Past Events

2011-2012 Events

Leaders to Leaders Youth Summit

The YouthBridge-NY Leaders to Leaders Youth Summit was held at UJA-Federation of NY (130 East 59th Street, NY,NY) from 8:30am-1:00pm on Thursday, November 17, 2011. The Youth Summit connected over 130 high school leaders and their teachers/supervisors with New York City’s best community organizers and professionals.  The student groups represented the full diversity of New York City.  Participants learned about case studies of initiatives taken by entrepreneurial community leaders, took part in skill-building workshops, and began planning a pro-diversity project to implement in their own school or community. The half day conference also featured inspirational keynote speaker, David C. Banks, Founder and President of the Eagle Academy Foundation. Guest appearance and remarks were made by Lord Parry Mitchell from the Co-existence Trust.

Teensgiving

Fellows and Bridgers volunteered on November 13 with 92Y’s Annual Teensgiving, when over 600 teens and 100 adult volunteers participate in different community service projects throughout New York City. This year, we volunteered at Soundview Park in conjunction with Partnership for Parks. We were charged with the task of making the sidewalk at the entrance of the park more accessible by raking up and discarding fallen leaves in the area. We spent over three hours on the project and made a real impact in Soundview Park.


2011 Summer Orientation Retreat

Tuesday, August 23-Wednesday, August 24

URJ Kutz Camp, Warwick, NY

To start off the 2011-2012 program year, the YouthBridge-NY Fellowship Orientation Retreat took place on August 23 – 24 at URJ Kutz Camp in Warwick, New York. 3 staff members and 23 teens took part in numerous ice breakers and team building activities over the two-day retreat. The teens were also given some free time to go swimming, wall climb, play sports or just relax. Everyone had a great time meeting new people, learning about each other and learning more about YouthBridge-NY. Check out pictures from the retreat!



2010-2011 Events

 

Year-End Celebration - 2011

Monday, June 6, 2011

6:00pm-8:00pm

Roosevelt House at Hunter College, 47-49 East 65th Street, New York, NY

Several supporters, including board members, workshop speakers, family, and friends joined us to celebrate the awesome work of our Fellows over the past program year. Each committee shared their triumphs and skills learned as participants. Diversity Lens premiered their photography exhibit, Connections, photographs from various communities around NYC with a true focus on telling stories through the power of the lens. Shared Resources for a Shared Future awarded the recipients of their grant, providing five local organizations with funding to bring their ethnic youth leadership initiatives to fruition. Engaging Workplace Diversity discussed the professional skills they have learned thus far and announced their internship placements for the summer. We are going to miss our Fellows who are graduating, but we're confident that they will continue in the spirit of YouthBridge-NY in their future endeavors. We are looking forward to an exciting year in 2011-2012 with their continued support and the participation of our current students and incoming fellows!  Check out pictures from this year's celebration.

 

YouthBridge-NY Annual Fundraiser - 2011

Monday, March 7, 2011

6:00-8:00pm

The McGraw-Hill Companies, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, 50th Floor, New York, New York


This year's annual fundraiser was a huge success. Over 150 supporters came out to celebrate NYC teen achievements in diversity/social justice. The event began with an hour of mixing and mingling between Fellows, Bridgers, YB-NY Board Members and guests along with a student-led silent auction followed by an awards presentation for this year's distinguished honorees, highlighting their commitment to diversity work and to our next generation of diversity leaders. With the support of our honorees, guests, and other dedicated donors, YouthBridge-NY raised close to $60,000. Special thanks to The McGraw-Hill Companies for being such gracious hosts.  Click here to check out our event pictures!


Leadership Bridge Award:
Charlotte K. Frank, Ph.D., Senior Vice President - Research and Development, McGraw-Hill Education

 

Family Bridge Award:
Lynn D. Sherman, Chief Financial Officer, Charles B. Wang Community Center
Laura Halperin, YouthBridge-NY Alum, UNC-Asheville Student

 

Bridging Generations Award:
Philip Banks Jr., President, One Hundred Black Men
David C. Banks, President, The Eagle Academy Foundation
Philip Banks III, Chief of Community Affairs, New York City Police Department
Terence Banks, Train System Supervisor, MTA New York City Transit

 

Read each honoree's bio here!

