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Past Recipients of CCS Appeal Funds

This is a partial list of just some of the organizations that have been served by CCS over the past 65 years. 

The Adults and Children in Trust (A.C.T.)
The Adults and Children in Trust (A.C.T.) program provides a safe haven where children (toddlers to teens) from many faiths, cultures and economic backgrounds gather to learn, play and grow. They participate in a broad range of programs supervised by highly trained and caring adults. The CCS grant provides financial aid to children in the preschool and school age program, in addition to high school student interns working in the school-age programs. The grant allows A.C.T. to recruit high school students and place them in a work environment to develop leadership and work related skills through hands-on experiences. For more information on Adults and Children in Trust, please visit:  www.stjohndivine.org/act/index.html


Alexander Robertson School

Alexander Robertson School offers an independent elementary school program that combines academic excellence, civility based on mutual understanding, and a strong sense of social responsibility that arises from informed compassion in an environment of racial, social and economic diversity. The academic program is enriched by Art, Music, Phys. Ed, Everyday Ethics, and French for all grades. Columbia Community Service’s grant allows Alexander Robertson School to offer meaningful financial aid to highly qualified minority students.  If you would like more information on the Alexander Robertson School, please visit:  http://www.alexanderrobertson.org/



Ballet Hispanico of New York

Founded by Tina Ramirez in 1970 and now led by Artistic Director Eduardo Vilaro, Ballet Hispanico explores, preserves and celebrates Latino cultures through dance. The mission unfolds in the work of the professional Company, the School of Dance, and the Education and Outreach programs. Together, these divisions celebrate the dynamic aesthetics of the Hispanic diaspora, building new avenues of cultural dialogue and sharing the joy of dance with all communities.  Ballet Hispanico distributes over $150,000 in scholarships to talented and needs-based students each year and all students receive subsidized support for classes.  Ballet Hispanico is grateful to CCS for providing scholarship support for talented students from the Columbia neighborhood to attend the Ballet Hispanico School of Dance. For more information on Ballet  Hispanico, please visit:  http://www.ballethispanico.org/



Behind the Book

Behind the Book’s mission is to motivate young people to become engaged readers by connecting them to contemporary writers and illustrators. We bring authors and their books into individual classrooms to build literacy skills, and create a community of life-long readers and writers. Our programs take place in NYC’s underserved public schools, are part of the class curricula and meet the NY State Learning Standards. We believe that every student deserves the freedom that comes from the ability to read and think independently.  For more information about Behind the Book, please visit:  www.behindthebook.org



Bloomingdale School of Music

The mission of the Bloomingdale School of Music is to provide high quality music services at a reasonable cost to people in the greater New York City area, without regard to background, talent, or financial circumstances. Bloomingdale does not discriminate on any basis and embraces the diversity of the population we serve. Each week, Bloomingdale serves more than 1,200 students ranging in age from three months to eighty years old. Half of the students are African-American, Hispanic, or Asian-American, making Bloomingdales the most ethnically-diverse community music school in New York City. Financial aid is at the heart of Bloomingdale’s mission. Each year twenty to twenty-five percent of the student body receives a financial aid award for private and group instruction. Last year the school awarded over $184,000 in scholarships to nearly 200 people—the highest level in the organization’s history. The CCS grant provides tuition support to fourteen students from the Upper West Side who would otherwise not have been able to study music. For more information on Bloomingdale School of Music, please visit www.bsmny.org

Broadway Community Inc.
Broadway Community Inc. (BCI) is a community-based organization that offers both emergency and long term services to people in crisis. Centered around our 4 Star Soup Kitchen” which serves 30,000 nutritionally sparkling meals a year, our two dozen programs serve many with emergency services, including a doctor’s office, pantry programs, clothing, showers, referrals and email addresses, as well as serving individuals on an intensive basis, with our School of Healing Arts, hands-on culinary and nutrition programs, and training in computers, maintenance and clerical. This year, BCI used its CCS grant to “green” it’s infrastructure, with new tables and chairs, and reusable tableware.  If you would like more information on Broadway Community please visit:  http://www.broadwaycommunity.org/



Broadway Presbyterian Church Nursery School

Broadway Presbyterian Church Nursery School provides a warm, friendly, rich environment for up to 20 children ages 2.9 to 4.9 years old. Children of every race, religion, ethnic and economic background are welcomed.

