Hard to fathom, but 67% of New York City’s public school students live in poverty. Their challenges and such ill-conceived solutions as gang violence and bullying can send schools and communities into a spiral of chaos, when ironically, these schools can be the path out of poverty. Partnership With Children, which began with a Big Sisters home outreach program, has been working with high risk schools since 1993. Their program brings teams of Masters-level social workers to provide counseling and classroom interventions for students at the highest risk of academic failure and dropout.
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Larry Wohl, designer Maggie Norris, Leesa Rowland, and R. Couri Hay. (Photo: Andrew Fitzsimons/PatrickMcMullan.com) |
They hosted their 11th Annual Wine Tasting entitled A Taste of the Good Life at Midtown Loft & Terrace. Guests nibbled at fare from such NYC favorite restaurants as Dos Caminos and Asellina paired with wines from some of the world’s top vineyards. Event Chair Stefan Zellmer and Partnership with Children’s Board President Patricia Soussloff welcomed over 100 supporters including Maggie Norris, Ian Broadwater, Bill Tucker, Lelle Henrichsen, Leesa Rowland and Larry Wohl. The night also included a silent auction featuring wines donated by merchants including Empire State Cellars and ACME Fine Wines.
Partnership With Children’s model is based on decades of experience, careful evaluation and trail-blazing in the field of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), which develops specific skills crucial to a child’s academic, personal, social and civic development. Their programs increase student attendance and on-task behavior, improve teachers’ classroom management skills, reduce school violence and suspensions, engage families in their children’s education, and allow principals to spend less time on discipline and more time on academic instruction, ultimately changing the culture of the school.
