organizational values with you. Those values emerged from our strategic planning process, which has been underway since July 2022 and is going to guide our work for the next three years. I could not be more excited about this new plan, which will allow us to meet this moment for our clients, our communities, and our staff. Our agency has a long and storied history of pioneering new approaches in child and family welfare, and this Strategic Plan is in keeping with that tradition. It will also equip us to confront the novel challenges we’re facing as we help to lead our city through pandemic recovery and into a stronger future. I’m confident that this plan will make our organization stronger both internally and externally, even amid an increasingly precarious environment. Jill Olson and Phoebe Boyer.
Promise in Action A publication of Children’s Aid, helping children in poverty to succeed and thrive. Children’s Aid 117 W. 124th Street, 5th Floor New York, NY 10027
Jill Olson Chair Phoebe C. Boyer President and Chief Executive Officer
Our plan is anchored in four overarching goals: Integration: Streamline access to our full array of services to make it easier for children, youth, and families to get the supports they need. Community: Work hand in hand with our community members to ensure their expertise is embedded into our programming and advocacy. Operational Excellence: Ensure staff have the technology, data, and operational resources they need to deliver the highest quality of service to our clients. Team: Invest in our team’s learning, growth, and leadership to enable each staff member to do their best work and support recruitment and retention. We know that the need for our services has never been greater. And our commitment to this work has never been stronger. Thank you for being a partner in our work, and we look forward to you joining us on this exciting new chapter of our journey. Warmly,
Caroline Gallagher Chief Development Officer Anthony Ramos Vice President, Marketing and Communications ChildrensAidNYC.org 212.949.4936 2
Children’s Aid | SPRING 2020 Children’s Aid | FALL 2023
Phoebe C. Boyer President and Chief Executive Officer
On the Cover: Preschoolers enjoy group reading at Richmond Early Learning Center on Staten Island.
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Children’s Aid Joins Task Force to Prevent Childhood Drownings
Promise in Action Camper enjoys the Wagon Road Camp swimming pool this past summer.
Children’s Aid is joining forces with city advocates and elected officials to grow the pool of lifeguards and prevent childhood drownings. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reveals that more children in the U.S. ages 1-4 die from drowning than any other cause of death, and a lack of access to swim education in communities of color can cause racial disparities in drownings and other waterrelated accidents. In fact, the CDC reports that the drowning death rate for Black people is 1.5 times that of their white counterparts. These facts combined with the current shortage of lifeguards in the city prompted the YMCA of Greater New York and the Association for a Better New York to launch the NYC Lifeguard Interorganizational Task Force in March 2023. Composed of both public and nonprofit aquatics providers throughout the five boroughs, participating organizations include the American Red Cross, the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, the City University of New York, Children’s Aid, and others. Given the gravity of the situation, the Task Force is investigating both short- and longterm solutions and searching for ways to create a pipeline of future lifeguards and increase drowning prevention efforts.
The Task Force has been educating legislators about this public health crisis to secure additional funding to properly staff the programs offered in the communities we serve. Unfortunately, the shortage of lifeguards has significantly reduced capacity for community organizations and government agencies, hampering their ability to operate swimming education and programming. The Task Force is also busy mapping the current ecosystem of swimming programs throughout the city and encouraging aquatics providers to share best practices with one another. As a Task Force member, Children’s Aid is focused on increasing access to swim and water safety training at the three pools we operate at the Dunlevy Milbank Community Center (Milbank), Goodhue Community Center, and Wagon Road. At Milbank, where we have been training lifeguards for the past 25 years, we are tackling the shortage of lifeguards headon. Fresh off of a recent renovation of the pool, Milbank has begun offering lifeguard training for a cohort of 8-10 teens in preparation for summer 2024. It is our hope that our efforts will contribute to decreasing childhood drowning in the city.