Our teaching follows the Developmental Interaction/Whole Child approach, with an emphasis on rich, hands-on experiences and time to reflect and represent those experiences through language and physical means. Play is at the heart of the curriculum, and children are given many forums for play – dolls and pretend materials, blocks, building manipulatives, sensory materials such as sand, water and play dough, art materials, science investigations. This year's CCS grant was used to provide scholarships to 2 children. If you would like more information about Broadway Presbyterian Church Nursery School, please visit:  www.greatlittleschool.com



Cathedral Community Cares: Soup Kitchen

Cathedral Community Cares' (CCC) mission is to combat and alleviate poverty through preventive poverty services, education and advocacy - specifically targeting the issues of health and hunger. CCC tackles these problems on multiple fronts by addressing the immediate and beyond-emergency needs of the underserved, while seeking long-term policy solutions that will benefit both clients and the greater community. CCC operates, coordinates, and expands its direct service programs and advocacy campaigns based on the ever-unfolding, diverse needs of the community, while fostering self-sufficiency and cultivating social justice through outreach and education. The CCS grant generously supports Cathedral Community Cares' Sunday Soup Kitchen, New Hope Transitional Men's Shelter, and the Nutrition, Health, and Clothing Center.  For more information on Cathedral Community Cares services, please visit:  www.stjohndivine.org/social_ccc.html or call (212) 316-7583.



Children’s Learning Center at Morningside Heights
Originally founded in 1976, the Children's Learning Center at Morningside Heights (formerly located at Union Theological Seminary) functions as a parent cooperative school. Supportive funding assists more families in lowering the cost of quality early childhood programs.  As a result of CCS funding, five families from Columbia University and ten from the surrounding community were able to participate. The Children's Learning Center is extremely grateful for the support as are the families who were assisted through this effort. For more information on the Children's Learning Center, please visit:  http://www.clc-nyc.org/


Columbia University Tennis Center – Tennis Development Program

The Columbia University Tennis Center has been conducting this program for about 25 years. The junior program is held in three different public courts, and approximately 400 kids are given instruction during the summer. Very experienced directors are hired for each site who in turn hire tennis instructors in order to maintain the high level of instruction. Arvelia Myers, who has been the main catalyst of the program for over 20 years, is one of the directors. She ensures that the program grows and that all surrounding communities are aware of the program. This year's CCS grant was used to provide better equipment and teaching aids to enable students to pick up the game faster. For more information about the Columbia University Tennis Center, please contact the CCS office.



Community Impact at Columbia University

Community Impact, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization located at Columbia University, is dedicated to serving Upper Manhattan by providing targeted service programs to disadvantaged local residents. Community Impact also fosters a commitment to life-long service by offering meaningful volunteer opportunities for students, staff, and faculty of Columbia University. With the committed partnership of CCS in 2011, Community Impact provided paid internships (some of which led to permanent job placements) for over 20 participants through our Neighborhood Internship Program. For more information on Community Impact, please visit www.columbia.edu/cu/ci



Corpus Christi School

As a part of the neighborhood surrounding Columbia University since 1907, Corpus Christi School is proud to continue to serve pre-kindergarten through eighth grade children in a spirit of shared culture and knowledge. Our distinctive purpose is to create a Christian educational community that is enlightened by our Catholic faith, values and tradition. We welcome and are enriched by children of all faiths, nationalities and ethnicities. Our curriculum, which follows New York State guidelines and the essential learnings of the Archdiocese of New York, abundantly incorporates art and music across all subject areas.  Technology is integrated across the curriculum, improving and enhancing the students’ understanding of the interconnectedness of all things.  Our computer lab is utilized by students of most grades, and thanks to the Columbia Community Services grant, even the youngest Corpus Christi students benefit from our newest interactive white board technology.  For more information on the Corpus Christi School, please visit www.ccschoolnyc.org or call us at 212-662-9344.



