East Harlem Tutorial Program Celebrates its Graduates & the ‘Mosaic’ That Supports Their Journey Through College

Philanthropists, Scholars, and Families Come Together to Raise $4 Million for East Harlem Education Movement & Announcement of New Community-Based High School

NEW YORK CITY – On May 20, East Harlem Tutorial Program (EHTP) will bring together more than 600 community, civic, and business leaders to honor the college-bound seniors who have participated in its renowned after-school program, as well as celebrate the launch of EHTP’s own community-based public high school opening this August.

The organization, known for its impressive college completion rates (70 percent, six times the national average for students from low-income households), and leadership in the anti-racism educational movement, leverages the event to fund core initiatives.

Event Chairs Stacy & Jonathan Pollack are leading the charge to raise $4 million alongside Vice Chairs that include noted philanthropists and civic leaders Marilyn and Jim Simons, Lili Lynton and Michael Ryan, Judith Gibbons and Francesco Scattone, Cassie and William Rahm, and Cindy and Brian Gavin.

Taking place at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the event’s theme is “Our Mosaic: Then & Now” — a nod to the diverse and vibrant groups of supporters, mentors, educators, and volunteers that allow EHTP to flourish year after year. “Our Mosaic” is a literal and figurative representation of the organization’s 61-year history, inspired by the stunning piece that legendary muralist Manny Vega created to depict EHTP’s original building.

“EHTP is a coming together of diverse backgrounds, ideas, and thinking,” said Executive Director Jeff Ginsburg. “We are grateful to our supporters, and inspired and informed by our neighborhood which, despite being ignored by institutional structures for decades, boasts an extraordinarily rich history. Tonight we join together to assert that all children deserve a great education.”

Highlights of the 33rd Annual Benefit include:

• A welcome from EHTP Board Chair Joan Solotar and Alumni Council Co-Chair Jennifer Perez
• Remarks by Jeff Ginsburg about the organization’s vision for the future and EHTP’s commitment to racial equity work
• News about EHTP’s first-ever public charter high school, opening this fall
• A musical performance by the East Harlem Scholars Academy Middle School Ensemble
• A keynote by graduating high school senior Diana Galindo-Linares. Ms. Galindo-Linares was bullied and struggled academically in her early school years, but followed her mother’s advice: “Si caes siete veces, sube ocho” (“If you fall seven times, rise eight times”). Diana plans to attend City College of New York in August.

EHTP’s leadership will also recognize community leader Helen Webber, who passed away in December. EHTP began in 1958 when Mrs. Webber began hosting a children’s reading group in her living room. Her passion for learning, belief in the potential of East Harlem youth, and commitment to social justice — as well as her urgings to “read, read read” — have been the guiding force behind EHTP since its inception.

Flash forward some six decades, and EHTP has expanded into the multi-site program that it is today. Providing thousands of students with high-quality, tuition-free academic and enrichment activities, EHTP has an ambitious goal — to reach 25 percent of East Harlem youth by 2025, providing key services and supports as they realize their best possible selves.

For more information or interview requests, please contact Wende Gozan Brown at [email protected]

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And the Award Goes To…

Huge congratulations to Martinique Teperman, director of social services for our Out-of-School Time program, who last night was presented with the Latino Social Work Coalition Leadership Award! It is a recognition well deserved: Martinique always knew she wanted to work with children, and with over 13 years’ experience under her belt, she is deeply committed to ensuring that all students and families have access to quality academic and mental health services.

Martinique has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and Romance Languages from New York University, and studied Advanced Clinical Social Work with a concentration on Family, Youth, and Children’s Services at Columbia School of Social Work. She put her education into practice as a Clinical Social Work Fellow at the Yale Child Study Center, where she worked with young people ages 5-18 with a variety of mental health issues, and worked as a Senior Social Worker at the Children’s Aid Society Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program.

Martinique’s transition to East Harlem Tutorial Program has given her the opportunity to collaborate closely with students and families, ensuring that we truly are community-based and college-bound. She wears many hats at EHTP — overseeing the Social Services department of the afterschool program, which serves 400 students in grades K-12; supervising Master’s level social workers and MSW interns; leading staff trainings and collaborative meetings; facilitating groups for high school students and monthly workshops for parents, and more. Martinique is a member of EHTP’s Anti-Racism Coalition and has participated in the Anti-Racism Facilitator Training. Martinique also spearheaded our after-school program’s Family Council — designed to build relationships, support our students’ parents and family members, and provide them a space to give input on our work.

Kudos to you, Martinique — we appreciates your leadership, and we are so fortunate to have you as part of the EHTP family!

#HistoryInTheMaking — Nyasha Manigault

Making sure an organization’s books are in order may not be the most visible role at a non-profit, but it is certainly one of the most important — so for today’s Black History Month post, we’re recognizing one of our unsung heroes at EHTP, Director of Finance Nyasha Manigault.

