A Motivational Year with Children of the City

The first Children of the City newsletter reflected about the successes from last year. We've increased our board with some wonderful new members who will be a great asset to the organization as we continue to grow. As you know, I am also on the board of Xaverian High School, and we are privileged to have Dr. Salvatore Ferrara who is the president of the school join us at in our development process. You can read more about the school on my Rocco Basile website.

It is with Dr. Ferrara's assistance that we have progressed from having one fundraising event, which is known as our annual Gala (coming up again this March 13, 2008) to several events, including two Legislative Breakfasts.

We now have a number of connections with some of the elected officials who have been watching the results and impact that our programs are making.

One of my personal favorites is the Children of the City after school program, which is doing really well. Several students in our program who were at-risk students in junior high school but are now doing terrific in high school. Plus they are volunteering their free time back into the program.

We have many testimonials that you can read about on the website but one is about Stephanie Garcia, one of five children in a struggling single parented home. She was recently accepted into the National Honor Society. Stephanie attributes her success to the support that Children of the City has given her and her family.

Parent Workshops have been getting high attendance where we are providing needed resources and encouragement to the families. And we're very excited about the possibility of opening a Charter School in 2009. This would enable us to use the methods that have been so successful, taking Children of the City to the next level, increasing the number of children that we can service, and increasing our capacity for the after school and summer programs.

Our goal is to increase the scope of comprehensive services that Children of the City provides to the disadvantaged children of Sunset Park.