Doing Art Together, Inc.
Doing Art Together's (DAT) mission is to enhance the ability to learn by providing unique arts-based interactive programs for children, youth, their parents/caregivers and teachers in under-resourced and under-served communities. DAT believes that everyone should benefit from the well-documented growth potential afforded by art education. Through its non-judgmental approach to art-making, DAT is dedicated to bringing the arts and cultural experience to the youth in the community of Harlem. In this supportive environment, everyone succeeds. and families are motivated to become more active in the educational process preparing themselves to engage in society. The CCS grant enables DAT collaboration with Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School to bring arts-integrated learning workshops to the students. They will learn art skills, techniques and history while enhancing their knowledge in math, science, and community service. Students will also become exposed to new cultural ideas and expressions while building team-working skills and achieving goals toward their dreams and aspirations of higher education. The CCS grant also enables DAT to continue partnerships with PS 194 Countee Cullen School, enhancing literacy, academics and exposure to cultures of the world through art-making. For more information on DAT, visit:  http://www.doingarttogether.org/



Everybody Wins!
Since its founding in 1991, Everybody Wins! has been a leading nonprofit literacy and mentoring organization. It is the organization's mission to reach children while they are young, stimulate their interest in reading, and encourage them to believe that they can succeed in school and ultimately, in life.

Everybody Wins!’ signature program is Power Lunch, pairing caring volunteers with students in nearby elementary schools for weekly reading and mentoring during lunch. The program operates in schools with a high percentage of students with low test scores who qualify for free lunch and is offered at no cost to participating schools and students.   

Four schools in Harlem benefit from dedicated Columbia student, staff and faculty volunteers in Power Lunch programs. CCS funding enables EW! to provide the children in these programs to take books home to keep and spread the joy of reading with their friends and families. There will additionally be an on-campus children's author event for participating students and volunteers. Visit Everybody Wins! at:  http://www.everybodywinsny.org/



The Family Annex

The Family Annex is a Parent Cooperative pre-school that is affiliated with Columbia University.  We currently serve a diverse multicultural group of 42 students. More than half of the students come from families of immigrants. Our school community extends from the Columbia University area to Harlem. Visit The Family Annex at:  www.the familyannex.org


Figure Skating In Harlem, Inc.

Founded in 1997, Figure Skating in Harlem provides Harlem girls with vital educational and fitness opportunities that promote a healthy lifestyle and encourage academic achievement. On the ice, our students experience the joys of skating, improve their health and fitness, and develop valuable life skills, such as focus, discipline, teamwork, and goal setting. Off the ice, our students engage in hours of extra class work that strengthen core academic skills and boost academic achievement, so they are able to graduate from high school and succeed at a four-year college. Our work is made possible in part through the generous support provided by CCS. For more information on Figure Skating in Harlem, visit:  www.figureskatinginharlem.org.



Friends of the Children NY

Friends of the Children New York is a ten-year-old Harlem-based agency with a mission to "change the destiny of New York City’s most vulnerable children…one child at a time". They are an early intervention program that systematically screens and engages children beginning in kindergarten who are at the greatest risk of eventually dropping out of school, being involved with gangs and jail, and teen parenthood. They provide a trained, paid youth-specialist called a “Friend” to work with eight Achievers (the title for the children in the program) one-on-one from kindergarten through high school graduation, a 12-year commitment.  Their goal is to get 100% of the Achievers to graduate high school with a plan for their future, having avoided the juvenile justice system, and having put off parenthood for an appropriate age.  More information on this exciting program can be found at:  www.FriendsoftheChildrenNY.org



Graham Windham / Harlem Beacon Center – Family Enrichment Program
Graham Windham’s mission is to help under-served children overcome obstacles on the path to self-sufficiency by giving them the skills and support to succeed, strengthen their families, and; when necessary, supplement their families. Graham Windham uses the generous CCS grant from to continue the successful Harlem Beacon Center Family Enrichment program that serves 100 at-risk youth and their families. For more information about Graham Windham, please visit:  http://www.graham-windham.org/


Harlem Academy

Harlem Academy was founded in 2004 to create an opportunity for bright, motivated children to attend a local elementary and middle school program that matches the standards of the city's best independent schools. They prepare students for success at top secondary schools and set a path for long-term academic and life success. Innovative features like extended hours, family partnership, and an academically rigorous curriculum developed with Columbia University's Institute for Urban and Minority Education set Harlem Academy apart from local public, charter, and parochial schools. 

