At The Child Center, we know that Black history is American history, and our diversity always has been our greatest strength. Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (EDIB) is an integral part of everything we do. For more information about how The Child Center works to sustain a thriving culture of belonging that centers our diversity of cultures, identities, beliefs, skills, and lived experiences, visit our EDIB in the Workplace page.

Last month, the Young Adult Borough Center (YABC) at Flushing High School in Queens held a career fair to get students excited about what comes after graduation, and to see their academics as part of a larger plan. Increasing high school graduation rates is a key goal of The Child Center of NY.

Take a look at how students in our programs marked MLK Day 2023.

Meet Tahmid and M.D., students at P.S. 182 in Jamaica, Queens, and their parents Mohiuddin and Humaiara. In honor of Lunar New Year, they, along with 60 members of the P.S. 182 community, attended The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Lunar New Year Festival. Together, students and their families celebrated the Year of the Rabbit with performances, interactive activities, and artist-led workshops for all ages.

When we said that donating to our holiday toy drive would spread joy and smiles, we meant it! Jaslyn, whose dazzling smile is pictured here, is a participant in our COMPASS afterschool program at P.S. 273. Amazingly, our partner City National Rochdale donated enough so that all the children in this program would receive gifts this year.

Meet the Empresarias Soñadoras, also known as the Corona A cohort of The Child Center of NY’s groundbreaking Cash+Community Works initiative. Meaning “dreaming entrepreneurs,” the name Empresarias Soñadoras embodies the spirit of Cash+Community Works, a movement grounded in the concept of peer-driven change and defined by direct investment in under-resourced families, trusting them with power, and connecting them with peers in an effort to uplift whole communities.

October is Head Start Awareness Month, a special time to highlight the crucial role of Head Start and Early Head Start in supporting the cognitive, social, and emotional development of young children, ages 0-5, from low-income families.

American adolescence is changing. Three decades ago, the biggest public health threats to teenagers came from binge drinking, drunk driving, teenage pregnancy, and smoking. All have fallen sharply in the United States. In their place are soaring rates of mental illness.

The Child Center of NY began in 1953 as a single children’s counseling center. Though we have grown to become a multiservice organization that serves the whole person in ways that meet the times, a commitment to mental health remains at the heart of everything we do.

Look at that smile! Patricia, 9, is a participant of The Child Center of NY’s Redfern Cornerstone Community Center, where the “Making Waves” program—a partnership with the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene—provided opportunities for our summer campers to learn and enhance swimming skills.

It was an 80-degree summer day, but Tanya Krien was researching organizations that provide winter coats to children. “Winter coats are always a huge need with our families,” Tanya, a vice president of early childhood education at The Child Center of NY, explains.

National Intern Day is an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the instrumental role interns play in keeping our society running and progressing. Here at The Child Center of NY, interns are crucial to advancing our mission to strengthen families.   

Terry Gomez, Ph.D., has attended her fair share of baby showers, but the one she attended last month was a first: One of the gifts was a check for 3.8 million dollars. The gift givers were U.S. Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Grace Meng, and the recipients are the many pregnant and new moms receiving care at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst’s Women’s Pavilion.

Introducing youth to new possibilities is a key way The Child Center of NY works to increase high school graduation rates — one of The Child Center’s central goals — and get young people excited about preparing for their future.

The Child Center of NY is pleased to announce that our behavioral health and residential services programs have earned a three-year term of accreditation by CARF International. Accreditation by CARF, founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, is widely recognized as the industry standard in behavioral health and represents a public seal of trust.

Congratulations to 17-year-old Ciel, a student at The Child Center Residential Treatment Facility’s P368K Star Academy, whose artwork was featured in the 2022 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Student Art and Essay Exhibit!

As NYC students returned to classrooms this September, The Child Center of NY provided backpacks for families in need through our 2021 Backpack Drive. This year, with the help of our visionary sponsor, Chobani, we raised more than $84,000 and provided backpacks and school supplies for 4,000 students.

Want to know how much fun you could be having at work? Check out this “PAW’s Got Talent” flyer for our afterschool program at the Preparatory Academy for Writers PAW Jam performance showcase. Our youth development staff at the program decided to have a laugh and photoshopped their faces onto an image of “America’s Got Talent” judges — and the youth participants loved it!

The Child Center of NY prioritizes hiring people from the neighborhoods we serve and providing relatable role models that convey to our children just how much they are capable of achieving.

A core principle of The Child Center of NY is that connecting children with relatable role models helps them succeed. We constantly look for opportunities to expose our program participants to adults from their communities who have built fulfilling futures.