CAB Summer/04 Newsletter Final
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Citizens Advice CCaaRINGRING AABOUTBOUT Bureau The Newsletter of the Citizens Advice Bureau ththee BBRONXRONX VOLUME 6, NUMBER 2 FALL 2008 CAB Annual Event a Success IN THIS ISSUE Ending the Cycle of Poverty Preventing Evictions for Bronx Families Out-of-School, Out-of-Work No Longer Message from the Executive Director Earlier this year, CAB conducted a survey of our pro- From l. to r.: CAB Board Vice Chair Jean Smith; Dominic Carter; CAB gram participants as part of our strategic planning Executive Director Carolyn McLaughlin; Honoree Peter Magistro; Artist process to strengthen our services and help shape our Elizabeth Ortiz; CAB Assistant Executive Director John Weed; Lisa Curran, future plans. We polled 437 people that use programs Coordinator of the Artists Initiative of the Bronx Council on the Arts. across the agency. To ensure objective responses, most In May, CAB held its annual event for the second consecu- clients took the survey online on computers at individ- ual sites. When they needed help, staff from other tive year at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Over 150 CAB offices administered the questions. people attended the gathering, which featured NY1's senior political reporter Dominic Carter as emcee. The evening In the aggregate, our clients are very happy with our was a wonderful celebration of the work CAB and its part- services. Our staff was almost universally judged ners do for the South Bronx. Recalling the help he himself to be responsive, knowledgeable, and courteous. received as a child, Mr. Carter said,“We need organizations The respondents expressed a great deal of overall like CAB to maintain strong and active communities.” satisfaction with the services they received, including praise for prompt service, the cleanliness of the Our honorees included Peter Magistro, the president of space, and the utility of referrals. Remarkably, 93 Bronx Pro Real Estate, a company that has developed percent strongly agreed with the statement that they over 800 units of low and moderate income housing in would recommend the CAB program they used to the South Bronx. His accomplishments have revitalized someone else. neighborhoods and contributed to the Bronx's overall renaissance. We also recognized Dr. Lucy Cabrera, the CAB is hard at work evaluating the specific data we president and CEO of the Food Bank for New York City. collected, and using that feedback to improve the Each year, the Food Bank distributes 70 million pounds of agency as a whole and address concerns about food and provides essential support to more than 1,000 specific programs. I would like to especially thank programs citywide. Both honorees were presented with Ken Small, Nana Uemura, John Weed, Scott Auwarter, original artwork commissioned through the Artisans and others, who took on the herculean tasks of Initiative of the Bronx Council on the Arts. creating survey instruments, analyzing data, and compiling reports. It is an invaluable exercise that Edwin Rodriguez, Jr., who graduated in June from our we will continue every year. Community School for Social Justice, gave a testimonial about how CAB has helped him. Edwin was a participant Best Regards, in our college advisory program. With the help of our staff, he received a coveted Posse Scholarship, which grants over $150,000 for university costs. This fall, he began his studies Carolyn McLaughlin at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. CAB JOINS CITY EFFORT TO REDUCE POVERTY 2006, Mayor Bloomberg and little work experience. The appointed a task force participants gained exposure to the IN called the Commission world-of-work through paid intern- for Economic Opportunity, whose ships, attended workshops aimed at purpose was to analyze the causes job readiness, explored educational and consequences of poverty in New opportunities, and received individual- York City, and to make recommenda- ized case management. At the com- tions for concrete ways to reduce pletion of the program, the young poverty. The Bloomberg adminis- people found jobs and/or were tration then created a new city enrolled in a GED program. Most office, the Center for Economic were employed in the retail industry, Opportunity, to implement those while some worked in the social recommendations. CAB has been service sector at childcare centers involved in several of these initiatives. and senior centers. Assistant Program Director Lorenzo Barcelo leads a job readiness workshop at the CAB is a participating agency in Bronx Works employment center. CAB uses ACCESS NYC,a free Opportunity NYC, the city's website that screens New Yorkers' Conditional Cash Transfer pilot tives for activities like making sure eligibility for over 30 city, state, and program designed to break the cycle their children attend school regularly, federal human service benefit pro- of poverty. This privately funded taking their children to the