Turn 2 Foundation / New York City Parks & Recreation ***Parks and Recreation After School Programs are certified under the School-Aged Child Care (SACC) Regulations of New York State.
2007-2008 Program Year Activities Each year is filled with exciting events and the 2007-2008 After School program year is no different. This year includes daily learning activities, athletic competition, environmental walks, end of the year showcases, and new opportunities for children to learn about their communities. Participants in Turn 2 Foundation/New York City Parks and Recreation After School Programs, in addition, will be participating in a wide variety of exciting field trips. These include the BODIES Exhibit, ice skating, a trip to the Bronx Zoo, movie outings and bowling, just to name a few. Nutrition and physical fitness topics are discussed and understood with the Healthy Living/Healthy Eating Snacks Program. Participants from all four After School sites battle it out and get creative for what will become the Official Turn 2 Foundation/New York Parks and Recreation After School Banner. Children will paint, glitter, glue and anything else they can get their hands on, to create a program-wide banner that will be used to represent all four sites.
New this year is the Explore Japanese Culture Program administered by the NY de Volunteers. Workshops meet for eight weeks in each of the four After School sites so that all participants can discover Japanese culture. By giving participants a crash-course in everything Japanese, the program will provide children of the After School Program opportunities to cultivate a sense of "global citizenship." The objective of this program is to enhance the capacity and interests of the children by introducing Japanese culture through fun and creative activities. Participants will develop a positive attitude towards a totally new culture, understand Japan geographically, take hold of the Japanese language by learning letters and simple words, understand the Japanese numerical system, express colors and likes in Japanese, attempt Kendo, partake in a tea ceremony, explore calligraphy, prepare Sushi, create a Yukata (the Japanese summer kimono), participate in Japanese dance and get ideas about children's lives in Japan. To culminate an exciting year in June of 2008, the Turn 2 Foundation will hold an End of the Year After School Showcase. Children at each site will share skills that they have developed with their families and peers. The Showcase includes performances in dance, drama and music. Children's artwork will also be displayed at the After School Showcase.
ST. JOHN'S RECREATION CENTER The St. John's Recreation Center which is a feature site for the Turn 2 Foundation/New York City After School Program, is located at 1251 Prospect Place in Brooklyn. From 3pm to 6pm, Monday through Friday, St. John's embraces topics in art, the environment, safety, culture, physical activity, dance, nutrition, academics, technology & computer literacy. This site also includes consultants from New York's initiative program, DYCD Out-of-School Time (OST). The OST program joins St. John's on a weekly basis to capture urban environment issues. This year's goal is to provide a positive environment and coordinated program which will enable students to reach their maximum potential, including a solid foundation of education. The "Three A's": Academic, Arts and Athletics will be used to attain these goals. The St. John's Recreation Center is highlighted with a swimming pool, music studio, and weight room. A typical day for St. John's After School participants starts off with one hour and fifteen minutes of academic support with homework help. Afterwards, students enjoy a nutritional snack and are then separated into age groups: 6-7, 8-10, and 11-13. Each day a different age group takes advantage of the different focus areas St. John's has to offer. So far, the 6-7 year old students have been putting most of their time into visual arts, board games, playground activities, and dance instruction. The group of 8-10 year olds have been learning computer technology with Microsoft Publisher, taking environmental nature walks and partaking in physical fitness; including a Youth Fitness/Endurance Boot Camp which helps to ensure teamwork with military-style calisthenics. Lastly, the 11-13 year old group is involved in physical fitness with free weight instruction in the weight room, dance; where students choreograph their own routines to jazz/hip hop/reggae/modern music, computer literacy with Microsoft Word, and their project for the Turn 2 Foundation/New York City Parks and Recreation Banner Contest. On days that groups are not split by ages, all students at St. James participate in activities that include playground time, holiday preparation, a St. John's collaborative color rainbow, "Friday Free Time", the "Japanese Culture Exploration Program", the "Learn How to Swim Program" at the pool and environmental issues with OST. The OST consultants have introduced the students to numerous environmental cases that reach beyond "taking a walk in the park." OST covers issues of youth fitness, human outdoor treasure hunts, neighborhood naturalist walks and exploration where students understand the difference between commercial and residential property. St. John's also tries to involve as many friends and family members as possible. The "Back to School Jam and Parents Barbeque," held in September, was an event that brought parents and directors together to discuss the upcoming year's events. While parents and director's mingled, participants enjoyed a free day at the playground.
