As we transition into the new school year, below are updates from the 2022-2023 school year from our college and career offices at our 5 partner schools at our Student Success Center at the Taft Educational Campus.
- In July, we hosted the youth leader training at Taft for CARA, where we trained 26 youth leaders from 4 different campuses (over 12 schools).
- In August, we had an open invitation for students to join us on 2 college trips that we hosted to Fordham University and College of Mount Saint Vincent. 19 students took advantage of this opportunity.
- This summer, 28 students participated in our Summer Bridge Program this July (sponsored by the Pinkerton Foundation). These graduating seniors worked at New Settlement summer Camps, took a CUNY course, and got CPR certified. They will start the fall with five free college credits from CUNY.
In August, we held a Summer Boot Camp for rising seniors. The boot camp includes workshops that are designed to increase students’ knowledge of the college admissions process as well as workshops that provide an opportunity to create the FSA ID, Common App account, college list, college essay, and other preparation activities. We had 21 students participate.
Below is some general data about the services we provided at the Taft Campus this year and infographics for each partner school.
Of the 322 seniors who were engaged, 298 (93%) completed post–secondary plans (they are registered to attend college, a vocational program, or workforce); 260 (80%) applied for Financial Aid through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or New York State’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), and 127 (39%) enrolled in an Opportunity program at their college or university. Additional program highlights include:
Of our graduating seniors, we are proud to report that many received full financial scholarships to attend colleges that include New York University, Fordham, Binghamton, Rochester Institute of Technology, Skidmore, Oneonta, University at Albany, City, Hunter, and Syracuse. We had one student receive a Posse Foundation scholarship to attend Lawrence University. We had one student receive Scholarship Plus and will be attending Clarkson University.
We are also excited to report that we have students enrolling in a range of alternative workforce readiness programs including our own Young Adult Opportunity Initiative and YouthBuild Programs, Coop Tech, and Access-VR.
We organized 18 college trips to schools, including Fordham University, Columbia University, St. Francis College, Brooklyn College, Lehman College, Bronx Community College, SUNY Old Westbury, Manhattan College, Adelphi University, Mount Saint Vincent, and Borough of Manhattan Community College.
We facilitated 25 workshops that served 9th-12th grade students, taught a college readiness class at two of our partner high schools (DreamYard Preparatory School and Claremont International High School), hosted Alumni Panels at each of our partner schools and Family Nights designed to educate parents/caretakers about the college admissions and financial aid process.
For the first time post-pandemic, we hosted our College and Career Fair. More than 40 representatives from colleges and vocational programs came and more than 600 students attended.
We began our program this Spring for students in temporary housing, operating our Career Readiness Lab for 77 of these students that helped with self-discovery and career exploration in partnership with Grant Associates.
At the end of the school year, our Youth Leaders put together this video on their experience. We hope you enjoy it!
