CWK Network

By Erica Pretel

What is the role or vision of YMI? Why is this work so important right now? The role of YMI is to help the government. The best way I can really describe it is to relate it to football. I’m an old jock and I used to play football; when you want to improve on a skill, you work with a specialist. The specialist helps you correct your form, work on your foot work, and force you to do repetitive things over and over again, until you adopt it as your own. That’s what YMI is doing for the government. Read More >

The Expanded Success Initiative (ESI), a public-private partnership between the New York City Department of Education and Open Society Foundations, held a summer two-day intensive workshop on Restorative Practices at OSF Headquarters in Manhattan. 16 out of the 40 ESI schools participated in the training. In 2011, 40 schools were selected through a competitive application process as part of a larger citywide effort to dramatically increase the number of Black and Latino young men who complete high school fully prepared to succeed in college and careers. In its third year of implementation, ESI highlighted Restorative Practices as a “promising practice” Read More >

For school year 2013-2014, Culturally Responsive Education (CRE) remained a key focus of ESI. During the summer’s CRE Immersion Week, teachers received an even deeper understanding of how a culturally relevant lens can be infused into and throughout a curriculum in History/Social Studies (led by Felicia Pride), Math (led by Prof. Danté Tawfeeq), Science (led by Prof. Janell Catlin), and English (led by Prof Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz). James Torta, AP at Teachers Preparatory High School, and a fellow staff member at Teachers Prep attended and shares his reflections. After attending two training sessions on the subject of Culturally Relevant Education at Read More >