doctor grams. ACCESS streamlines the appli- initiative has been in operation for for checkups, and taking positive cation process for benefits by provid- a little over a year. Opportunity steps toward employment. CAB ing step-by-step instructions and lets NYC has two components: Family encourages enrolled families make the user print out many of the appli- Rewards and Work Rewards. the most of their rewards opportu- cation forms. In cooperation with the nities through motivational work- city, CAB has counselors to educate shops on employment and education, the public on how to use ACCESS. and helps families address any trou- Staff members are also available at our bles they have meeting their goals. walk-in offices to assist people with the website. Since January, about 300 The Work Rewards component of CAB clients have used ACCESS to Opportunity NYC focuses on recipi- find important financial resources. ents of Section 8 housing assistance. CAB's Bronx Works employment The Teen Action Service Learning center works intensively with 150 Program works with 75 students at people to help them progress toward our Community School for Social financial self-sufficiency. This involves Justice, a small public high school that issues related to employment, such CAB co-founded with New Visions Program Specialist Sonia Vargas (standing) as job training, placement assistance, for Public Schools and the shows a client how to use ACCESS NYC. and help with job retention. We also Department of Education. Now in its help people overcome obstacles to second year, this after-school program The Family Rewards program employment through services such as conducts workshops to develop encourages families to take actions childcare assistance and education teenagers' leadership skills and civic to improve their own well-being. We about money management. participation. The students also work with 400 families with children engage in community service proj- residing in Bronx Community Board The Young Adult Internship ects based on their own interests, 5, who were selected by a third- Program (YAIP) also operates out such as community organizing, tutor- party research group. At the end of of our Bronx Works office. Since ing youth, volunteering at daycare this study, those families' progress October 2007, it has helped 47 centers, addressing asthma in the will be measured against a control young people between the ages of Bronx, building green spaces, and group. Parents earn monetary incen- 16 and 24 who had limited education voter registration. 2 Music and Arts Come to Bronx Schools Along with programs based at CAB fessionals at the three schools. PS 62 sites like our Community Center, we students are exploring Afro-Puerto also run after-school programs at Rican bomba music and dance. Ten Students dance to bomba rhythms at a PS 62 three public elementary schools in of the school's performers were music celebration. the Bronx: PS 62, PS 90, and PS 130. featured at a United Way showcase In the past few years, we have been in June. “Out of the 16 or so groups to improve literacy skills, which was able to greatly expand music and from schools across the city, they developed by Columbia University's arts education at these schools. were among the youngest, and they Teachers College. The children Lisette Nieves, CAB's Director of did a fantastic job,” says Nieves. The worked together to create the art School-Based Programs, says,“Arts students at PS 90 specialize in steel- and dialogue for a planned series of education is so important for stimu- pan music. Their Steel Tigers ensem- educational comic books that are lating children's creativity. It needs to ble performed in the Youth Explosion being distributed to all the children continue throughout their schooling, festival in Brooklyn in June. They in our after-school programs. The because it also increases graduation were the youngest group to appear first issue off the press addresses and attendance rates.” onstage, and won an award. The the sensitive topic of bullying. emerging musicians at PS 130 study Thanks to support from the United Latin and jazz percussion. Additional support for CAB's Way and a grant from the New York school-based after-school programs State Music Fund, CAB has intro- Students at PS 90 are involved in a is provided by The After-School duced musical instruction from pro- unique Comic Book Project designed Corporation. Young Adults Learn to Excel also run Pre-GED classes to improve prepare for job interviews, gain com- literacy skills, following the Youth puter skills, and learn how to manage Development Institute’s CEPS edu- money. Excel introduces young peo- cation model. ple to the world of work though paid internships at various CAB offices and People wanting to take the GED program sites. Graduates generally are often frustrated by months-long find employment in retail businesses. waits because of the great shortage We also provide follow-up services of testing locations in New York.