JACKIE ROBINSON RECREATION CENTER The Jackie Robinson Recreation Center is located on Bradhurst Avenue at the corner of 146th Street, in Harlem, New York. The After School Program serves a wide variety of children ages 6-13 years old. The cultural backgrounds of the programs' participants are often very diverse with many of their families hailing from countries that spread across Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. With the partnership between the Turn 2 Foundation and New York City Parks and Recreation, the Jackie Robinson Recreation Center is able to offer various activities that children may not otherwise be exposed to. This creates common ground for participants to find similarities amongst themselves. Goals for the 2007-2008 program year include achieving academic support, physical fitness and social competency among students. Directors of Jackie Robinson Recreation Center feel the most important of these issues is the need for academic support for students as supplement to their in school education. Next, Jackie Robinson will focus on physical fitness due to the ever-increasing obesity rate. Lastly, the directors vision for the social workers striving to promote the external asset of social competency amongst participants, as a means of returning civility and general courtesy to the community. This year the program will offer activities that include drumming, sculpting, screen-printing, film-making, computer literacy, arts & crafts, sports tournaments, Japanese cultural exhibits, social competency instruction, urban dance instruction with the "Off the Curb Organization" and numerous trips. The support of the Turn 2 Foundation has enabled Jackie Robinson's Directors to create a curriculum that addresses the cultural, artistic, and athletic developments in our participants. One area that directors are especially proud to able to assist their children in is in the nurturing of their interest in the physical sciences. Each week the children will conduct science experiments that will progress in complexity and illustrate the some of the basic functions of the environment. Topics participants will cover include light, the atmosphere, weather, basic biology, chemistry and ecosystems. All of their efforts will culminate in a weekend science fair where their families and peers will be able to come and appreciate some original experiments that the students have created.
ST. JAMES RECREATION CENTER The St. James Recreation Center is located at at 2530 Jerome Avenue in the Bronx, New York. St. James goals for the Turn 2 Foundation/New York City After School Program are to conduct events in which parents, families and friends can attend to see the progress of the their children participating in the program, which will foster strong relationships. Internally, St. James's directors and participants have agreed to create a variety of monthly art projects with the children. These projects are intended to formulate an art exhibition in which all of the students' artwork from the year can be displayed for all to see. St. James, as other After School sites, aims to create activities that educate and stimulate healthy lifestyles for participants. These activities include arts and crafts, holiday decoration, athletic teams, computer science, homework help, and performing arts. In particular, the St. James After School Program has bead making, a football and basketball team, embraces Hispanic Heritage Month and has commissioned Mr. Lawrene Rush, Performing Arts Consultant, to conduct dance classes. OST consultants visit the St. James Recreation Center on a weekly basis. OST staff works with After School directors to assist in homework help and holiday activities including Halloween decorations and "Dear Santa" letters. In an effort to include the largest amount of parent involvement as possible, the After School Program invited parents to the Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration. Prior to the event, children created projects that reflected the celebration. At the events, the children presented them to their parents. The event ended with music accompanied by food and beverages.
SORRENTINO RECREATION CENTER As children arrive to the Sorrentino After School Program, the homework help hour is started. From 3pm to 4pm, students of all ages work on building academic achievement. For the next 2 hours, children are split into groups dependent on ages. The 6-7, 8-9, and 10-13 year old groups will ultimately participate in the same activities; however the activities are structured around the ages of the children. Physical activities at Sorrentino include basketball and soccer programs, and double-dutch instruction. By using the Mavis Beacon computer game, participants have been able to enhance their computer literacy skills while learning the fundamentals of typing. Bead making and holiday related projects make up Sorrentino's arts and crafts aspect. Sorrentino also embraces holidays like United Nations Day to enhance children's knowledge of the event by discussion. The Sorrentino Recreation Center is looking forward to another great year as part of the Turn 2 Foundation/New York Parks and Recreation After School Program site. |
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The Jeter’s Leaders is a youth leadership, social change program named by the captain of the New york Yankees, Derek Jeter, and funded by his Turn 2 Foundation. The program is designed to promote healthy lifestyles, academic achievement and social change activism among high school students.
Jeter’s Leaders Information
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The First Annual Safety Night will be hosted by Tom Patire, America's leading safety expert. The event, scheduled to be held at St. James Recreation Center, will allow participants at all four sites to attend. Tom's talk is expected to be empowering for children and give them important age-appropriate tips to keep safe and be aware of their surroundings. Additionally, activity booths that focus on safety will be set up around the center for children. Representatives from the NYPD & FDNY will be the administrators of these booths.
The Sorrentino Recreation Center is the newest After School site. Now in its second year, children at Sorrentino's After School Program in Far Rockaway, Queens are enjoying a newly renovated building. Participants now have access to two new multi purpose rooms; a game room and a kitchen. Program goals for Sorrentino include developing cognitive and motor skills along with imaginative play to promote healthy development.
