ESI Update – Week of March 3rd

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ESI Update

Week of March 3

 

Principals and ESI Team Members,

Last week, President Obama announced “My Brother’s Keeper”, an initiative that will bring together businesses, elected officials, faith-based organizations, municipalities, philanthropic institutions, and communities to combat the numerous challenges that Black and Latino boys and young men face in this country. As the President said, “The group that is facing some of the most severe challenges in 21st century America is boys and young men of color…I believe the continuing struggles of so many boys and young men, the fact that too many of them are falling by the wayside, dropping out, unemployed, involved in negative behavior, going to jail, being profiled — this is a moral issue for our country.” (See the video of President Obama’s announcement here.)

This is a great moment in our country as it acknowledges and validates the hard work that we are doing every day on behalf of our young men, families, and communities. However, we also know that there is still much work to be done. The President’s announcement shows us that we cannot do this alone. It will take a collaborative and collective effort to move the needle for our young men and we are looking to you, the ESI community, to lead the charge for NYC public schools.

In this issue you will find the following features:

  • News and Updates: March 13 Liaison Meeting!
  • Opportunities: Virtual College Fair, FREE Sophomore Skills Class, HS Guidance Counselor trip to Stony Brook, EdConnective!
  • Program Spotlight: “It’s Halftime” ESI Young Men’s Gathering
  • Resources: FAFSA Completion Tool
  • Shout Outs: Schools with students accepted into SEO Scholars!

News and Updates

*This feature is intended to keep you up-to-date on what’s happening in ESI. 

ESI Liaison Meeting March 13

ESI Liaisons and Design Team members, the next ESI Liaison Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 13th at Open Society Foundations. Liaison meetings are an opportunity for ESI Point Persons to meet, collaborate, and share best practices across ESI schools. All ESI Point Persons/School Liaisons are expected to attend.

Where: Open Society Foundations, 224 W 57th Street, New York, NY 10019

When: Thursday, March 13th

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Breakfast and lunch will be provided

Attending the COSEBOC Conference April 24-26

In order to help us manage the group of ESI schools that will be in attendance at the conference, the ESI Team has set up a form to figure out how large our delegation will be. If your school is interested in attending the COSEBOC 2014 Annual Gathering, please follow the link to the Google form here.

 

Opportunities

For Students

College 101

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) is hosting College 101 sessions aimed at providing high school students and their parents valuable information about the importance of a college education. This event is FREE and open to the entire community. Presentations and materials will be given in Spanish and English on the following topics: preparing and paying for college, applying for scholarships, and researching financial aid.

WHERE: John Jay College of Criminal Justice

               524 West 59th Street (59th St. & 10th Ave.)

New York, NY 10019

WHEN: Saturday, March 8, 2014

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

To view the program flyer and find out more information, click here. (To view the flyer in Spanish, click here.)  To register, click here.

NYC Virtual College Fair

New York City Public Schools and CollegeWeekLive invite students to the NYC Virtual College Fair on March 13, 2014, from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. At this free online event students can have live conversations with colleges of interest to them from New York and the surrounding area. In addition, a community of experts and top colleges from the CUNY & SUNY systems will be available to help answer questions about choosing the best college, getting admitted to the college of your dreams, and paying for college.

WHEN: Log in anytime from 11 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. EDT on March 13, 2014

To register for events, click here.

FREE Sophomore Skills Class

New York Cares is providing committed high school Sophomores with a FREE weekly skills class at The Door! Students will be provided with valuable studying techniques and strategies. The FREE 6:30pm to 8:00pm Thursday classes began February 24, 2014, and will meet weekly through May to prepare students for the next school year and for special consideration for the 11th grade Kaplan SAT Prep Course. Space is still available. Applications are being accepted until Tuesday, March 11. Click here for a copy of the application. For more information, click here. For questions, call (212) 941-9090 ext. 3229 or contact Justin Richardson at jrichardson@door.org.

Bottom Line

Do you work with low-income, Black and Latino high school seniors who could use support through the college application process and throughout college to help ensure their success? Bottom Line is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping disadvantaged students get in to college, graduate from college, and go far in life. They achieve this mission by providing low-income and first-generation students with one-on-one guidance through the application process and during college.

Through their FREE College Access program, beginning in senior year of high school, students visit their offices (downtown Brooklyn) to begin meeting with a Bottom Line counselor. The students work with the counselor and share their interests, aspirations, academic history, and family circumstances. Through a series of one-on-one meetings, Bottom Line’s full-time college counselors help each high school senior navigate the complex and intimidating college application process.

While the services Bottom Line provides differ depending on individual needs, their counselors always help students:

  • create a list of potential schools
  • write essays
  • complete applications
  • apply for financial aid
  • search for scholarships
  • resolve any problems that arise
  • select a suitable college

If you have seniors (male and female) who are looking for support through the entire application process–from researching schools and writing essays, to applying for financial aid and selecting a school–click here for more information. Interested students can access the application here to apply. Students in ESI schools are asked to apply by April 11.

For Staff Members

NYC High School Counselor Bus Trip to Stony Brook University

The NYC High School Counselor Bus Tour to Stony Brook University, sponsored in collaboration with the SUNY Center for Student Recruitment, will take place on April 30th, 2014. This will be a great opportunity to meet members of the Admissions Team, Campus Administrators, Tour Campus, and much more. ROUND-TRIP BUS TRANSPORTATION FROM NYC PUBLIC LIBRARY AND LUNCH PROVIDED.