Nyasha is an accomplished executive with proven experience in all aspects of business and fiscal operations, with specialties including strategic planning, analysis and forecasting, project and program management, risk oversight and investment optimization.

After realizing her interest in math, she pursued a Bachelor of Arts in Statistics from Harvard University. She started her career at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, then began a long-standing career with American Express.

Aside from numbers, Nyasha has always had a passion for mentoring. In addition to joining the East Harlem Tutorial family in 2016, she dedicated 15 years to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. There she mentored teenage girls of color, with hopes of expanding her students’ world by encouraging them to explore the option of a college-bound track and opportunities outside of New York City.

We are grateful that Nyasha transitioned to the nonprofit sector and is leveraging her fiscal knowledge at EHTP to support our Scholars in East Harlem. Thank you, Nyasha, for adding so much to the community! #HistoryInTheMaking

#HistoryInTheMaking — Derrick Spencer

As we celebrate Black History Month, East Harlem Tutorial Program is recognizing staff who dedicate themselves to our Scholars. Today we’re giving a shout-out to Manager Derrick Spencer, who works with middle schoolers in our after-and summer-school program.

Derrick, who is committed to providing access to opportunities for Black and Latinx people, graduated from Howard University, where he studied English and Secondary Education. He began his teaching career as a public-school teacher in Washington, D.C, creating multiple programs designed to help students explore their cultural identities and participate in various levels of advocacy. After his 6th graders expressed their interest in civic engagement, Derrick developed an academic unit on social activism that led to hundreds of students urging Congress to act on issues such as mass incarceration, human trafficking, and wage disparities. He also engaged parents and others during the school’s first of many community-based events that explored race and equity in education.

After moving to New York City, Derrick taught 7th-grade ELA in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and worked as a program consultant for NYC’s Department of Education. He is now pursuing his master’s in public administration from New York University, and has great things in store for his EHTP Scholars: Derrick (shown here during an EHTP apple-picking field trip), is organizing a culturally-responsive book club where students can talk about the realities of racism. Thank you, Derrick, for adding so much to our community! #HistoryInTheMaking

Cards & Cocktails for a Cause, hosted by K. Don Cornwell.

Our supporters played their cards right at board member K. Don Cornwell’s annual poker tournament! Guests mingled, wined and dined, and competed for a chance to win prizes — all for a cause! Thank you to everyone who continues to help our Scholars realize their best possible selves. View photos.

Educators Highlight Anti-Racist Teaching Techniques at Cutting-Edge Panel, Workshop

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, February 4, 2019

Contact: Wende Gozan Brown, [email protected]

Event Opens Professional Development Sessions for National Center for Teaching Residencies; East Harlem Teaching Residency Selected to Host

(New York, NY) — Educators, community leaders and the public will have the opportunity to engage with teachers trained in racial equity and learn to use anti-bias language at an upcoming panel and workshop. East Harlem Teaching Residency (EHTR) will host the event, “Building a Pipeline of Anti-Racist Teachers,” at East Harlem Scholars Academy on Tuesday, February 12 at 8:30 a.m.

“We are honored to have the opportunity to showcase our racial equity work, which provides the foundation for our successful educational model,” said Jeff Ginsburg, Executive Director of East Harlem Tutorial Program, the 60-year-old nonprofit that launched EHTR in 2015 in partnership with Hunter College’s School of Education and AmeriCorps. “All students need to feel valued and supported to become confident learners. At a time when inflammatory rhetoric has become a frightening norm and our country feels more divided than ever, it is essential to ensure educators are grounded in best practices to support students.”

The panel and workshop will serve as a kick-off for the National Center for Teaching Residencies’ (NCTR’s) Instructional Rounds, a time when NCTR and its partner programs collaborate to provide professional development and support to residencies. NCTR selected EHTR to host one set of 2019 Instructional Rounds that will focus on the assessment process, and help programs nationwide evaluate the quality, clarity, and consistency of the feedback that residents receive.

Established in 2015, EHTR seeks to connect the students of East Harlem with highly motivated educators who are invested in the neighborhood and prepared to meet the needs of the community. Rather than training teachers to have an awareness of racism, East Harlem Teaching Residency is designed to shape transformative educators who actively work to dismantle racism. These anti-racist practices prepare graduates to support the young people of East Harlem as they realize their best possible selves.

Recent data shows that East Harlem Teaching Residency graduates are prepared to make their mark: 100 percent of graduates from its most recent cohort are teaching, having graduated from Hunter School of Education with a GPA of 3.8 or higher. During their residencies, each spent a minimum of 22 hours a week serving our Scholars, and each was able to prove student academic growth. Importantly, 100 percent of hiring principals said they would hire EHTR graduates again, according to the American Institutes for Research.