Harlem Academy is setting a new standard of educational excellence in an underserved urban community. The grant given this year to Harlem Academy from CCS was used for scholarship support.  For more information on Harlem Academy, please visit www.harlemacademy.org



Harlem Chamber Players

The Harlem Chamber Players is an ethnically diverse collective of professional musicians dedicated to bringing high caliber, affordable and accessible live classical music to Harlem. Their “Music at St. Mary’s” chamber music series at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church brings the great works of the chamber music repertoire uptown to those in the community who love classical music as well as to those who might like to be exposed to and enjoy live classical chamber music for the first time.

Encouraged by Janet Wolfe, founder of the New York City Housing Authority Orchestra and long-time patron of minority classical musicians, their mission is to make great music accessible and affordable in a variety of intimate urban settings. They also engage in community and educational outreach efforts and provide free tickets to community centers and schools in Harlem including Opus 118 Harlem School of Music, Harbor Conservatory of Music, Harlem Children’s Zone, and Harlem School of the Arts.

The “Music at St. Mary’s” chamber music series has been called “a series of which we can be proud” by The New York Amsterdam News. Their “Music at St. Mary’s” chamber music series can be heard at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church at 521 West 126th Street in Harlem.   

Find out more at www.harlemchamberplayers.org



Harlem Educational Activities Fund, Inc. (H.E.A.F.)

The Harlem Educational Activities Fund, Inc. (HEAF) is a 501(c)(3) comprehensive supplemental education and youth development organization that works to help motivate students to develop the intellectual curiosity, academic ability, social values and personal resilience they need to ensure success in school, career and life. HEAF identifies scholars in middle school and supports them until they are successfully admitted to and graduated from four-year colleges through a variety of after-school, Saturday and summer educational and youth leadership programs. HEAF uses the CCS grant to support the Youth Leadership Council and gender-specific support groups. Both groups spend the year focused on leadership development, learning how to communicate, organizing students, and planning and conducting service. Service activities include book and canned food drives for local nonprofits, fundraising for the March of Babies, and participating in the New York City AIDS Walk. Other activities include spearheading HEAF's Health and Wellness Initiative, developing staff report cards, and establishing a process for student recognition of other students. For more information on the Harlem Educational Activities Fund, please visit:  www.heaf.org



Harlem Honey and Bear Synchronized Swim Team

The Harlem Honey and Bears Synchronized Swim Team's mission is to encourage group competition and physical wellness of senior residents in the Central Harlem community through various styles of swimming. The Health and Fitness initiative strives to involve and educate seniors on the benefits and social impact of synchronized swimming. If you would like more information on the Harlem Honey and Bear Synchronized Swim Team, please visit:  www.harlemhoneysandbears.org



Harlem Hospital Adult HIV Services
Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Harlem Hospital has established itself as a center for the provision of state-of-the-art HIV services. HIV medical case management and support services are provided in the adult and pediatric co-located clinics. This year, the CCS grant is currently funding: “The Power of Prevention” the 2011 HFC- HIV/AIDS Community Education and Outreach project, and the “Peers Training Program.”  For more information on Harlem Hospital's Adult HIV Services, please visit:  www.nyc.gov/html/hhc/html/services/hiv-aids.shtml



Harlem Hospital Pediatric Resource Project (formerly Family Friends Program)

Many children in the Harlem community are at risk. They live with chronic illnesses and lack extended family support. The purpose of Family Friends, an intergenerational volunteer project, is to serve and benefit children and their families with an emphasis on health sustaining behaviors, while at the same time enriching the lives of senior citizens. Seniors are matched with children, who engage in educational, recreational and cultural activities. Another important component of the program is the collaboration with the School Health Program in which volunteers help increase annual school physicals and health coverage for each child. Family Friends also hosts special projects that link children and families to the arts and physical fitness activities. To strengthen intergenerational ties we draw from the community’s strength, its seniors, who bring vast life experiences to help resolve difficulties. For more information please visit:  www.harleminternalmedicine.org/index.html


Harlem Renaissance Economic Development Corp.
11th Annual Harlem Renaissance Young Entrepreneu’s Boot Camp

