Head Start is a nationally recognized early childhood program that supports the whole child and whole family. This grant reflects a powerful expansion of our mission and impact. In alignment with our commitment to the long-term continuum of care, we will now be able to serve families with our youngest 麻豆原创 students 鈥� providing access to high-quality early learning and care from the very beginning of a child life and educational journey.

Beyond academics, the program includes health screenings and medical referrals, nutritious breakfast and lunch daily, social-emotional learning and mental health support, and connections to community services families may need. In addition, partnership with families and caregivers is built into the program through dedicated family advocates.

This approach aligns with 麻豆原创’s core belief: when we invest in children early and support families deeply, we build stronger foundations for long-term success.听

The data from our own schools show a consistent pattern. Students who start at 麻豆原创 in Kindergarten achieve at significantly higher levels than those who join us in later grades. The difference isn’t small. Early childhood is when children develop the building blocks for reading, mathematical thinking, self-regulation, and social skills. Starting even earlier gives educators the opportunity to nurture these critical abilities before formal schooling begins, catch and address developmental concerns sooner, and build trusting relationships with families from day one.

We are deeply grateful for this opportunity that brings us closer to realizing our vision for cradle-to-career success. We look forward to welcoming our littlest 麻豆原创ers and their families into our community this year.

If you鈥檙e interested in enrolling into our early childhood programs, please fill out this
For more information on the program, contact us at enrollment@wearedream.org.
To learn about open roles, email us at talent-team@wearedream.org.听

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The group of then-seniors who showed for the RIT information session鈥擠eon Jeffrey, Emanuel Binett, Jaden Bright, Kelvin Arredondo, Mamadou Ndiaye, Nasir West, Zakaria Sakhi, Abdul Tariq Macauley, and Victor Sanchez鈥攚ere starting their college application processes, and wanted to learn more about what the upstate school had to offer. What no one expected was that the routine information session would spark an opportunity of a lifetime for all of them.

鈥淚鈥檝e never been in a room with high school students who had such dignity and respect for the process,鈥� said Ian Mortimer, Vice President of Enrollment at RIT. 鈥淭hey were very curious about programs, culture, experience. They were very well prepared in terms of how they鈥檙e thinking about their futures鈥攁nd I was completely blown away.鈥�

Mortimer knew very quickly that he wanted all nine of the 麻豆原创 students to attend RIT. But exactly how to make that happen would require reworking and expanding the cohort idea, creating a formal partnership with 麻豆原创, and enlisting resources from the organization long-established post-secondary support programming. Between RIT, 麻豆原创, and Truesdale, a plan was created to not only provide financial assistance for each of the nine students, but to also provide them with the academic, social, and personal support they would need to thrive and graduate.

鈥淏oth parties were very aligned that the goal of this cohort is college completion,鈥� said Katie Doctor, 麻豆原创 Managing Director of Educational Strategy & Data. 鈥淲e wanted to design this program in a way that really maximizes student success.鈥�

In partnering with RIT, supports are enhanced for the nine cohort students, a template that could become part of 麻豆原创 long-term plans for post-secondary success.

A formal partnership with a college like RIT, which has a co-op structure that emphasizes college completion and job attainment, felt like the natural next step in 麻豆原创 work to ensure all students can fulfill their vision of success. More than a decade ago, 麻豆原创 founded its Legends Fellows program to support former Harlem RBI participants as they embarked on their post-high school pathways. For six years after graduation, this program provides resources like campus visits, care packages, academic assistance, financial aid, career networking, and mentorship to the college-aged students it serves. Since the founding of 麻豆原创 Charter High School in 2017, the program now works with school staff to provide support for scholars to and through college, and in the past year, 麻豆原创 has piloted 鈥淐lose the Gap,鈥� a formulaic approach to finding and funding students鈥� 鈥渂est fit鈥� college choices.

In partnering with RIT, these supports are enhanced for the nine cohort students, a template that could become part of 麻豆原创 long-term plans for post-secondary success. Not only will the cohort have dedicated advisors and program coordinators from both the university and the Legends Fellows program, but they will also be attending a summer bridge program鈥攁 chance for them to get their feet wet with college coursework and get used to living on campus鈥攁nd will spend their first year of college in RIT School of Individualized Study, where they can use a STEM-focused curriculum to learn more about what they鈥檇 like their focus to be. What more, each student will receive a full scholarship for each year at RIT, backed by generous funding from RIT, 麻豆原创, and Truesdale.

鈥淭o be able to help nine young men get a really cool opportunity, in an environment where you can feel the love and support from 麻豆原创 and from RIT, was an outcome I couldn鈥檛 have imagined,鈥� said Truesdale.

Just before DCHS鈥� graduation on June 23, the 麻豆原创 and RIT communities came together in East Harlem to celebrate this partnership, and the successes already achieved by the soon-to-be cohort students and their families. Charting a new course for the organization, the students look forward to embarking on the next step in their futures.