 

Mid-Year Retreat 2011

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

1:30-4:00pm

Stephen Wise Free Synagogue - 30 West 68th Street, New York, New York

Every year a group of Bridgers, those in the second year of the program, plan a mid-year retreat for all of the fellowship participants. This is an opportunity for the Fellows and Bridgers to do a fun activity together and to engage with wider societal concerns, in a recreational setting. This past March, the group volunteered at the Steven Wise Free Synagogue's Homeless Shelter. The YBNY participants had the opportunity to learn more about homelessness in New York City and to cook dinner for the men that utilize the synagogue's shelter.  Click here to view photos!

 

YB-NY Fellows Participate in Teensgiving 2010

Sunday, November 14, 2010

9:00am-3:00pm

92Y - 1395 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York

Four YB-NY Fellows, Daviana Dueno, Victoria Elias, Chelsea Lopez, and Amber Rodriguez, represented YouthBridge-NY at this year's Teensgiving.  Teensgiving is an annual community service event sponsored by the 92nd Street Y that brings hundreds of NYC teens together to participate in volunteer work all around the city.  Our Fellows had the opportunity to write letters to service men and women serving our country in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The team wrote over 30 letters to our soldiers, and learned about the difficulties they face each day as well as the loved ones and simple life pleasures they miss during their deployments.  The Fellows walked away from the experience feeling honored, humbled, and looking forward to YB-NY's participation in Teensgiving next year.  Please click here to view photographs.

 

YouthBridge-NY 2010 Leaders to Leaders Youth Summit

Friday, November 12, 2010

8:30am-1:00pm

UJA Federation - 130 East 59th Street, New York, New York

The YouthBridge-NY Leaders to Leaders Youth Summit brought 17 schools and organizations together, each represented by a team of 3-5 student leaders, for a half-day conference at UJA Federation of New York on November 12, 2010.  The conference provided participants with an opportunitity to meet New York City leaders who identified problems in their communities and created initiatives/organizations to address them and a skill-building session packed with key skills and strategies for creating social change.  This culminated with an action planning session in which students began drafting action plans by school/organization to bring about change in their school or community this year.  YouthBridge-NY will follow-up with each team as the year progresses to make sure they have the tools and resources they need to bring about the changes they desire. Please click here to view photographs.

 

YouthBridge-NY 2010 Summer Retreat

August 24 - 25, 2010

Camp Kutz - Warwick, NY

This year's retreat took place in Warwick, NY at Camp Kutz. Fellows and Bridgers had a chance to meet and connect through a series of activities including icebreakers and team-building exercises along with discussions surrounding prejudice, privilege, societal identities, and personal identities. The Fellows and the Bridgers truly had a blast, and it was an amazing way to kick off what is sure to be a wonderful YouthBridge-NY year!  Please click here to view photographs.

 

Engaging Workplace Diversity Committee - Closing Luncheon

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

On August 18, 2010, another great summer of the Engaging Workplace Diversity Internship Program concluded. The program places exceptional teen leaders in diverse workplace environments to equip these future business and civic leaders with the knowledge and experience they need to engage and promote diversity at school, in college, at work and throughout their lives. For six weeks this summer, eight YouthBridge-NY Fellows interned in a variety of placements, including:   

- Kramer Levin Naftalis and Frankel LLP
- Healthplus
- Proskauer LLP
- Sunnyside Community Services
- Sovereign Bank
- Fox News
- Global Nomads Group
- RL Public Relations
- Ivy Cohen Corporate Communications

In addition to their internships, the Fellows learned key professional skills including resume writing, interview etiquette and how to manage generational differences in the workplace. At the heart of the program was understanding the importance of diversity in various sectors and how incorporating diversity is a key to success. This included site visits to the headquarters of L’Oreal USA and News Corp as well the Fellows’ creation of culturally-competent business plans.

 

Thank you to all those who made this summer such a successful one – host companies, supervisors, facilitators and speakers. Special thanks are due to the Allianz Foundation for North America for their generous support of the program.  Please click here to view photographs.

 


 

Past Events

Click here for information on our past events.