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The Child Care Partnership Project New York City Beacons Initiative |
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Description Just as a lighthouse guides a ship at sea to the safety of the shore, the Beacons Initiative in New York City guides school-age children to success. Beacons are school-based community centers offering after-school programs, as well as extended programming for children, youth, and families in the evenings, on weekends and during the summer. Although the program is geared toward school-age children, it also serves as a community resource, providing support and services to parents, senior citizens, and other community members. The New York City Department of Youth and Community Development started the Beacons program in 1991. Currently, there are 41 Beacons operating in 32 school districts throughout the city. The program is so successful that the cities of Oakland, Savannah, Denver, Minneapolis, and San Francisco are replicating it. Partners The New York City Department of Youth and Community Development funds and manages the Beacons program. The Administration for Children's Services and the Department of Employment administer some of their community-based services through the individual Beacons. Some Beacons also have collocated health services funded by the Department of Health. The Fund for the City of New York, an independent private operating foundation and public charity, is the primary private partner. The Fund documents the initiative, provides technical assistance, and helps to find additional grants and support for individual Beacons. A community-based organization such as the YMCA or the Police Athletic League manages each Beacon under contract with the City Department of Youth and Community Development. The community group holding the contract also must develop a partnership with other community groups. These include:
History and Development A New York City Mayoral Commission recommended creation of the Beacons to address the lack of constructive activities available to youth after school. The New York City Department of Youth and Community Development believed that involving children and teens in positive youth development programs in safe havens in their neighborhoods would help reduce drug use and solve other problems in disadvantaged communities. The first ten Beacons, chosen through a competitive process, were funded in 1991. Each year, the number expanded, and by 1997 there were 41 Beacons. In 1998, the City appropriated additional funds to start 40 more Beacons. A selection process is currently under way for these sites. Current Activities The Beacons strive to create an environment within each school that promotes youth development and resiliency. This is accomplished by:
The program must be open year-round and operate a minimum of 42 hours six days a week. Most programs operate between 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. daily. The Beacons program varies from site to site, but the essential program areas remain the same. The main areas of focus are:
Each Beacon has an advisory council that includes the school principal and other community members. The advisory council gives input to the lead agency running the Beacon. The Department of Youth and Community Development provides technical assistance through an on-site contract manager and helps with start-up training, while the Fund for the City of New York provides continuing technical assistance. The assistance emphasizes staff training and development, materials development, and individual consultations. Resources The New York City Department of Youth and Community Development provides the majority of funding for the Beacons. All forty-one Beacons receive $400,000 annually, plus $50,000 per year to keep schools open until 10 p.m. This generally covers building use six days a week. If the program stays open longer, it must find additional resources to pay for school use. The Fund for the City of New York also devotes resources to the project and collaborates with other private foundations to increase support to Beacons. Foundations providing support to ten or more Beacons include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Charles Hayden Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and J. P. Morgan. The most successful Beacons also find money and support through members of their advisory board and other champions in the community. Strategies include establishing fundraising committees made up of local merchants, and applying for foundation grants. Results Based on anecdotal evidence, the program is having a positive impact. Communities have noticed less graffiti, a growing number of youth attend the program, and parents' participation is increasing. Schools have also seen higher attendance and a reduction in the number of suspensions and fighting that takes place. Perhaps the most striking indicator of the success of the program is the willingness of the Mayor and City Council to fund an additional 40 Beacons sites. An evaluation is currently being conducted by the Academy for Educational Development with funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Open Society Institute, Ford Foundation, and Fund for the City of New York. The evaluation is a three-year project and has three stages. The first stage is documentation and will be available in December 1998. The second stage is a more in-depth impact analysis with staff and participant interviews, and the third will concentrate on four or five Beacons and examine some of the concrete results of their programs. Sustaining and Replicating As the demand for Beacons services grows, the program must find additional resources. The program is funded through a city legislative mandate that provides 24 months of funding and an option to extend the program for two or three years. At the end of this period, the program must submit a new application. Currently, the programs are funded through March 1999. The mayor of New York City has made a long-term commitment to the program, including an additional 40 sites. The Beacons program is so popular that the Dewitt Wallace-Readers Digest Fund has allocated $1 million for replicating it in Oakland, Savannah, Denver, and Minneapolis. San Francisco is replicating Beacons on its own, with significant funding from the Mayor’s Office for Children, Youth and Families and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. Chicago also has modeled its YouthNet program on the Beacons' community-based approach. The Fund for the City of New York is an active partner in the replication effort. When Beacons are established in other cities, the Fund collaborates with a local non-profit agency to work with the sites in the same manner that the Fund works with New York City Beacons. In the replication effort in other cities, the Fund acts as a national intermediary providing technical assistance to the local non-profit agencies. Lessons Learned Develop relationships. Creating and maintaining a working relationship between the community-based organization, the Board of Education, and local schools has been a challenge for the Beacons program. Developing good working relationships between the principals of the schools and Beacons directors is vital because cooperation is essential for the partnership to work. Involve the community. The community must have a say in how the local Beacons operate. Taking time to get to know the community is time well spent. It is equally important to enlist parents as partners in working with the school to keep the lines of communication open between the program, the parents, and the school. Involve children and youth. As consumers of the services, young people must have a formal say in running the initiative. They are also much more likely to participate if they have a role in its development. Develop funding resources. It is essential to continually work to improve the model by finding additional funding. More money allows sites to try new things and expand programs. When local sites are able to grow, the program improves. Contact Information Jennie Soler-McIntoshDepartment of Youth and Community Development 156 Williams Street New York, New York 10038 Phone: (212) 676-0453 Fax: (212) 442-4773
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