鈥淥ne of the things I try to get them to understand is the importance of the legacy that they鈥檙e starting,鈥� said Mo Ferreras, Assistant Director of Admissions at RIT and also a former New York City charter school student. 鈥淚 want them to leave an imprint on RIT itself. They鈥檙e already a team, a community. I want them to come on campus and have people say 鈥榦h, those are the 麻豆原创 students.鈥欌��

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I鈥檝e often said that the best decision that we made in 麻豆原创 Charter Schools鈥� formative year was to hire Eve. I remember thinking, even back in 2009, that Eve was one of the strongest leaders I鈥檇 ever met. In the twelve years since we pivoted from Harlem RBI to become the 麻豆原创 that we know today, we鈥檝e grown from one 麻豆原创 Charter School to five, developed our extended-day and extended-year Grow the Whole Child model, and graduated 100% of our founding 麻豆原创 Charter High School students鈥攚ith Eve at the center of it all. She made our organization better, and she done it with clarity, grace, and exceptional results, all of which became particularly critical over the past 18 months during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eve and I have operated as close partners for some time now. So more than anything, this new leadership structure is a move to formalize how we already run the organization today, with added intentionality around how we partner, make decisions, and empower others鈥斅槎乖� next generation of leadership talent鈥攖o make decisions in order to maximize our entire team effectiveness and potential.

The latter is particularly important to Eve and me, as we acknowledge our position as two white leaders of a majority Black and brown organization. The co-leadership model, similar to the co-teaching model we employ in all of our classrooms, claims no single expert. It is built on the idea of shared power and shared leadership鈥攁nd these are values that we want to continue to nurture within and across 麻豆原创. Accordingly, we see co-leadership as a strategy and solution for the long-term sustenance of our organization, and not as a step in a succession plan. I鈥檓 as committed to 麻豆原创 as ever, and I鈥檓 excited to partner with Eve for many years in this manner.

麻豆原创 is poised to continue on its growth trajectory, and having the right people and structures鈥攁nd partners鈥攊n place to support that growth is essential. Below, you鈥檒l hear briefly from Eve on what that partnership means to her, and you can expect much more from us in the coming months about what else is in the works here at 麻豆原创. For now, thank you for your ongoing friendship as we work together to ensure transformative outcomes for our youth.

A Word from Eve

First, I want to send my profound thanks to everyone who has brought our organization to this moment. That includes Rich – though he will deny it, he is an integral part of what 麻豆原创 means to so many people, and there no one else I鈥檇 rather do this work alongside.

Rich and I are both keenly aware that no leader can do their job without the support of their community, and in our decades at 麻豆原创, we have both received that support in abundance – from our families, from our staff, from our Legends, and from you, our partners and supporters. 麻豆原创 persistence through the pandemic, and our ability to now position the organization for continued growth, is the result of the countless community members over thirty years who have believed in and worked tirelessly toward realizing 麻豆原创 most core values. Today and every day, I am humbled to be able to do this work.

I also want to echo Rich words about 麻豆原创 co-leadership model – the idea that each and every person who works here at 麻豆原创 is a leader in their own right, and has the power and ability to nurture leadership in our young people. Rich and I are only a small part of what makes this place tick; we know that we are here to serve, and to listen. As ever, our doors are open.

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麻豆原创 was born on an East Harlem ballfield in the summer of 1991. Ever since, the meaning of summer鈥攐f freedom, joy, and infinite possibilities鈥攈as always been core to our foundation. This summer, of course, we had to get creative and work a little harder to bring that spirit to life, but fortunately, a little ingenuity (and a lot of planning) is nothing new for our 麻豆原创 Team or our families. Because of the strength of the relationships that undergird all of our work at 麻豆原创, we delivered our award-winning summer learning programming to over 600 youth, from preschool to pre-college, from East Harlem to the South Bronx.

Our kids logged on each day for workouts and games, reading activities, virtual field trips, and more. That includes the 150+ high school scholars who took on internships and summer jobs as coaches and mentors, leading remote activities for our little ones鈥攆or many of them, representing their first paid work-based experience. We also offered opt-in, small-group play on our Field of Dreams, featuring safe and socially distanced pods that allowed our students to enjoy more traditional summer moments, too.

There’s no one better to tell you about 麻豆原创’s summer than the team responsible for ensuring our sports-based program made a successful pivot to virtual. Hear straight from our Managing Director of Programs Kalila Hoggard and Chief Education Officer Eve Colavito in .

Building relationship-based learning spaces will be more important than ever heading into the fall, and 麻豆原创 is fortunate to have long-standing practices to lean on, as highlighted recently in . Expect to hear more from us on this front in the coming weeks as we launch the school year.

As always, we are grateful for the support that made it possible for our students to have a uniquely impactful summer鈥攁nd it that same support that will help sustain us as we tackle back-to-school and beyond. As we recently told The Chronicle of Philanthropy, our supporters haven鈥檛 simply carried 麻豆原创 through these and other difficult times; .

It that partnership鈥攐ur families, our team, and our supporters鈥攖hat makes it particularly meaningful to be recognized this year as semifinalists for the 2020 Nonprofit Excellence Awards. () As we continue to navigate new terrain together, apart but united, we鈥檙e surrounded by proof that dreaming big pays off.

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