Executive Update We are pleased to announce three leadership appointments: - Barbara-Ann “B.A.” Fox is our new Chief Information Officer. B.A. most recently directed IT at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. - Early Childhood Division’s Deputy Director Margot Sigmone has been promoted to Vice President, Early Childhood Division. Margot first joined Children’s Aid in 2019 and her leadership has strengthened the quality and strategic direction of early childhood programming. - Shawmell Long is our new Director of Facilities and Real Estate, coming to us from the Osborne Association, where he was responsible for managing facilities, real estate, security, and fleet. 3
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Every Step of the Way
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Longtime Supporter Steven Soderbergh Donates Production’s Proceeds to Children’s Aid As a producer or director of nearly 100 productions and counting, Steven Soderbergh has long had a jam-packed schedule. But for over a decade he has found time to meet with Children’s Aid staff, better understand the complexities of child
99% of the 2,405 children and youth in our Prevention Services successfully avoided foster care placements last year.
poverty in New York City, and identify how Steven Soderbergh. Photo credit: Claudette Barius.
he can help us move our mission forward.
Steven has provided financial support and gifts from his movie sets, visited our sites, and even directed a video for Children’s Aid — pro bono. This year, Steven’s commitment reached new heights through the release of his recent movie series, “COMMAND Z.” The series is set in a dystopian 2053 where everything from income inequality to climate change has wreaked global havoc. A group of employees working for the artificial intelligence recreation
7%~ of all grade schools across the country are now official community schools, a school approach for which Children’s Aid leads nationwide implementation strategy and training.
of a once-human big tech CEO played by Michael Cera travel back in time to fix problems in 2023 — the last year to alter the course of catastrophic world events. Fittingly, Children’s Aid — an organization uprooting the causes of and providing solutions to child poverty and income inequality — was designated as a beneficiary of the series’ web streaming fees. We interviewed Steven in September about his admiration for Children’s Aid. Here are some of the highlights. What motivates your dedication to Children’s Aid? When I relocated to New York City, my wife and I looked for organizations
100% of Children’s Aid preschoolers have received flu shots every year since 2021.
hyper-focused on local issues and specifically local education for young people. Children’s Aid seemed to be the perfect organization to support in that it offered such a holistic view of the issue of improving opportunities. The organization does a good job of realizing there are many different points in the life of a young person who is growing up in difficult circumstances. It’s not just if we do this one thing that will solve the problem; it is a complex living thing and requires constant attention and fluidity of thought and action to adapt to circumstances that are constantly changing on a personal level and on a neighborhood city level. I’ve been happy to be associated with Children’s Aid
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because one of the things I do to judge whether or not an organization is
(continued) successful in fulfilling its mandate is to consider what would New York be like — what would have happened to many thousands of young people — if Children’s Aid didn’t exist. It would be a demonstrably terrible outcome, and my only concern always is Children’s Aid continues. Why were we chosen as a beneficiary of “COMMAND Z”? The company behind “COMMAND Z” is a nonprofit, and it was my idea for the proceeds of the show to go to Children’s Aid primarily — my closest relationship. People are being squeezed more, and I worry that today the first thing people look at is their budgets and think they need to take care of themselves first instead of others that have less. My idea was to use A scene from Steven’s recent production “COMMAND Z.”
“COMMAND Z” and its message and platform to draw attention to the issues that are treated in the
show and to make people aware of Children’s Aid, because I think a lot of people might want to get involved. What did it mean to your team that this series was supporting an important cause? With “COMMAND Z,” there was synchronicity and pleasure in knowing what the ultimate purpose and intention of the show was, which is to draw focus on the cause. There is also something when you take the profit motive out of it. Let’s face it, the experience is a lot purer providing the reason you’re there is because of the story you want to tell and the focus you want to redirect. What Children’s Aid projects are you considering for the future? I start shooting a movie next week. Once that is done, I want to come in, sit down, and talk to everyone at Children’s Aid and find out what we are thinking going forward and what the three-to-five-year plan is as of 2023. Ask questions like: “How is it going? What is working? What is not working? What do you want to do that you can’t do? What are you doing that you would like to rethink and rebuild?” And then a ticking of the boxes on “How?” What is a piece of advice you’d give to a Children’s Aid young person? If we are talking about a young person in a school that has access to Children’s Aid, they’ve already won. That is the either-or in this situation that can determine a child’s future if they’re in a system that is attached to Children’s Aid. They’re already teed up to succeed, and I would encourage them to take everything that Children’s Aid has to offer.
