Promise in Action: Spring 2022

Promise in Action

What’s Inside 2 From the CEO

3 $2 Million Federal Grant Expands Intimate Partner Violence Intervention

4 A Health Care Hero 5 Legislators Meet Our Youth Who Refuses and Staff Ahead of New York to Back Down State’s Fiscal New Year

8 Becoming a Voice for Others Started With Finding Her Own

Spring 2022

From the CEO Dear Supporters, We look forward to the arrival of summer every year, but this summer in particular is a special one for Children’s Aid. As a result of our advocacy and coalition work, the city has made unprecedented investments in programs and services for children and youth, and Children’s Aid is proud to deliver many of these opportunities directly at our sites.

Trustee Linda Kao, left, with Phoebe C. Boyer at our 23rd Annual Children’s Aid Golf Classic.

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

A vastly expanded Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) will provide a record-setting 100,000 teens and young adults with access to paid jobs with New York City employers, and we will offer SYEP internships and other workforce development programs to thousands of youth at Children’s Aid sites. For its second consecutive year, the city’s Summer Rising program will offer a mix of educational, enrichment, and recreational programming to elementary and middle school students, helping them catch up with their academics and strengthen their social-emotional skills. Children’s Aid was a key partner in creating Summer Rising last year, and we are thrilled that it will continue reaching thousands of our city’s children. In addition to SYEP and Summer Rising, we will also offer our traditional in-person summer camp experiences to children and youth at our Wagon Road Camp in Chappaqua, New York, and at other sites throughout New York City.

As we navigate through the pandemic, I am optimistic that our city will continue to recover. The strong relationship we have with our new city leaders is resulting in quick, collaborative, and historic affirmations of our work. This in turn allows us to plan programs that can be incredibly impactful for children, families, and communities. Thank you for supporting us during challenging times, and for putting our city’s young people first.

With gratitude,

Amy Engel Scharf Chair Phoebe C. Boyer President and Chief Executive Officer

Phoebe C. Boyer President and Chief Executive Officer

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 | SPRING 2022

On the Cover: Jahliely Salcedo represents Children’s Aid at the Garden of Dreams annual Talent Show on April 13 at Radio City Music Hall, dancing to “Get On Your Feet”

by Gloria Estefan.

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$2 Million Federal Grant Expands Intimate Partner Violence Intervention Psychotherapy, an evidence-based, gold-standard trauma treatment for children ages 0-5 who have been exposed to IPV.

Sally Schuss, a Children’s Aid staff member, at an IPV survivor art show in 2019.

In 2020, there were 164,513 domestic violence incidence reports filed in New York City. Many involved households with children, who experienced threats to their safety and a profound sense of trauma. Our Family Wellness Program (FWP), an intimate partner violence (IPV) intervention providing services to families since 2001, was recently awarded a $2 million grant from the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

This five-year grant enables therapists to provide more comprehensive, wider-ranging IPV interventions and supports for children and families.

We now have increased capacity to engage clients in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), an evidence-based trauma treatment for children and adolescents exposed to violence in the home. Moreover, we will now have the funding for staff to be trained in Child-Parent

This grant enters Children’s Aid into the prestigious National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), which is comprised of 170 sites throughout the United States all providing direct services for children who have experienced a traumatic event, or training for the specialized teams that treat these children. In this network, Duke University and UCLA provide technical assistance, enhance collaboration and best practice sharing between us and the 170 sites, and gather data to better inform the broader field of child trauma treatment. The National Child Trauma Workforce Institute also participates in this network, and now partners with FWP to provide ongoing trainings in the field of trauma. Hunter College’s Silberman School of Social Work supports our work with children and families through continued collaboration and by facilitating the training of program therapists in TFCBT. Opportunities to join committees and conferences are also offered as well.

“This is significant. Now, we can get exposure and collaborate with other NCTSN sites on a national scale,” said Sally Schuss, LCSW, FWP assistant director of domestic violence clinical services and project director of the grant. “This grant recognizes our innovative work, and now ensures we can meet needs of the entire family when there is intimate partner violence.”

Every Step of the Way 99% of Early Childhood families who received food support reported “loving” or “liking” their experience.

363 children with complex medical conditions have been helped so far this fiscal year through our Health Connections program, which guides families through health care and treatment.

83 children have achieved permanency through adoption and KinGAP (placing children in foster care with their relatives) so far this fiscal year.