Harlem Renaissance Economic Development Corp. is proud to sponsor its 11th Annual Young Entrepreneur’s Boot Camp. Modeled after Columbia Business School’s former Young Entrepreneur’s Program and inspired by Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice,” this business training for Harlem’s youth between 12-18 years old utilizes the operation of an outdoor bakery café, Harlem Sweet Cake Café, to teach the skills necessary to launch, operate and grow a business. The goal of the Young Entrepreneurs Boot Camp is to cultivate the next generation of Harlem entrepreneurs by providing young people with the entrepreneurial skills necessary to successfully launch, manage and grow a business. In addition, the training program provides young people with life skills such as leadership, team building, and financial skills necessary for their future as responsible individuals. Boot campers learn and immediately apply such business principles as personal selling, customer service, advertising and promotion, operations, costing, pricing and recordkeeping.   For more information visit:  http://www.harlemedc.biz/



Legal Outreach, Inc.—Summer Law Institute
Legal Outreach’s mission is to prepare urban youth to compete at high academic levels. They use intensive legal and educational programs to foster vision, develop skills, enhance confidence, and facilitate the pursuit of higher education. Legal Outreach works in conjunction with Columbia Law School to encourage rising ninth grade students from Harlem and surrounding areas to consider the pursuit of legal and professional careers through the implementation of the five-week program at the Summer Law Institute. Students who successfully complete the Summer Law Institute are invited to participate in Legal Outreach’s multi-faceted, four-year college preparatory program known as “College Bound.” The CCS grant provides travel scholarships to financially needy students, stipends to students who completed the rigorous five-week program, and trophies and awards to winners of the mock-trial competition. For more information on Legal Outreach, please visit:  www.legaloutreach.org


Lifeforce in Later Years (Li.LY)

In a time when there is a growing number of older seniors, when families live at great distances, when there are cuts in government spending on the elderly, when there are too few geriatricians, and when many seniors are living close to the poverty line, our oldest community members can face dire challenges when they need care. Lifeforce in Later Years (LiLY) is dedicated to such community-based models of elder care, the promise of media, and the power of intergenerational and other partnerships as we help to support those who continue to provide us with vital legacies. Morningside Village, a LiLY project, is a community-building program, which, through a cadre of volunteers, is helping our elderly neighbors to age comfortably in their own homes where they want to remain. Our volunteers, who live right in the Morningside Heights community, are supported by Morningside Village and its partners as they assist seniors in a large variety of ways. Volunteers befriend the elderly, help to connect them with the community and needed services, and help them to improve their health and living conditions as they age. To learn more, please visit Morningside Village on the web at:  www.L-i-L-Y.org


Morningside Retirement and Health Services

The mission of Morningside Retirement and Health Services (MRHS) is twofold. The first is to help frail and at-risk elderly residents of Morningside Gardens remain in their own homes comfortably, safely, and with as much independence as possible for as long as they can. The second is to provide programs that promote health and provide opportunities for education, socialization and recreation for all older residents of Morningside Gardens, with particular attention to the special needs of the infirm, homebound, and isolated. The CCS grant is used by MRHS to produce and distribute a monthly Newsletter for the more than 1,600 residents of Morningside Gardens. The Newsletter is a critical outreach tool for MRHS, containing announcements and information about programs and services available at MRHS, as well as about the community at large, enabling many elderly residents to stay connected. For more information on MRHS, please visit:  http://www.mrhsny.org/



Mother Hale Learning Center – Hale House Center, Inc.

Hale House Center addresses the need for high-quality, affordable childcare for working families in the Harlem community through the Mother Hale Learning Center (MHLC). MHLC provides educational childcare to infants and toddlers, ages six weeks to five years with a capacity to serve 38 children. MHLC delivers nutritious meals and snacks while the curriculum includes special programs in music, art and language. Parents’ involvement is through the center’s Parent Partnership Association. Hale House Center continues “Mother Hale’s Way” through the integration of education, community and family in all of its programs by giving children and families the tools to excel. The 2011 grant award from CCS provides high-quality educational childcare tuition subsidies for low and moderate income families.  For more information, please visit:  www.halehouse.org


