Our beloved Book Fair moves to new location this year at the Bernie Wohl Center, 647 Columbus Ave (at 91st). The Bernie Wohl Center is the home of our Community Arts program, so it’s a natural place to hold the Fair — as well as a great place to highlight the amazing plays, music and discussions staged […]
Blog & News
Susan Burton Offers a Harsh Critique of Mass Incarceration from the Inside Out
America’s prisons are overflowing, and the mass incarceration machine benefits neither prisoners nor society as a whole, argued Susan Burton in a recent appearance at the Bernie Wohl Center. The nearly half-million Americans imprisoned on drug charges “aren’t broken,” the author and activist said; instead they’re using the few tools at their disposal to cope […]
Nurturing a Love of Books
On a Friday afternoon at our 91st Street Early Childhood Education center, the children in Zalma Arzu’s classroom celebrated with hand-lettered paper crowns that proclaimed “One Week Smarter.” When Arzu told them they could have free reading time, they took books enthusiastically from the shelf in the corner and settled down on the nearby rug and […]
Rooted in Community, Beacon Offers Programs for All
“Here we go!” said Amber Batchelor of Ladies Who Hoop, climbing a stepladder at at Sol Bloom Park on a hot sunny morning. With a big smile, she tore the protective plastic from the first of two new backboards at the 91st Street park. Minutes later, youth from Goddard Riverside’s Beacon Program were playing basketball […]
Summer Fun – and Learning, Too
SPLASH! A counselor pours a tub of water over children’s heads as they huddle together screaming and laughing. SPLAT! A water balloon bursts against the wall. SWOOSH! Children line up to dive head-first down slip-and-slides while hoses spray over them. On a sunny July day, campers at our Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center were beating the […]
Single Stop’s Dynamic Duo
It’s Tuesday and our Single Stop office on West 140th Street is bustling as always. In a cubicle toward the back of the long, narrow, sunlit room, financial counselor Ivonne Tarazona is asking a client questions — lots of questions — in her gentle but probing manner. “What do you do for breakfast? How about […]
Afro Roots Tuesdays Bring a World of Rhythm to Bernie Wohl Center
For updates on upcoming shows, email kevinmbira@hotmail.com to be added to the Afro Roots email list or join the Afro Roots Tuesdays group on Facebook. If Kevin Nathaniel could tell you just one thing about Afro Roots Tuesday it would be this: It’s not about drumming. “A lot of people get in their heads that […]
#DegreesNYC Summit Seeks to Put More Students on Path to Success
How can we ensure all New Yorkers have an equal shot at academic success beyond high school? That was the question on every mind at the second #DegreesNYC Citywide Summit. “We started two years ago by engaging the community,” Judith Lorimer of the Goddard Riverside Options Center told attendees. “What we heard is that there’s […]
Four Ways to Support Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
Watching children romp at our Early Childhood Education Centers, you can see girls and boys playing in the same ways: building towers of blocks, splashing at the water table, rolling wooden trucks across the floor. But research shows that from an early age, children begin absorbing gender-based messages about which kinds of activities are right […]
Learn About Your Right to Free Counsel in Housing Court
New York is on its way to becoming the first city in the nation to guarantee low-income renters a lawyer in Housing Court. Studies have shown that tenants with a lawyer are less likely to be evicted than unrepresented tenants when going up against landlords in court. Right to Counsel, as it’s called, is being rolled out […]