As a follow up to the East Harlem Promise Neighborhood grant submitted on June 2010, Sinergia is putting together a very special meeting and inviting the planning team, which includes schools, partners and supportive organizations that participated in this initiative plus other East Harlem stakeholders who are interested in advancing the state of education and the development of the community.
Although
Sinergia did not receive an award this year from the U.S. Department of
Education for the aforementioned grant, the non-profit is determined to
pursue other avenues that address the educational inequities and the
achievement gap that exists between the children of East Harlem and
other more affluent communities.
A new study released by the Community Service Society
makes this even more imperative. The report analyzes data showing that
Latino youth have the lowest school enrollment of any ethnicity, and
young Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, the two largest Latino sub-groups,
have extremely low rates of employment. Puerto Rican youth, in
particular, stand out as having alarmingly high rates of disconnection
from school and work. These figures reinforce the need to develop
comprehensive and sustained solutions that will address this issue.
In addition, a report by the National Committee for Responsible Philanthropy
evaluated 672 foundations that gave at least 1 million in grants to
education from 2006-200. Only about 11 percent of those grants went to
"marginalized communities", defined primarily as children in low-income
families and minority children. Just 2% of those funds went to fostering
long-term change through advocacy efforts and community building. This
means that the "alarming inequities in educational opportunities" in
America remain unaddressed, as the report charges. Since about half of
public school funding comes from the local level, students living in
poor areas tend to go to schools that are under-funded, and kids in
richer areas go to better funded schools. This feeds the persistent
achievement gap between low-income and high-income students and minority
and white students.
Agenda
This meeting will
be a unique opportunity to construct a collaboration that addresses the
student achievement gap and fosters a supportive community that
embraces our children and families. During the first hour there will be a
discussion about the achievement gap of children in East Harlem and
ways we can continue our efforts to establish a Promise Neighborhood in
the area. Juan Cartagena from the Community Service Society will speak
about their youth report and the status of Latinos.
The second
half of the meeting will be a presentation by three organizations: the
Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, Manhattan
Neighborhood Network and Hunter College School of Social Work, CUNY
(which will be moving to East Harlem). In addition to that, the Avance
Charter High School will also present their proposal for a community grown charter school for East Harlem. This will give you an opportunity to meet with their leaders and learn how they will contribute to the community.
What: East Harlem Educational Community Meeting
When: Wednesday, December 1, 2010 from 3-6 pm
Where: Sinergia, 2082 Lexington Avenue (between 125-126 St.), 4th floor
RSVP: 212-643-2840
Monday, November 29, 2010
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