African Dream Academy
www.africandreamacademy.org
The African Dream Academy (ADA) is a not-for-profit Liberian corporation which operates an Early Childhood Program and Elementary school at its campus on RIA Highway, Monrovia, Liberia West Africa. The school opened for the first time on September 10, 2012. The mission of ADA is to reduce African poverty and foster sustainable development by “empowering African children through education” to realize dreams of a better life.
Volunteer opportunities through The Brick Church.
Church of the Living Hope
www.churchofthelivinghope.org/
For more than 35 years, the Church of the Living Hope has been running a summer camp for youngsters ages 6 to 12 from East Harlem. The goal was, and continues to be, to provide recreational activities during the summer vacation in a safe and caring environment. The program includes spiritual, athletic, academic and cultural aspects, and teaches job skills. The camp lasts seven weeks and can accommodate approximately 45 children. The program is funded mainly through churches in our community.
Daniel’s Music Foundation
www.danielsmusic.org
Daniel’s Music Foundation provides free music programs to over 250 people with physical or developmental disabilities, ages 3 to adult. Group classes include piano, percussion, band, rhythm, and song composition, and the organization is predicated on the belief that teaching music in a group setting facilitates the growth of a community as well as building confidence.
In 1997, Daniel Trush, then a seventh grader at Dalton School, suffered multiple strokes after one of his five brain aneurisms burst during a basketball game. He was in a coma for 30 days and, during the next 341 days of hospitalization, music greatly aided his recovery. In 2006, he, his family, and one of his teachers founded Daniel’s Music Foundation, which began with one “Introduction to Keyboard” class with five participants (known as ‘members’). Over the course of six years, DMF has grown to 47 classes and over 300 musician members and a lengthy waiting list for both its On-Site and Off-Site programming. Through the Member Leadership Program, they have hired several members as part time employees to help facilitate programs and as volunteer interns to assist in various tasks. Currently they have 7 part-time member employees and 15 interns. In addition, DMF members perform Outreach concerts across the metropolitan area.
They have several performances over the course of the year. DMF has expanded their Off-Site program where they provide the full DMF Experience, including an instructor, two members and equipment to participating locations for up to 10 hours of musical instruction and inspiration.
Friends of PS 169 – Summer Camp
PS 169, The Robert F. Kennedy School, is a special education middle school located on 88th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues. The students who attend the school are learning disabled and emotionally disturbed. Some of them are autistic and most are economically disadvantaged. Many are foster children and quite a few are homeless.
Friends of PS 169 is a neighborhood organization started about 45 years ago that works to enrich the lives of the children by tutoring, supporting literacy and educational programs and summer camp. Camp Ramapo in Rhinebeck, New York is host to PS 169 campers. It costs $2,160 to send one child to camp for three weeks. Summer camp outside New York City is a tremendous enrichment experience in the lives of these children and their families.
Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center
www.isaacscenter.org
The Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center reaches across generations and cultures with innovative programming that encourages growth and self-reliance throughout every stage of life. Bridging the neighborhoods of Yorkville and East Harlem, the Center provides educational and cultural opportunities and promotes social and physical well-being while responding to the changing needs of the communities it serves.Founded in 1964 in the settlement house tradition, Stanley Isaacs services include Meals on Wheels, adult day services, a senior center of over 2,100 members, after school and evening programs for children and teens, youth employment services, adult education classes, community, cultural and educational events and workshops, and parent education. Stanley Isaacs has a track record of program innovations that have served as models for others in the fields of older adult services, adult education and youth services. This ministry offers volunteer opportunities to provide fellowship to a lonely elder; assist the elderly in shopping or medical visits, and assist staff at the senior center, particularly during lunch time. For more information, please visit the Stanley Isaacs Center website.
Trinity Lutheran Church – Trinity Place Shelter
www.trinityplaceshelter.org
Trinity Lutheran Church was one of the first churches in New York to address the AIDS crisis. Trinity Place is a shelter for homeless Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) youth ages 18-24. The objective of the program is to provide a safe, transitional space for these youths, and to assist our guests in establishing stable and productive lives. Trinity Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Trinity is a Reconciling in Christ congregation, which means it welcomes all people, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals and couples as fully participating members of its ministry. The church has been a neighborhood fixture on West 110th Street and Amsterdam Avenue for over 100 years and an “open” church for more than 30 years.
Trinity Place Shelter was established in the basement of the church premises in 2006 in response to an unfilled need. They will be celebrating 6 years of “never shutting their doors” in June. It is one of the few shelters of its type in New York.
Presbytery of NYC / YAV Program
https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/yav/
Our Mission, as the Presbytery of New York City, is to embody God’s gracious love in Jesus Christ through our ministries, our congregations, our partnerships, our service and witness, and our common life together. Discern and develop the most faithful strategies for the mission of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in New York and lead their implementation. Guide, support, and supervise our sessions, inquirers and candidates for ordination, Commissioned Lay Pastors, Certified Christian Educators and Ministers of Word of Sacrament in accomplishing effective ministry.
- Witness to the fullness of God’s kingdom by living in community with one another as diverse peoples unified in and through Jesus Christ, striving always to increase both the diversity of our membership and the strength of our community.
- Identify, resist, and contend with both church and secular powers that separate, divide, or demean peoples.
- Foster respect, cooperation and care in our ecumenical and interfaith relationships, honoring differences, and striving for and joining in common cause wherever possible.
- Cultivate creative and responsible stewardship of the human and financial resources for ministry entrusted to the Presbyterian Church (USA) in NYC, and seek new models and methods that help ensure the most faithful witness to Christ across the city.
- Seek the welfare of NYC in every way – including economic, educational, and social – giving counsel and aid in and for times of crisis or transition, and giving voice to the Reformed tradition’s commitment to ministry in the public sphere and the public good.
A ministry of the PC(USA) which offers a faith-based year of service for young people, ages 19-30, in 22 sites around the world and in the United States. YAVs accompany local agencies working to address root causes of poverty and reconciliation while exploring the meaning and motivation of their faith in intentional community with peers and mentors. YAVs serve during the academic year, August to July.
The Presbytery of New York City has hosted a program since 2015.