Homecoming 2011 Benefit

Homecoming 2011 Snapshots (clockwise from top left): April McKoy, Principal, The UA Gateway School for Technology, with Ashanti Pratt, The UA School for Law, Government & Justice '08, Rutgers University '12; UA Board Chair Richard Tomasetti, NYC Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, Board Members Joan Steinberg and Rev. Jacques DeGraff; Pedro Noguera, Ph.D, NYU & Homecoming 2011 Keynote Speaker; Members of the UA Young Professionals Committee, with UA Staff and teachers; Richard Kahan, CEO & Founder; and UA Student Presenters.

Dear Friends,

Thank you for being such a good friend to The Urban Assembly.

Our Homecoming benefit this year was an inspiring evening and a reminder of how many incredible, talented and dedicated individuals are working to make a difference in the lives of our students. 

Thank you to those of you who were able to join us and to those of you who supported the event but couldn't attend.  We are extremely grateful. 

Please stay tuned for more photos and video of the evening on our website and Facebook page. 

With best wishes.

Sincerely,

Richard Kahan

CEO & Founder

The Urban Assembly

A NEW SCHOOL YEAR, A NEW SCHOOL, A NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE

Dear Friends of the Urban Assembly,

This week marks the start of a new school year, and with it a year of new opportunities and high academic expectations for the 10,000 students in the Urban Assembly family of schools.  It’s been a busy summer of new and continuing programs, and we wanted to share a few stories with you. 

New York Times Article: The Urban Assembly School for Applied Math & Science

First, I encourage you to read the New York Times article about the wonderful summer outreach work by Principal Ken Baum and his teachers at the Urban Assembly School for Applied Math & Science who visited the homes of each incoming student.  Their dedication is an inspiration and reminder of the exceptional efforts put forth by great teachers and school leaders every day. 

New Career/Technical Education School Opening

We welcome a new school to the UA family opening this week: The Urban Assembly Gateway School.  A Career/Technical Education school led by principal April McKoy, Gateway will engage our students through inventive problem-solving that integrates exciting technological innovations and rigorous academics.  Supported by our founding partners WNET Channel 13, Hospital for Special Surgery, Goldman Sachs, NYU Poly-Tech Brooklyn Media Center and Iridescent Learning, we’re excited for Gateway’s inaugural class of 2015 to take advantage of opportunities that will lead them to career success in fields that include digital animation, web design, computer information technology and health information technology.  This is the third CTE school in the Urban Assembly network. 



Bridge to College, Addressing the “Summer Melt”

30% of high school graduates don’t go on to college, and research suggests that this rate is higher among low-income populations.  For the third year in a row, The Urban Assembly has addressed this national issue at the local level.  UA alumni worked tirelessly this summer providing support services to recent UA grads through the Bridge to College program.  The program was designed to target the “summer melt” students face between high school graduation and their first semester of college.  Under the guidance of our Director of College Readiness, three UA College Advisors, and one seasoned BTC alumnus, 12 UA alumni Coaches currently in college supported 2011 graduates from 12 Urban Assembly high schools to ensure students were able to matriculate in the fall.  The replication of the Bridge to College model began this summer through a NYC expansion in collaboration with schools connected to CUNY's At Home in College program and Homebase's program, reaching thousands of low-income, college-bound graduates throughout the city.



The Urban Assembly Bridge to College Summer ’11 team: Back Row, from left to right: Janet Mendez (SUNY Albany), Treston Rudder (SUNY Albany), Yoscar Ogando (Stony Brook University), Raymond Duran (SUNY Buffalo), Yenisse Hernandez (Utica College), Ashanti Pratt (St. John’s University), Shana Taylor (Rutgers University), Yabielis Guerrero (Skidmore College), La Jaun Barry (St. Lawrence University); Front Row, from left to right: Bianca Vidal (BMCC), Najah Magloire (Colby College), Danzel Blash (St. Lawrence University), Ernessa Derose [not pictured] (Baruch College)



Program Launch with VOLS: “A Dream Not Deferred”

After years of struggling to find ways to address challenges in supporting undocumented students as they pursue their college dreams, our Student Opportunities and College Readiness teams are delighted to announce a new partnership with Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS) that allows us to offer our first comprehensive programmatic response to this issue.  VOLS will coordinate a pool of volunteer lawyers to work with students in our schools whose immigration status threatens to derail their plans.  Called A Dream Not Deferred, the program is designed to: 1) Identify high school students who need legal assistance to obtain or retain lawful immigration status to pursue a college degree or employment opportunities; and 2) to provide “know your rights” information to students currently unable to regularize their immigration status.  VOLS is just one new groundbreaking initiative among many essential student opportunities programs running this year. 

Instructional Leadership & A New Literacy Initiative

The UA Instructional Team spent the summer facilitating working groups with our network’s principals, teachers and school leaders, placing our teachers at the forefront of professional development and assessments to further cultivate exceptional instruction for our students.  In addition to network-wide supports, a new team will be launching a literacy initiative with three middle schools this year called “Genre Practice.”  Genre Practice is a student-centered program that has been proven to increase reading comprehension and writing at the elementary and middle school levels.  We are thrilled to launch this innovative instructional approach for our middle schools and consider implications not only within our network but among struggling middle schools across the city. 

I look forward to sharing more news and stories of success this school year from the Urban Assembly.  Thank you for your support.  Here’s to a great year for our students. 

Best,

Richard Kahan

CEO & Founder



For The Urban Assembly, 2011 marks a very special anniversary. Ten years ago, in June 2001, the very first Urban Assembly class graduated from the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice. Since then, nearly 3,000 young men and women have graduated from our high schools and 70% have gone to college. While we are proud of this number, we are working tirelessly every single day to ensure that it becomes 100%.

In the 10 years since that first graduating class, we have opened 20 more small, theme-driven schools, all with the same mission: to make certain that all of our students are prepared for success in college and beyond. We continue to grow, innovate and prove that with the right support all students can fulfill their potential.

Our schools provide each of our students with the tools they need to succeed: rigorous instruction, intensive college planning and meaningful enrichment activities. To ensure our students have the skills to compete in a 21st-century economy, we also opened two Career and Technical Education (CTE) high schools.  We will open our third in the fall.

This has been a long journey full of challenges and triumphs. The graduation ceremonies across our network of schools are the culmination of years of hard work by our inspiring students and their families and the dedicated professional educators who worked long hours, were not afraid to try new approaches and always believed all students can be successful.

High school graduation is not the end of the road: it is just the beginning. The young scholars collecting their diplomas this June will continue a lifetime of learning and continue to pursue their dreams. On behalf of the entire Urban Assembly family, I salute the Class of 2011 and we will continue to support them in their future endeavors.

Richard Kahan

Founder and CEO