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A Health Care Hero Who Refuses to Back Down

Promise in Action Executive Update Early Childhood Division Deputy Director of Education Margot Sigmone was included on City & State New York’s “The 2022 Above & Beyond” list, which recognizes 50 remarkable women who are improving New York.

Director of Family Planning and Pregnancy Prevention Programs Pascale Saintonge Austin received an award from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on behalf of Children’s Aid, acknowledging our exceptional work on adolescent HIV/AIDS prevention education and services.

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SPRING 2022 | Children’s Aid

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Medical Assistant Glenny Guzman has only missed work once — when she herself contracted the coronavirus. Aside from that, she continued to show up every day at our South Bronx health clinic, serving as a comforting, familiar face to thousands of children every year.

Early in the pandemic, some parents were hesitant to take their children in for check-ups and risk exposure, but Glenny helped them balance their fears of COVID-19 with the need for quality medical care. Glenny explained that it was still important to administer routine vaccinations, take vitals, screen vision and hearing, draw blood, and treat nonCOVID-19 illnesses. She also assured them that proper precautions would be taken to protect them from the novel disease.

Beyond Glenny’s medical advice, parents felt encouraged to come into the clinic for another reason. “All this has been done with children crying and kicking and screaming, as children often do at doctor’s visits. She manages to calm them down and always gets the bloodwork done,” said Dr. Sophia Gigos-Costeas, a pediatrician and Children’s Aid’s assistant medical director. “She wore full PPE and still has this way about her that managed

to calm down even the most frightened children.”

When the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was authorized for use in children, Glenny was part of a dedicated team administering shots. At first, she experienced some vaccine hesitancy among some families who attend the clinic, which stemmed from a history of medical mistreatment against communities of color in the United States. However, Glenny has built up trust with our families, and that trust helped parents make more informed decisions about vaccinations for their children.

New York City’s high vaccination rate is a public health triumph, but the additional work of the pandemic has presented challenges for health care workers like Glenny. “It’s just so, so busy,” said Glenny.

“The health care industry as a whole has a high demand, and not always enough staff to fill the need.”

Yet, none of these roadblocks at any point deterred Glenny, who continues to provide critical medical care to families.

During these times when predictability is a rarity, our parents are comforted knowing that there is a constant they can always rely on: Glenny Guzman.

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Legislators Meet Our Youth and Staff Ahead of New York State’s Fiscal New Year

New York State Assembly Member Deborah Glick speaks with members of our Fostering Youth Success Alliance during an Advocacy Day.

In preparation for the state’s fiscal new year on April 1, Children’s Aid’s public policy team participated in New York State Advocacy Days along with our partners and coalitions. Though COVID-19 restrictions kept us from going to the state Capitol like in the past, we were still able to interact with key legislative members on Zoom.

We were the lead agency organizing the Advocacy Day for the Fostering Youth Success Alliance (FYSA), a coalition for which we are the backbone organization. The day kicked off with a youth-led rally, which New York State Assembly Member Deborah Glick attended. Following the rally, about 80 Children’s Aid staff, youth, other rally participants, and group leaders moved into a full day of 49 different meetings with legislators and their staff, where they discussed the academic and housing needs of youth aging out of foster care. After the Advocacy Day, legislators commented on how impressed they were by the rally participants.

Children’s Aid also participated in Advocacy Days for community schools, early childhood education, the Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies, after-school programs, and school-based health centers. One benefit of virtual Advocacy Days is that they are more accessible to youth and families. High school students from Children’s Aid community school Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School in the South Bronx joined to talk about how Children’s Aid’s partnership in their community school has impacted them, and some had the opportunity to talk to the senators and assembly members themselves. A student from Bronx Career and College Preparatory High School spoke powerfully at an after-school virtual rally about the importance of Children’s Aid’s after-school program, and parents from our Richmond Early Childhood Center on Staten Island joined us for meetings with legislators to express how important funding quality child care is to them. After the meetings, legislators again expressed how impressed they were by the students’ storytelling.

In April the state budget passed, and it included the following increases for New York’s children and families: $961,000 for FYSA’s Fostering Youth College Success Initiative; $30.1 billion in school aid; $670 million for child care; $610 million for preventive, protective, independent living, adoption, and aftercare services; and a 5.4% human services cost-of-living adjustment. The powerful testimonies from Advocacy Days couldn’t have come at a better time, helping legislators better understand what New York’s young people need today.

