October Roundup

No tricks, just treats — our October updates are here 🎃

Your "10" Can Power the Next 10 Years

This November, New York Appleseed is proud to celebrate 10 years of advancing school integration and equity across New York. Together, with communities and partners like you, we’ve built a movement to challenge segregation and reimagine what real integration looks like.

As we step into our next decade, we’ve set a bold goal: to raise $100,000 by December 31st. To get there, we’re asking our community to join us in giving in increments of 10 or more — at the level that’s meaningful to you:

🍎 $10 or more – Be one of 150 donors fueling grassroots change.

🍎 $100 or more – Join 200 donors sustaining advocacy and community organizing.

🍎 $1,000 or more – Help us reach 25 gifts that power research, campaigns, and coalitions.

🍎 $10,000 or more – Stand with 5 lead supporters anchoring the next decade of systemic change.

Your support enables us to uphold and fight for the legacy and promise of Brown v. Board, more than 70 years after its landmark decision. Let’s continue the fight against segregation, stand with communities, and advance the integrated schools that all students deserve.

We invite you to celebrate our first 10 years — and power the next 10 — with a gift today.

Thank you for being part of this movement for the last 10 years and for the many to come.

Donate Now

Youth Programming

NY Appleseed and Abolition and Education Justice Collective (AEJC) are collaborating this fall to develop youth programming that centers the experiences of high school students in New York City schools. To help guide the design of this programming, we invite you to ask any high school students you know to complete a short survey, which should take no more than 15 minutes:

👉 https://bit.ly/4nIErTm

Their responses will be used to inform our planning- and because their input and participation are extremely valuable to us, we will be hosting a $100 gift card raffle at the end of the event, so we hope they are able to attend as well 😀 The event will be held on Saturday, November 22nd from 11-1PM. Location TBD.

If they are interested, please have them complete the survey no later than Wednesday, October 29th. We also encourage them to share the survey with their high school peers—the more voices we hear, the stronger the program will be!

The Road to Better Busing Coalition

The Road to Better Busing Coalition Responds to Bus Companies' Threat to Disrupt Service for New York City Students

Recently, a group of bus companies announced via the New York Post their intention to fire 12,000 unionized workers and leave tens of thousands of students, many of whom have disabilities, stranded if they do not receive a five-year extension on outdated, inefficient contracts that have not been updated since 1979. The Road to Better Busing Coalition, alongside parent and community advocates, is appalled by the actions taken by these bus companies who hold legacy contracts with New York City. This is a manufactured crisis by companies that would rather preserve a broken status quo than help create a modern, equitable transportation system. Check out our full statement here.

The Road to Better Busing Rally

The Road to Better Busing rally was a success! Thank you to all those who showed up to speak and advocate for a better school transportation for all NYC students- the momentum for this equity issue is building up and we can’t stop now!

Are you ready for the next action? Please join us at the Pupil Transportation Advisory Commission (PTAC) virtual hearing on Tuesday, October 28th at 6:00pm and the PEP meeting on Wednesday, October 29th at 6:00pm at Food and Finance High School (525 West 50th Street, New York, New York 10019) to share your family’s experience with school bus service, what changes you would like to see to school transportation, and why extending the current bus contracts for longer than one year is unacceptable. Instructions on how to register/sign up to speak for both meetings can be found inside this toolkit.

PTAlink Corner

New to grant proposal writing or want a quick refresher? Want tips on how to search for grants? Guest speakers at this PTAlink webinar will include: Tracy Kaufman from Candid, who will provide a step-by-step guide to creating a grant proposal to a foundation, along with Donavan Swanson from the office of Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Hannah Henderson-Charnow from the office of City Council Member Shahana Hanif who will shed light on funding sources, like discretionary funding, Reso A, and Participatory Budgeting.

Date: Tuesday, December 2nd

Time: 7pm

Request interpretation here

Media Mentions

'A Hornet's Nest:' Mamdani's Gifted Education Plan Divides New Yorkers

Zohran Mamdani wants to phase out the city’s gifted program for kindergarten students if elected, a proposal that drew intense criticism and praise...

Nyah Berg, the executive director of New York Appleseed, said that factors beyond a child’s intelligence appear to weigh in admission into kindergarten gifted programs. She added that many families view the program as a means of “mobility to be able to have the best quality education possible for your child.” “Really, people are looking for accelerated learning opportunities that are widely accessible — and that’s just not the case with the way we have gifted and talented,” Ms. Berg said. Check out the full NYT article here.

Lawmakers push for gifted programs to be more widespread in NYC schools

State lawmakers are calling on their colleagues to pass legislation that would require the city to increase the number of seats for the program in every school district across the five boroughs. Nyah Berg, the executive director of New York Appleseed, said the programs perpetuate already high levels of segregation in city schools. “Gifted programs are more a measure, especially at a young age, of social capital or social mobility your family might have,” Berg said. Check out the full Gothamist article here.

Integrated Classrooms, Inclusive Enrichment

In light of recent events regarding segregated Gifted & Talented programs (G&T), we want to share again our infographic on why NY Appleseed supports the phasing out of G&T programs in favor of school-wide enrichment models. Research has shown that isolating some students into gifted classrooms does not significantly boost their academic achievement while harming that of the students left behind. Our current system of separate G&T classrooms guarded by a competitive process is a barrier to addressing key issues. A model of scarcity and competition that relies on students needing to traverse great distances cannot serve all students.

Check out the full infographic here.