“Students of color are 39 percent more likely to matriculate to college if they have just one teacher of color in elementary school — but nationally, only 16 percent of teachers are people of color,” said Susan Gonzowitz, founding managing director of EHTR. “We recruit a diverse pool of teaching residents and make sure they are all trained in anti-racist practices. In doing so, EHTR graduates help affect educational outcomes in East Harlem and beyond, and promote an equitable society in which students succeed in and outside of their classrooms.”

“Our Instructional Rounds bring together residency programs from around the country in collaboration to improve the residency model,” added Sudipti Kumar, associate program director for NCTR. “The East Harlem Teaching Residency has established itself as an exemplary program, and we are excited to collaborate with them to provide our partners with this unique opportunity for thoughtful observations and professional feedback that will help push the residency movement forward.”

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About East Harlem Teaching Residency: A component of East Harlem Tutorial Program, the East Harlem Teaching Residency — in partnership with Hunter College School of Education and AmeriCorps — is a selective 14-month cohort-based teacher-training and certification program that develops, supports, and certifies aspiring educators to become highly effective first through sixth grade teachers for East Harlem Scholars Academies and the greater East Harlem community.

About National Center for Teaching Residencies: The National Center for Teacher Residencies is a not-for-profit organization created to improve student achievement through the preparation of excellent new teachers for high-need school districts. Headquartered in Chicago, NCTR’s mission is to advance a network of high-performing teacher residency programs dedicated to preparing highly effective teachers that will transform educational practices nationwide.

Joan Solotar, Chair of EHTP’s Board of Trustees, Profiled in Bloomberg News

Joan Solotar Photographer: Blackstone

Joan Solotar, a senior managing director at the private equity firm Blackstone Group LP, has set her sights high when it comes to increasing the company’s wealth assets — in fact, she plans to quadruple them in 10 years. But a steely resolve to reach her goals is nothing new for Solotar, whom Bloomberg recently dubbed a “private-equity titan.”

In fact, it is something she has had since she was young. Solotar, who is head of private wealth solutions and external relations, is also chairwoman of the board of trustees of East Harlem Tutorial Program and East Harlem Scholars Academies. Our mission of supporting East Harlem youth as they attain college education is one that resonates deeply: Like many of our Scholars, she was the first in her family to go on to higher education, graduating from the State University of New York at Albany.

Bloomberg recalls that Solotar “made the rounds of job interviews at finance firms”; she has said she “remembers the sinking feeling of getting rejected again and again.”

But these days, no one is rejecting Solotar. In addition to her other high-powered roles, Solotar manages global shareholder relations and public affairs. Bloomberg noted, “business has boomed for Solotar’s team. The private real estate investment trust alone raised more than $300 million in one month last year.”

Added Jon Gray, the firm’s president: “Joan has been a champion” of maintaining Blackstone’s standards. “She’s brought tremendous creative energy to this key growth area for our firm.”

Be a Boss: Women Entrepreneurs Charting Their Own Path Panel and Networking Workshop

Our College Scholars experienced a full day of networking and career development advice as entrepreneurs explained what it means to be a boss and chart their own path.  This is one of the many ways in which we here at East Harlem Tutorial Program (EHTP) invest in our students as they prepare for their futures.

Scholars heard from industry leaders Amanda Eilian, Co-Founder of Videolicious & Partner at _able; Nicole Gibbons, Founder & CEO of Clare; and Flori Marquez, Co-Founder of BlockFi. Each gave her own unique perspective and personal anecdotes on what becoming an entrepreneur means — including the processes of becoming your own boss. They also addressed the importance of internships in gaining real world experience, taking risks, following one’s passion and being able to handle rejection.

“I’ve been rejected a lot, and each time I’ve been rejected, I remember it…and it drives me to work harder…10 years from now I’m going to be able to say in an interview, that company didn’t give me the opportunity that I deserved, and instead I did something 10 times better,” shared Marquez. “Being able to drop other people’s biases…knowing that you’re intelligent, knowing you deserve to be there, and allowing that to continue to drive you forward is very powerful,” she continued.

A Q&A with audience members followed the panel discussion, involving CEOs and entrepreneurs from various arenas including politics, community affairs, marketing, finance, and more. We also opened up the floor to our Scholars and gave them the opportunity to ask questions and have one-on-one conversations.

The panelists shed light on the difficulties of proving oneself as a woman, especially as a woman of color. They emphasized confidence, creating a stable foundation, and knowing the business inside and out when attempting to own a room and get people to believe in their work.

Students continued their day in a variety of different workshops where they tackled social justice issues and networking best practices. Sade Lythcott, CEO of The National Black Theatre, brought all of the topics together in her keynote where she addressed social justice, health and wellness, and the unique path that got her where she is today.