The National Black Theatre, Inc.
Founded by the late Dr. Barbara Ann Teer in 1968, The National Black Theatre, Inc. (NBT) is a not-for-profit 501(C)3 cultural and educational institution located on 125th and 5th Avenue. It offers four full-time programs: Communication Arts, Theatre Arts, Entrepreneurial Arts and Tourism. NBT was the first revenue generating Black Theatre Arts Complex in the country.  This 43-year-old multi-faceted institution is a center for alternative learning.  Programs connect traditional African creativity with a transformational wisdom experience of performance arts that flow from the heart. NBT's productions, seminars and events raise the level of consciousness, alter the mood and shift the awareness to a higher level of understanding about who African people born in America are. NBT develops artists into cultural leaders who bring dignity and autonomy to the communities they serve and operates from the strategy of economic empowerment through the arts. For more information please visit, http://www.nationalblacktheatre.org/


Opus 118 Harlem School of Music

Opus 118 Harlem School of Music is a community music school serving more than 700 students in Harlem and the New York metropolitan area. Opus 118’s mission is to provide quality music instruction and teacher development in an environment that nurtures excellence and creativity. Opus 118’s In-School Program provides 150 students across four public schools the opportunity to study violin and cello in a group classroom setting. Columbia Community Service’s generous support allows Opus 118 to provide instructors, sheet music, and necessary supplies to students at P.S. 129 John H. Finley in West Harlem. CCS funding ensures that P.S. 129 students in Opus 118’s string instructional program are able to fully participate in skills-based music classes, enriching the students’ overall educational experience through exposure to the arts in a meaningful, hands-on way.  For more information, please visit:  http://www.opus118.org/


Piano Outreach of New York (PONY)

Piano Outreach of New York (PONY) provides scholarships to children who cannot afford the cost of group lessons (much less the cost of private lessons). PONY allows its students to benefit from the same excellent, conservatory-trained musicians who teach the paying students of the Piano School of New York. PONY's scholarships cover 50-100% of the cost of the lessons, with parents, schools or PTAs making up the difference. Class size is small: three to six students. Piano-playing skills, note reading and writing, ear training and rhythm are taught together with music history. Each class is designed to meet the children’s individual needs according to their ages, and all children are introduced to a wide range of music, from sacred choral works of the Renaissance to 20th century jazz. PONY classes are educational, inspiring, and just plain fun! PONY is forever grateful for the support CCS has been providing. The CCS grant is being used to subsidize the cost of Group Piano Class Programs in the immediate vicinity of Columbia University. The grant enables children who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to study music with full or partial scholarships. For more information on Piano Outreach, please visit:  http://www.pianooutreach.org/



Purple Circle Day Care Center

Purple Circle is a nondenominational, parent cooperative day care center, founded in 1972, and licensed by the NYC Dept. of Health. Purple Circle provides children with opportunities for direct experience with materials and the environment. Teachers make room to support children’s strengths and a variety of children’s interests. More than 60 families in the Columbia community are provided with high-quality early childhood education. Children are taught to value themselves and their work, and are helped to develop an awareness of their own competence. The children learn to work successfully with each other, and in so doing, develop a sense of community and responsibility. For more information on Purple Circle Day Care Center, please visit:  www.purple-circle.org


Red Balloon Day Care Center, Inc.

The ultimate goal at the Red Balloon is to create a community where very young children are encouraged and challenged to test the waters of life, where their curiosity is nurtured, and their minds are opened to possibilities, all within a safe and nurturing environment. This can best be accomplished through hands-on learning experiences and through play. The process of learning is encouraged rather than the product stressed. This allows the children to try new activities and experiment without the fear of "failure". Finally the Red Balloon Day Care Center considers itself to be a team and a family. This means the day care center also deals with the needs of parents while training them to be advocates for their children. The Red Balloon takes great pride in the diversity of the school. Part of this diversity is economic diversity. Last year over $70,000 was given out in scholarships to neighborhood families. This allowed nine children who would not have been able to attend preschool to attend the Red Balloon. The money received from the CCS grant combined with other grants and fundraisers goes to this scholarship program. For more information, please visit:  www.redballoonlearningcenter.org