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4 Photo Key: 1. Hundreds of Children’s Aid and nonprofit advocates rally in City Hall Park for the #JustPay campaign, demanding a living wage for government-contracted nonprofit workers. 2. Two mothers from our South Bronx Rising 6 Together parent council speak to elected officials, anti-poverty advocates, union members, and civil rights leaders at the #NYEndChildPoverty rally. 3. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis announces she has secured $494,000 to fund repairs to our Goodhue Community Center. 4. Our Drew Hamilton Early Childhood Center welcomes Dan Saks, who reads his new book “Families Belong” and sang the song that inspired his book. 5. Team Children’s Aid Runners Mica Diamond (left) and her daughter Sydney Diamond (right) finish the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half. 6. P.S. 8 hosts a Scholastic book fair. 7.

Wells Fargo volunteers hardscape the garden at our Dunlevy Milbank Community Center. 8. Hope Leadership Academy teens each drew one square of an Ahmaud Arbery collaborative memorial portrait, using art and poetry to express their feelings and views about activism and social justice.

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Children’s Aid | SPRING 2022

23rd Annual Children’s Aid Golf Classic

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4 Photo Key: 1. (L to R) Chris Brady, Jeff Krieger, and Nelson Perez. 2. David Chiang. 3. (L to R) Mark Collins, Joseph Kusnan, Joe Gleberman, Drew Hursey, and Josh Gross. 4. (L to R) Brad Dubeck, Jordan Casella, Betsy Marshall, and Paul Mackey. 5. (L to R) Arjun Bedi, Jimmy Etheredge, Naveen Rao, and Donald Heiliger. 6. (L to R) John Tompkins, Sharon Tompkins, and Afrim Berisha at the evening reception. 7. (L to R) Geoff Mitchell, Henrik Patel, John Goodheart, and Glenn Yarnis pledging their support during the evening reception. 8. (L to R) John Starks, Adams Guerrero, and Bruce Beck at the evening reception. 9. Adams Guerrero shares how Children’s Aid positively impacted his life at the evening reception.

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Becoming a Voice for Others Started With Finding Her Own “I’m not going to lie,” said Laweska Gaton Santos, 18, “Google Translate was my best friend when I first arrived.” Laweska moved to New York City from the Dominican Republic for her freshman year of high school, and the language barrier made it difficult to form connections with her classmates or excel in her classes at Bronx Career and College Preparatory High School, a Children’s Aid community school in the Bronx. She felt like she didn’t have a voice.

initiative, where she developed emails and text messages to Bronx residents, informing them of their rights, advocacy opportunities, and community resources.

Laweska, however, is not one to remain silent. She attended classes to improve her English and logged countless hours on Google Translate. Once she learned about job opportunities through Children’s Aid, she seized them.

This fall, Laweska will begin studying forensic psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, aided by a Children’s Aid college scholarship. She hopes to work with law enforcement to solve crimes as well as advocate for victims, and says that Children’s Aid was invaluable in her journey to find her voice – and her career path. “I have become the person I am because of Children’s Aid, and I am very grateful for each of the experiences,” Laweska said.

She held two Summer Youth Employment Program positions with us in photography and cooking. She then began working for our South Bronx Rising Together

Laweska then took on her next challenge – being a part of our Youth Ambassadors group, a selective cohort of teens representing Children’s Aid in a variety of external-facing engagements. As a member of this group, she confronted her biggest challenge yet: Being the “Voice of God” at the Children’s Aid 2021 benefit, announcing the run of show throughout the evening to hundreds of guests (pictured).

“I was afraid because English is not my first language, but it turned out to be an amazing experience,” Laweska said.

October 20, 2022 Cocktails at 6:00 p.m.

Dinner at 7:00 p.m.

Cocktail Attire

Ziegfeld Ballroom 141 West 54th Street New York, NY 10019

The Children’s Aid Benefit is an annual celebration of the young people we support through our life-changing programs. This year, we will also celebrate the unsung heroes of our work – our staff. They are consistently the first to show up and the last to leave. They are innovative in times of struggle and deliver on the Children’s Aid promise – every day, every step of the way.

For more information, please contact Director of Events Malia Poai events@ChildrensAidNYC.org or 212.284.4591.

ChildrensAidNYC.org

@ChildrensAidNYC

#ChildrensAidBenefit