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In a news report in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, NY1 Noticias interviews Delila Nadal, director of our Staten Island Community Partnership, and reports on the program’s weekly Free Market, which provides food and household goods for over 80 families on Staten Island’s North Shore each week.
“When I was a child, my family and I used to use food pantries and it was a horrible thing because they would throw you a box, a bag and that was it. But in this food pantry it is a little different because it is a personalized attention that each person receives,” she explains.
The Imprint reports on “The Reckoning: Transforming Systems to Achieve Family Justice and Integrity,” an initiative headed by The New York Foundling and other partner organizations, which has held gatherings over the past year dedicated to discussing how child welfare organizations can reduce the harm and trauma that the foster care system has caused for families, particularly those in Black and Brown communities.
“Reflecting a significant shift in the social services field, the discussions have focused less on how to remove kids quickly from homes where parents are accused of abuse and neglect, and more on how to “narrow the front door” to foster care. More than 600 social workers, nonprofit executives and staff, legal experts and advocates for parents’ rights have joined the hours-long convenings that began in March,” writes The Imprint.
“We haven’t always gotten it right,” Melanie Hartzog, CEO of The New York Foundling said on stage at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. “But now there’s an opportunity for us to build on that urgency, to really think about a different way of looking at what we call foster care.”
“Delila Nadal says she never stops working – from picking up phone calls to unloading food from trucks and unboxing it – because she says her work is imperative to a hungry community. Nadal is the director of the Staten Island Community Partnership, a program under The New York Foundling that provides social services to anyone struggling,” shares NY1.
In a news report in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, NY1 interviews Delila and reports on our Staten Island Community Partnership’s weekly Free Market, which provides food and household goods for over 80 families on Staten Island’s North Shore each week.
On November 3, Team Foundling will take to the streets for the TCS New York City Marathon! The world’s largest marathon, the race will include over 50,000 athletes who will complete a 26.2-mile route through all five boroughs of New York City.
Read more about each of our team members below, and learn how you can support them and The Foundling.
Women We Admire named Jessica Nauiokas, Executive Director & Co-Founder of our Mott Haven Academy Charter School, one of their Top Women Leaders of 2024. The list highlights accomplished professionals who “have not only risen to the challenges of leadership but have redefined what it means to succeed in The Empire State.”
As they write, ” In the absence of traditional public schools that could fully respond to the unique needs of child welfare-involved youth, Haven Academy partnered with The New York Foundling in 2008 to become the first effort of its kind in the country. Haven Academy has become a unique and nationally recognized model, designed to meet the academic and social-emotional needs of a student population that has experienced significant trauma.”
The independent, non-profit publication The Imprint featured The New York Foundling’s dedication to supportive housing, including youth transitioning out of the foster care system and into transitional housing or independent living.
They note our programs as, “[…] a stand-out, gleaming alternative for youth aging out of foster care — providing not only otherwise unaffordable amenities, but a place to call home, alongside on-site social services.”
Our CEO & President Melanie Hartzog, two of our participants, and Bonnie Langer who oversees education and housing services at The Foundling spoke with the reporter. They shared their experiences with the individualized and supportive programs and services developed at The Foundling.
“We’re able to provide the type of support that young people need and deserve,” Melanie Hartzog, The New York Foundling CEO & President.
Bonnie Langer focused on the importance of retention and on-site case managers, “By expanding those opportunities, we’ve really been able to give youth a larger voice in making those decisions.”
City & State NY reports on how “referrals, partnerships, and strong interagency relationships, the city is hoping to address the mental health of the migrant population.” Given our work with children and families in the city, they included a quote from Foundling leadership about how the pressures of migration impact young people:
““The (mental health) symptoms tend to be kind of stronger (in migrant children),” said Kristy-Lee Jean-Pierre, senior vice president, mental health services at The New York Foundling. “They last for a lot longer. The length of stay tends to be longer for migrant children than we’re finding for other groups of children. And I think it’s a function of all of the different stressors that are impacting the family. That just makes it a little bit harder to find that space of safety.”
“New York Foundling and residents of Vital Brookdale in Brownsville celebrated the unveiling of a new mural titled “Colors of My City” by muralist Layqa Nuna Yawar on Aug. 23,” reports Brooklyn Paper. Read the full story, which features quotes from Foundling staff, the mural artist, and Vital Brookdale residents who are depicted in the artwork
Read more at Brooklyn Paper
Pix 11 reported on our new mural, “Colors of My City,” located on the side of Brookdale Hospital Medical Center. This artwork, created by artist Layqa Nuna Yawar, is a tribute to the local community, and features many of the residents that reside in our Vital Brookdale supportive housing complex. “It makes me feel good. I was happy. I was crying. I was excited,” says Patricia – one of our participants who is depicted.