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In a new op-ed published by The 74, Melanie Hartzog (The Foundling’s President & CEO) and Jessica Nauiokas (Haven Academy Co-Founder & Head of School) write about the unique model employed by Mott Haven Academy Charter School – our Pre-K-8th grade school in the Bronx. With a rare focus on serving children and families impacted by the child welfare system, the school features robust staffing, social services, structure — & the flexibility to cater to students’ needs.
In their latest blog post, Taylor Britt of The Difference Card sat down with Meghan O’Keefe, Assistant Vice President in our Human Resources department. In the interview, they discuss our successes using The Difference Card as a way to keep health insurance cost low while providing the best possible benefits for Foundling staff.
The Imprint reports on Haven Academy, our pre-K – 8th grade charter school in Mott Haven.
“Mott Haven Academy Charter School is believed to be the first school in the country created specifically for children in foster care, and likely one of the few in existence. Its foundational goals can be found inside and outside the classroom, where the children’s emotional needs are as important as their academics,” author Madison Hunt writes.
March is National Social Work Month – and we’re proud to highlight the important work that our social workers do across our organization each day. Since The Foundling’s beginnings, we have been pioneers in the social work field. Now, we employ social workers in nearly every department, with these essential staff working in a variety of capacities to support the children and families we serve.
We asked five of them about their work – learn about what they do at The Foundling, what inspires them, and their thoughts about their profession!
Bonnie Langer, LCSW, SIFI
Assistant Vice President
Fostering College Success Initiative
Bonnie leads our Fostering College Success Initiative program, which provides emotional, academic, and career support to New York City college students in foster care. In this role, she hopes to “support children, families, and adults with making positive changes in their lives”, and to “work towards elevating the voices of young people to ensure that they have access to the tools and resources they need to be successful.”
“I came to The Foundling in 2015 because I was passionate about working with young people and finding alternatives to incarceration,” she says. “Since my first role at The Foundling, I have been able to tap into many different areas of interest, all while enhancing both my clinical and leadership skills. The Foundling has truly allowed me to grow and expand in ways I never thought were possible.”
“I’d like to share a quote that I first came across in Graduate School,” Bonnie says. “This quote still resonates with me today and I feel it is a perfect fit for social work month. Jane Addams said, ‘The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.’”
Jessica Brockley, MSW
Socio Therapist Supervisor
Enhanced Family Foster Care
Jessica oversees a team of socio therapists who work with foster youth and families in the Bronx. Her team strives to provide the young people in our community “with tools that they can take outside of sessions with us and have for a lifetime; helping them to gain the confidence to reach their full physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual potential.
“My favorite thing about working at New York Foundling is my team,” she says. “We have created a strong unit, grounded on the framework of open communication, reliability, and support.” She is currently working toward obtaining her social work license, which she hopes will provide more knowledge and professional growth in her field.
Jessica’s advice for fellow social workers: “Never forget your “why.” Everyone that is in social work is here for a reason, and it is so easy to forget your reason when you’re managing so many unfortunate circumstances daily. Not many people could do our job, so don’t forget to be kind to yourself and acknowledge the hard work that you do.”
Kenya Bryant, MSW
Therapist
Partners for Change/Deaf Services
Kenya is a Partners for Change FFT-TCM therapist in our Deaf Services program, providing case management, mediation, and family-based therapy to support communication, conflict management, and other essential skills to families that have at least one Deaf/Hard of Hearing member. These families often have unique challenges – more than 90% of Deaf children are born to hearing parents, often leading to numerous communication and isolation issues.
She enjoys working with her team and is passionate about making a difference in her community. “I have the privilege of working with ambitious people,” she says. “Most of us are Deaf/Hard of Hearing, and we communicate in American Sign Language fluently. I appreciate their insight, wisdom, creativity, and kindness. As an Afro-Latina Deaf woman, I believe representation matters. I was told by parents that I am an inspiration for their Deaf/Hard of Hearing children. They see that their children can do anything despite hearing levels and skin colors.”
Kenya is driven to continue raising visibility through her work. “The Deaf community is still not fully recognized by society,” Kenya says. “There are limited resources for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing population in New York City. I would like to see more services and resources for the Deaf community: mental health services, community centers for Deaf/Hard of Hearing children, senior homes, LGBTQ+, and many more!”
Nancy Hanna, MA
Case Planner
Foster Care
Nancy works as a case planner in our Staten Island Foster Care department. She supports parents through the foster care process – facilitating home visits, attending court hearings, and implementing referrals to community services. “I work meticulously with the rest of the team to ensure that children and parents have the necessary support to flourish and reunite,” she says. As Nancy shares, “children in the foster system are often forgotten and neglected; I would like to believe that my small role in their journey leaves a lasting positive impact. Children look back upon their foster years with heartache, I would like to be that sliver of hope in those memories. I hope that each family in my care feels like they weren’t just another client, but people who are important and valued. Too many times children’s voices are lost, I want them to be able to think back and know that they had a voice through me.”