WHERE: Bus Departs from NYC Public Library at Fifth Avenue between 41st & 42nd Streets

WHEN: 7:15 am SHARP on Wednesday, April 30, 2014

RSVP information is forthcoming. For more information, click here. For further questions, contact Michelle R. Curtis-Bailey, Senior Admissions Advisor, Stony Brook University.

Instructional Coaching with EdConnective

EdConnective is using new ideas and creative solutions to tackle the educational achievement gap and increase the graduation rate and career readiness of Black and Latino male students. Through the innovative use of video, conferencing, and real-time feedback, EdConnective provides individualized remote instructional coaching and feedback for Math and ELA teachers from high caliber educators that know how to provide effective Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) from their experience teaching and coaching in urban and low-income schools. Feedback can cover but is not limited to classroom management strategies, increasing student engagement, effective routines and procedures, and unit and lesson planning.

ESI has been afforded an opportunity to pilot with four schools to work with this exciting program. For more information about EdConnective, click here, or click here to visit their website. For further questions, contact Paul Forbes at PForbes@schools.nyc.gov.

“Expanding the Success of Black and Latino Young Men”

On March 26, 2014, the CUNY Institute for Education Policy will explore the promising and challenging aspects of ESI thus far. A number of stakeholders in the ESI/YMI community will be part of the event, including Shawn Dove, Campaign Manager for the Campaign for Young Black Achievement at Open Society Foundation, Michael Prayor, Principal for Brooklyn High School for Law and Technology, and Adriana Villavicencio, Research Associate at Research Alliance. They will join Pedro Noguera, Professor of Education and Executive Director, Metropolitan Center for Urban Education at NYU, and David Steiner, Dean of the School of Education at Hunter College for a conversation about ESI with the goal of sharing NYC’s experience with stakeholders in the other cities who are developing similar initiatives.

WHERE: CUNY Institute for Education Policy at Roosevelt House

47-49 E 65th St.

New York, NY 10065

WHEN: March 26, 2014

5:30 – 6:30 pm Reception

6:30 – 7:45 pm Public Forum

For more information, click here. To register, click here.

 
 

Program Spotlight

*This feature is intended to give you insight into what is happening in ESI. We hope you enjoy your “visit”!

“It’s Halftime: Let’s Talk About the Money”

Last week, approximately 225 young men from ESI schools attended “The Let’s Talk About the Money” seminar from “It’s Halftime.”  Facilitated by Leonard Adams, president of “It’s Halftime,” the interactive and innovative seminar introduced students to the business side of careers in entertainment and sports. Overall, the seminar seeks to build financial awareness and understanding among young people within low-income communities.

Using statistics, video clips, and Q&A breaks, the show presents young students with foundational basics on finance, decision-making, management, and marketing from figures in the sports and entertainment industry that they look up to. Quotes and interview snippets from rap artists like Jay-Z, to actors like Denzel Washington, were intertwined with facts about the finances of many NBA and NFL athletes.

In the second half of the show, actor Khalil Kain joined Adams onstage for a discussion. Khalil is an actor and producer known for such movies as Renaissance Man, Love Jones, and Juice, in which he acted alongside Tupac Shakur. He shared many instructive stories from his life and career in the entertainment industry, urging students to find mentors to help guide them as they face tough choices in their life and chosen careers, and the importance of being professional.

Thanks to all the staff who brought their students to the event. The series of Young Men’s Gatherings will continue on Tuesday, March 25th, when young men from ESI schools will have an opportunity to hear from a meet award-winning actor, singer, writer, composer and spoken word artist, Daniel Beaty.

 

  

Great resource for guidance counselors and college advisors

The FAFSA Completion Tool provides high schools with current data about their FAFSA submissions and completions so schools can track their progress and help to ensure that their students complete a FAFSA. Data for the high school graduating class of 2014 is now available on the Tool. Last year, the Tool provided FAFSA submission and completion data for the senior classes at over 25,000 high schools in all 50 states, Washington, DC, and all U.S. territories. More than 55,000 visitors accessed the data throughout the spring of 2013 to inform their local FAFSA completion strategies and overall college access initiatives. For more information on the Tool and to search updated FAFSA Completion Data by High School for the senior class of 2014, visit StudentAid.gov/fafsa-hs-data.

 

  

Shout Outs

Shout out to the following schools whose students were accepted into the SEO Scholars Program!

SEO Scholars is an eight-year academic program that prepares low-income public high school students for admission to the nation’s most competitive colleges—and supports them through college graduation. The SEO Scholars opportunity has been highlighted in previous Updates and a number of ESI schools supported their freshmen students in applying for the opportunity. 44 students applied in a highly selective application process. In all, 12 freshmen students were selected to participate from eight ESI schools. Congratulations to the students and staff at these schools for your achievement!

  • ACORN Community High School
  • Central Park East High School
  • Collegiate Institute for Math and Science
  • Eagle Academy for Young Men
  • East Bronx Academy for the Future
  • Manhattan Bridges High School
  • Queens Vocational and Technical High School
  • The Urban Assembly School of Design and Construction

Do you have a strategy, teacher, or program at your school that you wish to highlight? If so, send an email to rhaynes6@schools.nyc.gov for inclusion in our ESI Weekly Update.

 

 

 

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