Renaissance Health Care Network
Renaissance Diagnostic and Treatment Centers are comprised of a Primary Care Team that provides OB/GYN, Dental, Specialty, Internal Medicine and Pediatric services to individuals in the Harlem community. Renaissance aims to deliver patient-centered, effective and cost-efficient services. To that end, Renaissance sees that each patient's care is overseen by a personal health care provider, who works with the primary care team of nursing staff, social workers and nutritionists to ensure that medical and psychosocial needs are met. The ultimate goal of these projects is to enhance the quality of life of patients, encourage patient adherence and retention to medical care, reduce isolation and increase socialization.  For more information, please visit:  www.nyc.gov/html/hhc/html/facilities/renaissance.shtml


The Reverend Linnette C. Williamson Memorial Park Association, Inc
Arts and Gardens Summer Youth Enrichment Program

The innate skills and talents of inner-city children must be nurtured and strengthened to improve their chances for success in school and in life. As a neighborhood-based educational enrichment program, the Art and Gardens Summer Youth Enrichment Program provides intensive one-on-one interaction between teaching staff and children. Since 1997, The Rev. Linnette C. Williamson Memorial Park Association, Inc., as a nonsectarian, nonprofit, urban land trust, has offered Arts and Gardens at no charge to low-income Harlem families. The program stimulates thought, learning and imagination; increases basic literacy skills in reading, writing and math; teaches environmental education; engages the children in art, music, agriculture, theatre, dance and other activities; and builds self-esteem in 20 to 25 children of color ages 5 to 12. The program is operated with our educational consultant, The Bank Street College of Education, an innovative, national leader in children's learning. The Park Association has been very fortunate to partner with CCS to provide Art and Gardens to educationally underserved children. For more information, please visit:  www.williamsonparks.org or contact the CCS office.



Riverside Language Program

For over thirty years the Riverside Language Program has offered free intensive classes in English to Speakers of other languages. Our students are recently-arrived immigrant adults who are now living in New York City. Our six-week classes encourage newcomers to learn English quickly so they can begin to pursue their dreams – dreams like becoming re-certified in the professions they pursued in their home countries, getting higher education and/or helping their children with schoolwork. Riverside’s stellar reputation in the immigrant community allows us to spend no money or energy on recruiting. That is all done for us by our former students through word of mouth.

Because many of our students are refugees from civil war or famine, they often come to us with little financial support. Although the classes are free, the cost of transportation is sometimes prohibitive. CCS helps them by providing money to cover the cost of transportation to and from our classes.  For more information, please visit:  http://www.riversidelanguage.org/



Riverside Park Volunteers at Tiemann Place

In early 1990, under the Riverside Park Fund's supervision, a local resident initiated the project whose mission was to restore and improve the section of Riverside Park at Tiemann Place that had been abandoned by the Parks Department. Yoshiko Scholz, who joined the project in the fall of 1995, has been leading it for the last 11 years. Riverside Park Tiemann Place Volunteers is a volunteer group of 14 core people with additional volunteers as needed. Its mission is to maintain, restore and renovate Riverside Park at Tiemann Place: the area between 125th street (St. Claire Place) and International House on East Riverside Drive (approximately 4 acres).  CCS’s grant was used for the following purchases:  Shrubs (Hydrangea Querciforlia, Rhododendron and Buxus), Bulbs (tulips and anemones) and gardening tools. For more information on the Riverside Park Volunteers at Tiemann Place, please visit:  www.riversideparkfund.org


Saint Mary Episcopal Church Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry

St. Mary’s Soup Kitchen is an outreach program. Each Saturday afternoon, teams of volunteers prepare lunch bags (including hot soup in the winter), which they take to people living on the streets, in cars and in parks in Harlem. Volunteers become acquainted with homeless neighbors and make them aware of resources and services in the area. The Food Pantry is open Mondays from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. and is operated by volunteers from the church and community. They serve an average of 50-60 families and individuals per day, people of all ethnicities and ages, about one-fourth children and one-fourth elderly. Each pantry bag has enough food for three days, and in the local growing season includes fresh produce from an upstate farm through our participation in Community Supported Agriculture. For more information on Saint Mary's Episcopal Church Soup Kitchen, please contact the CCS office.


