Greetings!
With over 13,000 families with children experiencing homelessness in New York City—a number which continues to rise—it is now more important than ever for HFH to provide safe shelter and support. With the opening of our fifth family residence, Clinton Family Residence, we now serve 610 families, which includes 750 children. The HFH team worked tirelessly in getting Clinton ready including necessary construction and renovations for client units, staff offices, and common spaces and making the holiday season special for all. The site welcomed the first families with a packet (in English and Spanish) to help get them acquainted with their new neighborhood in Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan.
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Read on for updates on fall programming, holiday festivities, our policy & reserach, and employee spotlights.
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Halloween Hullabaloo and Giving Thanks at HFH |
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HFH Staff and kids alike embodied the Halloween Spirit with some spook-tacular costumes and activities. Early Ed and staff at Prospect dressed to impress for some selfies while Saratoga had a residence-wide costume contest and Allie’s Place Early Ed kiddos tried their hand at pumpkin carving. Read more: "HFH Halloween Hullabaloo."
Allie's Place gave thanks this year with a focus on food, family, and friends. Allie's Place Center for Culinary Education & Employment, HFH's job-training center, curated a homemade feast and distributed 80 Thanksgiving meals to the families at Allie’s Place. Celebrating traditions, like the importance of friends, was the focus at Early Ed where they threw a Friendsgiving feast. Afterschool & Recreation kids gathered for a family-style Thanksgiving feast that included arroz con gandules—a traditional Puerto Rican holiday dish—and discussed the fact that not everyone celebrates the same holidays and how they are celebrated varies from family to family. Read more: "The Traditions of Thanksgiving Take on New Meaning at Allie’s Place."
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Though the Weather Outside is Frightful ... Afterschool Kids Keep Their Bodies and Minds in Tip-Top Shape |
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The Prospect Afterschool & Rec kids have been jiving and journaling with DMF Youth. They recently put together a showcase to share what they have learned during the program, discussing growth mindset and kindness and performing choreographed dances.
Saratoga debuted Family Game Night, an opportunity for staff to provide a space for families to enjoy each other’s company without the added weight of having to plan an activity. Games and activities included Battleship, Bingo, and Musical Chairs. This also served as a great recruitment tool for parents whose kids are not already enrolled in Afterschool & Rec to learn about the programming and get to know the staff.
Staff at Allie's Place recently organized a tournament for the Afterschool and Rec kids' new favorite pastime: Connect 4. The winner received a championship belt—in addition to earning the respect of their peers.
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Exploring Language, Science, and Magic in Early Ed |
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Interactive learning is at the forefront in Saratoga Early Ed with a special delivery of duck eggs from Quiver Farm. The kids were then able to watch the ducklings come into the world. Mad Science paid a visit to Allie's Place Early Ed. As part of a unit on the properties of fire and ice, they observed several experiments including a fully immersive experience with the creation of fog.
Williamsbridge Daycare kids, and their parents, gathered for a spectacle of magic with a guest magician. Prospect Early Ed is brushing up on their Spanish through music and dance with Bilingual Birdies. They learned to count to 10 with bilingual birdie Myla, how to pronounce different fruits, and danced under Azul, the blue parachute.
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Happy, Happy Holidays Thanks to the HFH Community |
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Rap4Bronx and their volunteers hosted a special holiday celebration for the Allie’s Place community. Families stopped by for cocoa, holiday arts & crafts, and gifts—donated by RAP4Bronx—and the Afterschool kids learned how to make gingerbread houses. Officer Luis Mendez and Commanding Officer Keiyon Ramsey of the 43rd Precinct also made a stop at Allie’s Place to distribute presents to the families. The Amherst Group brought the holiday spirit to Clinton with welcome gift baskets for the families with an assortment of items including toys, snacks, coloring books, and cold-weather apparel.
KidCare hosted a group of kids from Saratoga Afterschool & Rec for their annual holiday party where they were treated to a McDonald's dinner and spent the evening making slime, enjoying holiday story time and crafts, opening gifts, and dancing. The JFK Airport Rotary Club stopped in at Saratoga ECEC for story time and to gift backpacks and winter accessories to the kids and tote bags and sweaters to the parents. Representatives from NYC DOE’s Students in Temporary Housing (STH) office made a special stop at Williamsbridge to hand-deliver gifts for the residents who attend school in District 11.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who hosted holiday toy and clothing drives from the Dwight School to the Students Fighting Homelessness Club at Grace Church School who got the entire school community involved. Thanks go out to the staff at Trade Coffee, who collected and wrapped more than 300 gifts, and organized them by age range; to Good Plus Foundation who made it possible for us to give toys, clothing, cleaning supplies, and baby items, the Old Navy teams from Queens and the Bronx who adopted families during the holiday season, the Bronx’s Toli Management, a local McDonald’s owner, who gave boxes of games, and to all of the individual donors and networks that contributed to our Amazon and Target wish lists. We were able to provide an average of four gifts to children from these donations during the holiday season.
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Employee Spotlight on Tierra Gunther
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“Tierra’s someone who really cares about the work she does. She’s invested in the mission of HFH and making sure that kids are enjoying programming. She wears her heart on her sleeve when it comes to work, because she cares a lot.”
— Annamaria Santoro, Senior Director of Operations
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Snapshot: Where and How Families at HFH Exit Shelter
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In NYC, families with children stay in shelter an average of 534 days before exiting—a length of time that has increased over the last five fiscal years. To better understand the dynamics and challenges of moving out of shelter, we examined the subsidized exits of families in HFH shelters from November 1, 2021, through October 31, 2022. This snapshot provides a glimpse at where and how families are able to secure permanent housing. |
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On the Horizon: HFH Summer Camps 2023 |
The HFH Summer Camps team is gearing up for another summer at Camp Wakonda. Visit our HFH Summer Camps website to learn how you can get involved. HFH Summer Camps Administrator Tyrone Squire was recently featured on Campfire Conversation, a podcast about summer camp for and by people who love camp life. Listen now.
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We are looking for talented, passionate members to join the HFH team. |
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