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|  Fun Food, Smart Food (Department of Youth and Community Development, Office of the Food Policy Coordinator)  Fun Food, Smart
Food (Fun Food), a partnership with Children's Aid Society, is a 12-week cooking
and nutrition program for middle school-age youth (grades 5-8). It empowers
young people to develop knowledge of and love for cooking, become conscious
consumers, and make healthy food choices. The series of two-hour classes are
held at after school sites and include both hands-on cooking and a stimulating
nutrition discussion. Field trips to greenmarkets or grocery stores reinforce
classroom lessons, and the program ends with a final event in which students
share their new skills and knowledge either with their families or peers at the
program site. The train-the-trainer model will help sustain this program in
future years. Fun Food was launched in fall 2008 in East/Central Harlem and
Central Brooklyn and expanded to the South Bronx and Jamaica in fall
2009. Out-of-School Time (Department of Youth and Community Development)  In October 2005, Mayor Bloomberg launched NYC is investing another $350 million in OST over four years. The Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), which is the lead agency for this initiative, operates 550 OST programs. More than 75,000 elementary, middle, and high school students were enrolled in 2006-2007, and DYCD expects to serve in excess of 88,000 by the end of the 2007-2008 school year. In order to serve the needs of working parents, programs operate throughout all five boroughs, and are offered free of charge. More than ten City agencies actively partner with DYCD on the OST initiative, including the Department of Education, Department of Parks and Recreation, New York Public Housing Authority, Department of Cultural Affairs, and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In addition, the OST initiative works with cultural institutions and the City's three public library systems. NYC Ladders for Leaders (formerly NYC GirlsREACH and NYC BoysREACH)  NYC Ladders for Leaders merges two of the city's most successful pilot
youth development projects - the NYC GirlsREACH and BoysREACH program and
CAPITAL (Corporate Allies Program of Internships, Training and Leadership). NYC
Ladders for Leaders, a collaborative initiative of the City's Commission on
Women's Issues (CWI) and Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD),
encourages a new generation of leaders by pairing high-school aged youth with
strong professional role models in both the public and private sectors.
The goals of the initiative are to: orient high potential youth from areas of need to the importance of post-secondary education and help them prepare for a successful college admissions process; expose them to inspirational role models and provide access and resources to career pathways, networks, and mentors; and develop their skills, self-confidence, and knowledge. NYC Ladders for Leaders participants are paired with professional mid-level
managers at partnering corporations and organizations for a seven-week summer
internship. Each Friday, participants attend workshops focusing on a range of
topics including work readiness, college orientation, health issues and
leadership development at a host company conducted by CWI and DYCD. Students in
the program also receive a comprehensive Kaplan SAT and college preparatory
course tailored specifically for them. This public-private initiative is reliant
on companies and organizations interested in providing meaningful internship
experiences, and support for program costs and a college scholarship fund for
participants who complete the program in full and enroll in college. | |
