Thank you to everyone who joined us at Educational Alliance’s annual gala on Wednesday night.
It was so wonderful to celebrate our honoree Roberta Karp, and to present our Community Builder Award to @nyusilver , accepted by EA trustee Michael Lindsey.
We were also thrilled to be treated to a powerful, one-of-a-kind performance by Tony Award winner @arielstachel 🎤
This was a truly memorable evening, and we’re pleased to share that we exceeded our fundraising goal!
Our generous supporters enable us to make a profound impact in the lives of countless New Yorkers, providing transformative, vital resources for people of all ages and backgrounds.
#YouBelongHere
📸: @benasenpix
At Educational Alliance, our goal is urgent and clear — to ensure that every person in our community can truly thrive, not merely get by. Few investments are more decisive than early childhood education, where the trajectory of a life is shaped long before kindergarten.
The preschool at Manny Cantor Center goes beyond academic readiness to support children’s emotional development and overall well-being, while recognizing that children cannot thrive unless their families are supported as well.
Social workers like Stephanie Smith-Waterman are central to this work, providing hands-on support to children navigating behavioral and developmental challenges and connects families to critical resources through the Askwith Kenner Family Resource Center.
This is how we ensure every child has a real opportunity to grow, succeed, and flourish.
#community #earlychildhoodeducation #preschool
This week, we had a special visit from Council Member Harvey Epstein, who brought Speaker Julie Menin to the 14th Street Y. They had a chance to see our community in action and even played pickleball with some of our 14Y members!
We appreciate Council Member Epstein’s longstanding support and recognition of the work that we do, especially the value of bringing people together and building community. Thank you @harveyforny and @speakermenin for joining us at 14Y. #YouBelongHere
On the eighth and final day of Passover, we’re looking look back over the seders and celebrations we’ve enjoyed at Educational Alliance throughout the holiday.
Passover is one of the most memorable and meaningful holidays observed at EA, from activities like matzah-making and D.I.Y seder plate craft projects to our one-of-a-kind trilingual community seder in English, Hebrew, and Chinese.
Unfortunately, many members of our community know all too well what it is like to feel oppressed or impoverished - a reminder that Passover is not just an abstract, metaphorical celebration of freedom and redemption. Next year, may we all be free.
Today’s seder at Educational Alliance’s Manny Cantor Center was definitely a unique NYC experience.
A wide cross section of our community was in attendance to retell the story of liberation from Egypt, with the Haggadah being read in English, Hebrew, and Chinese.
Thanks so much to the outstanding MCC Weinberg team that put the Seder together for over 200 people, as well as the volunteers who served the food.
#passover #seder #community
We hear every day about the challenges facing teens: the pull of social media, the weight of financial stress at home, the uncertainty of their future, and, of course, the ever-present risk of substance use.
But what we don’t hear enough about is hope. We don’t hear enough about what is actually working.
At Educational Alliance’s Project ENTER, that hope is real, and it changes lives.
Project ENTER exists to support teens who are either at-risk or struggling with addiction issues, but it does so by looking more deeply at the larger ecosystem - including families. Because no young person struggles for just one reason, and no real solution addresses just one piece of the problem.
Instead, Project ENTER meets teens where they are and supports them as whole people.
This is how real change begins.
#hope #recovery #community
Educational Alliance is a proud partner of @wearephsny ’s Social Care Network.
We can help Medicaid members who live in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan connect with benefits such as food, transportation, and housing support.
Many Medicaid members don’t know they may be eligible for additional benefits—Self-screen today by clicking the link in our bio! ✅
#WholeYouNYC #PHS #CommunityHealth #FoodAssistance #TransportationSupport #HousingSupport #SocialServices #Benefits
Nostalgia is easy. Hope is harder.
Watching @martysupreme made me think about why we celebrate yesterday’s strivers but struggle to invest in the unfinished stories around us now.
New York City’s Lower East Side is one of the most storied and mythologized neighborhoods in American history, the place where many came to gain a foothold in this country but endured grueling deprivation and poverty.
There are endless efforts - novels, history, movies - to restore the humanity of those who suffered and persevered here. What was it like to make a dramatic escape to the United States? What were their inner lives like in moments of desperation? How did they rise above mere survival?
Yet there is far less effort to recognize the humanity of those who are living in that same neighborhood today, often just scraping by or living in poverty.
I lead a settlement house organization on the Lower East Side and, walking through the neighborhood, I often wonder why we romanticize the past but overlook the people among us now.
🔗 Click the link in bio to read my full article on @substack
➡️ Swipe to see where the real life Marty Supreme learned to play ping pong in the @edalliance game room! 🏓
At its core, a settlement house like Educational Alliance is about more than the individual services. It is about wraparound support - all the services together - delivered right in the neighborhood, and about building community as a powerful source of resilience and hope.
Our community schools program brings that philosophy to life in a profound way. It honors our history while reimagining it for today, and the impact has been extraordinary.
In each school, we have created a hub of support - on-site services for students and their families. We also connect them to programs at the Askwith Kenner Family Resource Center in @mannycantornyc , our original settlement house and the place where this mission first took root.
Because of this integrated approach of the settlement house model, we can respond to the full range of needs families face - providing clothing, food assistance, parenting workshops, English classes, social work support, dental care, and so much more.
But we also are building relationships. We are weaving connections - between families, between neighbors, between families and our staff – to strengthen a community in which people support one another.
In this video, you will hear the clear echo of the settlement house movement. Community Schools Program Director Channelta Green brings services directly to those who need them most, while nurturing a community grounded in care and compassion – just as we have done for over 135 years.
#communityschools #settlementhouse #community
Addiction thrives in isolation. Recovery thrives in community.
However, for many people in recovery, connection can feel both essential and dangerous. Everyday social spaces—restaurants, movie theaters, parties—are often shaped around alcohol or other substances, turning simple moments of togetherness into sources of stress or temptation. Too often, people in recovery are left feeling that they must choose between being alone or putting their sobriety at risk.
An intentional recovery community changes that equation. At Educational Alliance’s Center for Recovery and Wellness (CRW) Clubhouse, connection becomes a source of strength rather than fear.
In the video below, EA President and CEO Rich Baum speaks with Angela Frazier, Peer Services Coordinator at CRW and organizer of the Recovery Clubhouse. Take a few minutes to learn why community is not just helpful in recovery – it’s essential.
#recovery #community
Thank you to everyone who made our Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service at the 14th Street Y possible yesterday. The 14Y team did an amazing job putting the event together, and we’re particularly thankful to the hundreds of kids and parents who showed up to learn and to pack sanitary kits for residents at the @bowerymission !
And a special thank you to Councilmembers @harveyforny and @virginiamaloneynyc , who personally participated in honoring the day and thanking the volunteers.
This day of service was supported by @ujafedny ; their generosity gave Jewish organizations across the city the opportunity to practice the value of tikkun olam and show solidarity with their communities.
In his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Dr. King said, “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits.”
We share in that vision at Educational Alliance, and many of the values Dr. King embodied are deeply aligned with the work we do every day.
We are living in a complicated era, one in which Dr. King’s ideals are sometimes questioned or even rejected. While much of this is beyond our control, Martin Luther King Jr. Day offers an opportunity for each of us to reflect on the role we can play in continuing his legacy.
#community #martinlutherkingjr #dayofservice
Congratulations to @unhny on this significant achievement - universal childcare and #2Care across New York state!
Educational Alliance is a proud UNH member and applauds their advocacy efforts.