Her favorite quotes are:
“Speak up if you want to bring change to the world”
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Kim Ramirez, MSW
Supervisor
Partners for Change
Kim is a supervisor for our Partners for Change program in Brooklyn, which provides evidence-based FFT-TCM therapy and support for families facing challenges. She provides supervision and guidance to a team of five, while maintaining her own caseload of young people and families.
“I strive to develop clinicians that understand the importance of seeing youth and families from a strengths-based perspective, respecting their voices around their situations, and understanding that their role, is one of support and not “fixer,” she says. “Through my work, I’d like to expand on my vision of being a ‘change agent,’ one family at a time, ensuring that families are equipped to meet life’s challenges in a positive and productive manner, based on tried and true skills and strategies, mixed with the love and desire they have to do well in this world.” She notes that The Foundling’s organizational mission – to help young people and families reach their full potential – matches her values, skills, talents, and abilities. Kim also appreciates working for an organization that has “earned a well-deserved level of respect and recognition in the field of social work.”
Her personal goal for the new year “is to continue to strive to ‘do better’ and ‘love more.’”
Young people in the foster care system have historically been failed by public schools – in New York, studies show that 1 in 5 kids that have foster care involvement in high school do not graduate, and 80% are not proficient in reading or math. At The Foundling, our education programs continually provide targeted support to help students beat these odds.
When we opened Mott Haven Academy Charter School – a school dedicated exclusively to this work – in 2008, we took on a mission no one had ever attempted before. Located in Mott Haven, one of the lowest-income neighborhoods in the nation, the school was explicitly designed for families in the child welfare system and the surrounding South Bronx community – aiming to remove the barriers to academic success that these children often experience.
As the first school in the nation specifically targeting the child welfare population, we were tasked with building a first-of-its-kind model from the ground up. And over the past 14 years, we have achieved remarkable growth and success. Haven Academy has grown from two classrooms into a full-scale Pre-K – 8th grade charter school, educating 500 students per year. We have instituted a trauma-informed approach that supports children and families both in the classroom and at home, created a social-emotional curriculum that teaches life skills, and have seen our students academically outperform other public schools on the district, city, and state levels.
It’s now time to share what we’ve learned. Last year, we conducted an in-depth research project – including interviews with staff and experts, reviews of Haven documents and materials, analysis of Haven data and data from other schools and government sources – to codify what makes Haven Academy work and how other schools and organizations can apply this model to their own communities.
Through this research, we’ve determined a number of data points, defined key characteristics, and documented how to replicate the model in additional communities.
Want to learn more? Download the full report here. Please contact development@havenacademy.org with any questions.
The Nonprofit Voice, a weekly radio show on 103.9 FM Long Island News Radio, recently featured The Foundling. Host Ron Gold spoke with Maria Bediako, Vice President of our Developmental Disabilities Division, about our work.
Click here or listen below to hear the conversation (Maria’s segment begins at 21:00.)
On March 19, Team Foundling will embark on the 2023 United Airlines NYC Half! The half marathon historically has taken over 25,000 runners along a 13.1 mile course through Brooklyn and Manhattan.
In partnership with New York Road Runners, we are excited to sponsor a team of ten runners – members receive guaranteed entry and other perks, all while crowdfunding for The Foundling’s programs supporting children, adults, and families. Our 2023 Team Foundling runners come from a variety of backgrounds – but are united in their dedication to running this strenuous race and giving back to our shared Foundling community.
Read more about each of our team members below, and learn how you can support them and The Foundling.
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Emma Wolfe
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City & State New York has recognized Melanie Hartzog, The Foundling’s President & CEO, in their 2023 Power of Diversity: Black 100 list. This annual list highlights the elected officials, business executives, labor chiefs, community advocates and other trailblazers in New York who are writing the next chapter of Black life in America.
As City & State notes, “I had run a nonprofit before,” Hartzog said last spring about her new role, “but the scale of The Foundling was a new challenge, and it really got me energized.”
Camp Felix, our overnight summer camp, is a magical place. For the children in our programs, the streets of New York City are often all they know – there often isn’t the opportunity to experience nature, much less spend a week in the woods at camp. Many are growing up in difficult circumstances – and lack the chance to just relax and be a kid.
Camp Felix, which we’ve operated in partnership with the Felix Organization since 2006, provides children and adolescents in the child welfare system with a rewarding overnight camp experience. Running in August for one-week sessions, our participants have the chance to attend a summer camp with their peers, make memories, learn new skills, explore new surroundings, and build self-confidence. Our current location – located in Sandyston, NJ – features swimming, boating, fishing, a ropes course, and more!
Like all of The Foundling’s programs and services, Camp Felix seeks to build community and forge support systems for those we serve. Campers and counselors form strong bonds that are reinforced through camp reunions and repeat visits – providing the children we serve with the confidence to reach for their dreams.
Meet our Camp Felix Campers
Meet Kenneth, a former Camp Felix counselor
Your support is essential to this work. Your gift this holiday season will allow us to continue bringing camp experiences and other essential programs to New York children and families.