ESI Updates
-
-
Engaging Immigrant Families Through Experiential Learning
As a part of ESI’s family engagement grant, schools formed Action Teams for Partnerships who were tasked with building stronger connections between the schools and the communities they serve. Serving a large Latino immigrant population, the team at Gregorio Luperon High School for Science and Mathematics, took a culturally responsive approach to rethinking the way they engage families. Taking 43 students and 8 parents to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, students and parents compared their experiences coming to the United States to the experiences of those who came to the United States over the past couple centuries. This extended out-of-class learning experience Read More >
-
Creating Safe Spaces: Affirming the Identities of LGBTQ Students and School Leaders of Color
How the Academy for Young Writers Shifted School Culture to Tackle Issues of Intersectionality and Celebrate LGBTQ Students and School Leaders of Color By Michelle Eisenberg LGBTQ Initiatives and School Culture Over the past two years, the students of the GSA Club (a student-run club which provides a safe space for students to meet, support each other, talk about issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity, and work to end homophobia and transphobia) have worked to make our school community a more inclusive and empowering place for all students and staff members. The GSA Club (historically referred to as Read More >
-
Empowering Students through Civic Engagement: Event Recap
“Ultimately, you are the protagonist of your own life. You are the author of your own narrative. You as young people, even though you are told, ‘You’re young, what can you do?’, every movement in the last century has been led by young people,” said Hector Calderon, founding principal of El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, “Do you know why it’s been like that? Because young people don’t see the world as it is, but they see it as it could be.” A room full of school leaders, educators, students and community members applauded. Calderon was a part of Read More >
-
-
ESI Update – Week of June 9
ESI Update Week of June 9 Principals and ESI Team Members, A couple weeks ago the country and the world lost a poet, singer, writer, playwright, director and civil rights activists when Maya Angelou died. We the ESI Team and the ESI community mourn her loss. Ms. Angelou famously said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” She also encouraged us to, “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” As we come to the end of the 2nd year of Read More >
-
ESI Update – DOUBLE ISSUE Weeks of May 19 and May 26
ESI Update DOUBLE ISSUE! Weeks of May 12 and May 26 Principals and ESI Team Members, The Expanded Success Initiative is focused on increasing the number of Black and Latino young men who graduate from high school prepared to succeed in college and pursue positive and productive career pathways. Through ESI, starting in 9th grade, our young men have been exposed to colleges and university as a result of the many college fairs and visits to college campuses. This enables the young men to see themselves in a lecture hall and on a college campus Read More >
-
ESI Update – Week of May 12
ESI Update Week of May 12 Principals and ESI Team Members, This week marks 60 years after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In classrooms across the city and the country, educators are engaging our students to commemorate that defining moment in our nation’s history–to honor the struggle that led to that historic decision and the struggle for equal access to high quality education for all students that continues three generations later. There is no shortage of sobering statistics that speak to the continuing struggle and the long Read More >
-
Reminder: Nominate a Great Dad for the NYC Dads Matter Awards by May 16
View this email in your browser The NYC Dads Matter Awards ESI Community and Friends: Do you know a great dad who resides in the five boroughs who has overcome challenges to play a positive and powerful role in the life of his child and community? This June, the Mayor’s Citywide Fatherhood Initiative will present the Fourth Annual NYC Dads Matter Awards. The event will recognize 10 fathers from across the City who overcame the odds to become positive and consistent forces in the lives of their children. Nominate an outstanding dad today! This person can be part of our ESI Read More >
-
ESI Update – Week of May 5
ESI Update Week of May 5 Principals and ESI Team Members, This week, ESI hosted a Young Men’s Gathering at MISTHarlem to view the documentary The Central Park Five. Approximately 170 students from 12 schools participated. After the screening, the young men gathered to discuss the issues it raised–perceptions about youth and race, systemic racism and bias–as well as to think about what can be done to address some of those problems. The event was an opportunity for young men from ESI schools to gather and build community but also to learn from one another. As we Read More >
-
NYC Dads Matter Awards presented by the NYC Fatherhood Initiative
View this email in your browser The NYC Dads Matter Awards ESI Community and Friends: Do you know a great dad who resides in the five boroughs who has overcome challenges to play a positive and powerful role in the life of his child and community? This June, the Mayor’s Citywide Fatherhood Initiative will present the Fourth Annual NYC Dads Matter Awards. The event will recognize 10 fathers from across the City who overcame the odds to become positive and consistent forces in the lives of their children. Nominate an outstanding dad today! This person can be part of our Read More >
-
ESI Update – Week of April 28
ESI Update Week of April 28 Principals and ESI Team Members, During the recent Spring Break, the ESI Team attended and presented at two national conferences–the National Council on Educating Black Children (NCEBC) and the Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color (COSEBOC). At the NCBEC convention in New Orleans, Paul Forbes, Director of ESI, and Natalie Ferrell, ESI School Design Fellow, presented on ESI and the new school design model. That presentation was given again in Jackson, Mississippi at the COSEBOC gathering where Paul was joined by ESI School Design Fellows Darius Mensah and Paul Perry. During the Read More >