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Photo Key: 1. P.S 152 preschooler in Washington Heights celebrates the first day of school. 2. Children’s Aid College Prep Charter School preschoolers in the South Bronx learn about butterfly life cycles. 3. Children play on Goodhue Community Center’s field on Staten Island. 4. A culinary arts student learns how to make healthy and delicious food. 5. I.S. 61 William A. Morris students on Staten Island enjoy a game of bingo. 6. East Harlem’s Lexington Academy students learn tennis from legend Patrick McEnroe. 7. A student receives teen health care at one of our school-based health centers. 8. Centerbridge Partners, L.P. volunteers plant native pollinator beds at Drew Hamilton Early Childhood Center. 6
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Photo Key: 9. Featured youth speakers for the evening, from left: Emmanuel Ferreiras, Amaiah Santana, Isis Troxler, and Josiah Lee Johnson. 10. Children’s Aid alumnus Donny Mendez entertaining the in-person audience with his musical stylings on the saxophone. 11. A bird’s-eye view of the ballroom from the balcony. 12. Phoebe Boyer describing the incredible impact Children’s Aid has in New York City. 13. Phoebe Boyer visiting Children’s Aid staff tables at the benefit. 14. Corporate partner Mediterranean Shipping Company (USA), Inc. in front of our larger-than-life bookends. 15. Executive Vice President Sandra Escamilla-Davies sharing remarks and thanking guests for their support of Children’s Aid. 16. Lucas Hunt of Hunt Auctioneers leading an exciting and successful paddle raise. 17. Jeffrey Aronson of Centerbridge Partners, L.P. (this year’s honoree) representing and speaking on behalf of the company and foundation. 7
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National Center for Community Schools Helps California Lead the Way staff are currently guiding education leaders in the Bay Area as they make this transformation through monthly webinars, virtual office hours, and more. “We’re able to provide a national context based on all of our experience, and then help the region make sense of community schools in their own context and also understand how it fits into the broader landscape,” she said. NCCS Director Abe Fernández leads a community school training in California.
In 2021, the California legislature passed the groundbreaking California Community Schools Partnership Act, transforming education in the state. California is investing $4.1 billion through 2031 to make one of every three schools a community school. Through this initiative, schools and communities will partner to integrate and coordinate a range of opportunities and services such as health care, nutrition programs, and tutoring to help students, families, schools, and neighborhoods thrive. In order to accomplish this undertaking, the newly established statewide technical assistance office and several county offices of education have tapped the National Center for Community Schools (NCCS) for support. Founded by Children’s Aid in 1994, NCCS has been a crucial partner in our efforts to build strong community schools. According to Melanie Rodriguez, client engagement associate at NCCS,
In addition, NCCS hosts a Coordinator Boot Camp to educate community school coordinators on the nuts and bolts of the community school strategy. Participants, many of whom are from across California, learn how to become effective coordinators, engage community, and combat chronic absenteeism. California’s investment will have national implications, according to Director of NCCS Abe Fernández. While New York historically led community schools implementation, this initiative eclipses any state or federal funding for community schools. “Our professed vision is that every school in this country should be a community school,” he said. “California has put a lot of investment and attention toward making that a reality. We are thrilled that we can be there in really integral ways to help guide where this is going to go. I think this could be an important laboratory for the rest of the country to see how to take the community school strategy to scale.”
25 th Annual
GOLF CLASSIC Save the Date
Monday, May 6, 2024 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
201 Shunpike Road • Springfield, NJ • Lower Course
For more information or to reserve your spot: events@ChildrensAidNYC.org All net proceeds will support the young people and services of Children’s Aid.
ChildrensAidNYC.org
@ChildrensAidNYC
#CAGolfClassic