StreetSquash

Founded in September 1999, StreetSquash is an after-school youth enrichment program that combines academic tutoring with squash instruction, community service, and one-on-one mentoring. StreetSquash’s mission is to provide consistent, long-term and reliable support to the children, families and schools in Harlem. By exposing these children to a broad range of experiences and by maintaining the highest standards, StreetSquash aims to help each child realize his or her academic and personal potential. StreetSquash serves over 500 students annually through 4 main initiatives: the After School Program, the Alumni Outreach Program, the Summer Discovery Program, and the Physical Education for Public Schools Program. For more information, please visit:  www.streetsquash.org


Top Honors
Top Honors (THinc) helps struggling New York City middle school students master fundamentals of math. By providing students with a solid foundation, THinc gives them many of the tools necessary to succeed in high school and beyond. THinc’s curriculum features lesson plans that guide tutors through each session and includes exercises that simulate real-life situations. It also includes math-driven games and competitions to make the learning experience more enjoyable for the student. THinc boasts a low student-to-tutor ratio, allowing tutors to tailor the program for their students. Thanks to CCS's generous contribution, Top Honors is able to implement the innovative THInc dollar incentive program where students accumulate THInc dollars throughout the year based on attendance, good behavior, winning at weekly games and passing interim assessments. This program is credited with greatly increasing student attendance and longevity.  For more information on Top Honors, please visit:  http://www.tophonors.org/



Uptown Inner City League
Since 1990, Uptown Inner City League, a grass root sports program, has been providing recreational programs that serve the children within the Manhattanville community. During the spring, summer and fall seasons, Uptown Inner City League plays baseball, basketball and flag football. The program’s mission is to keep kids off the street corners and in a safe and enriching environment. Uptown Inner City League's goal is to uplift the spirit and confidence of children through play. U.I.C.L. provides a co-ed sport program for children ages 3 to 16. For more information on the Uptown Inner City League, please contact the CCS office.


West Harlem Environmental Action aka WE ACT for Environmental Justice 

WE ACT for Environmental Justice is a Northern Manhattan community-based organization whose mission is to build healthy communities by assuring that people of color and/or low-income participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. WE ACT is working to achieve this mission by accomplishing a set of clear Goals linked to our 8 indicators of a healthy community:  clean air; affordable and equitable transit; waste, pests and pesticides reduction; toxic-free products; good food in schools; sustainable land use; open and green space; healthy indoor environments.  For more information, please visit:  http://www.weact.org/


Wendy Hilliard Foundation

The Wendy Hilliard Foundation (WHF) promotes and provides opportunities for young people to learn and perform and compete in the sport of gymnastics and its associated disciplines, as well as to enhance their athletic, social and personal potential through quality instruction and workshops in reading and health and nutrition. The three main goals of WHF are:  to increase participant enrollment; enhance existing programs and develop new programs; and support competitive team programs. The CCS grant is used primarily to provide free gymnastics classes for the local youth as well as to help upgrade computer systems and archive materials. This system's upgrade was a direct result of the CCS seminar and survey, which inspired the foundation to take a good look at the organization and find more affordable and creative options to improve services to the community. For more information on the Wendy Hilliard Foundation, please visit:  www.whfny.org


West Side Center for Community Life:
West Side Campaign Against Hunger

Through a customer-cooperative, supermarket-style emergency food pantry and social service counseling team, the West Side Campaign Against Hunger alleviates hunger and creates a culture that promotes self-reliance. The West Side Campaign Against Hunger changes our perception of hungry people by working in partnership with them, providing food with dignity, and empowering customers to find solutions. Founded by the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew in 1979 to provide low-income people on the Upper West Side with food to cook at home, the West Side Campaign Against hunger is now a non-sectarian program of the West Side Center for Community Life serving the Upper West Side and low-income New Yorkers throughout the five boroughs. In 2011, the West Side Campaign Against Hunger will provide 110,000 people with healthy, healthy food for one million meals.


The CSS grant of $10,000 purchases enough nutritious food for one week at West Side Campaign Against Hunger Food Pantry, in that time providing about 2,115 people with food for 19,230 meals. For more information on the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, please visit:  www.wscah.org