Program News 2005
New York City Makes an Example of our Work in Schools
On October 20th the Mayor and Department of Youth and Community Services (DYCD) Chancellor Jeanne Mullgrav announced the launch of the City's new Out-of-School-Time (OST) initiative at PS/MS 27, where Good Shepherd has been providing after school academic, recreational and cultural activities since 1999. The OST initiative will provide programming in the after school hours, over holidays and during the summer for more than 47,000 elementary, middle and high school students this school year, and is expected to expand to serve at least 65,000 by the beginning of the following year. Good Shepherd Services Executive Director Sister Paulette LoMonaco, who participated in the planning process, was the sole community-based organization representative to speak at the press conference, where Mayor Bloomberg described Good Shepherd as "one of the City's finest social services agencies," adding later "I don't think it is possible to say enough nice things about work that Good Shepherd does." You can view a video of the press conference here .
On November 17th, Mayor Bloomberg and Department of Education Chancellor Joel I. Klein, along with representatives from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, announced $24 million in private grants that will fund several secondary school initiatives, including the creation of 15 new "transfer" schools for students who have dropped out of school or are in danger of dropping out. This announcement was made at South Brooklyn Community High School (SBCHS), the collaborative school jointly operated by Good Shepherd and the NYC Department of Education since 2002. SBCHS, which serves 150 students in Red Hook who had previously been truant or left school, and has a 70% graduation rate (citywide, the rate is approximately 54%), was hailed as the model for the planned new schools. The Gates Foundation, which is providing the bulk of the private monies, has awarded Good Shepherd a $500,000 grant to replicate SBCHS. The New York Times covered the conference, and ran an article the following day.
December 15, 2005
