JCY-Westchester Community Partners

We're Hiring - Grants Manager We are seeking a Grants Manager to develop and maintain funding contracts for all Family Service Society of Yonkers programs. The Grants Manager will work closely with the Executive Director and Senior Managers to identify grant opportunities to expand current programs and initiate new programs. Download full job description at: https://drive.google.com//19v9hoFt-cUQO63s-3AOkXXDW-/view Submit resume and cover letter to: [email protected]

Si se perdió nuestra reciente sesión de Zoom sobre las vacunas COVID-19, haga clic en el enlace a continuación para ver la grabación de la sesión. Este importante programa aborda cómo funcionan las vacunas, las vacunas disponibles ahora y lo que sucede después de haber sido vacunado. Gracias Carole Deyoe, Asociada de Políticas Públicas de la Asociación de Proveedores de Servicios de Salud del Estado de Nueva York por esta presentación informativa. Traducciones automáticas disponibles en la configuración. https://youtu.be/ku1LGMTlLUk Hay videos adicionales en español disponibles en el canal de YouTube de la Asociación de Proveedores de Salud del Estado de Nueva York: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPwjKKuhYGxB_umXkHKsP4Q

Last night we had the pleasure of thanking our mentors for their service! We had a great time recognizing them and then playing a fun Pictionary-themed game.

To our eTutors: we hope you join us for the second in a three part series on cultural competence in the mentoring context.

To our Mentors: Happy New Year! Please join us for this month's Mentor Club Register at: http://ow.ly/FaSL50CZrQu

In memory of our wonderful mentor Don Deixel. You inspired us with your enthusiasm, authenticity and constant readiness to help for almost twenty years. You will be missed.

The Family Service Society of Yonkers has a new Executive Director! Helen Frankel has been with FSSY (JCY-WCP's parent organization) for over 20 years. During that time she has been the director of many of FSSY's key departments and has been instrumental in FSSY's growth and success. Please join us in welcoming her! Click here for the press release: https://drive.google.com//1bMsKVyFJ1ckxjOqN_b-cKdYw5/view

Our eTutor Mentor Club last night was a great exchange of thoughts and ideas. Our amazing mentors have come up with many creative ideas to overcome the challenges of working on virtual platforms and are making a difference in the lives of their students.

To our eTutors: We are pleased to offer a series of three workshops designed to increase cultural awareness in the mentoring context. To register: https://us02web.zoom.us//tZcsdeGhrTgqGdUikMhfWsotn69oFPOob

JOIN JCY-WCP Senior Director, a member of the Westchester Women's Advisory Board, for an informative discussion on Issues Facing Immigrant Women.

The Polly Cooper Chapter, NSDAR has once again shown their generous spirit by giving lots of presents to our Kinship kids! Thank you as always, you brighten the lives of so many!

Thanks to Briarcliff Congregational Church for bringing joy to our Kinship families with holiday presents for the kids! We appreciate your generosity!

Monday there was lots of holiday cheer at Shanae V. Williams Caring for Caregivers event, where fifteen of our Kinship families received delicious treats, homemade soaps, blankets and more contributed by Councilmember Williams and local businesses. Thank you Councilmember Williams, and TAKO The Autism Project FLOS La Pinata Bakery Pamelas Big Heart Foundation 914 United @jcabrera221 Chris Peters and Eden Arielle!

Parents: Join us and learn strategies to help your children during the pandemic. Register at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us//tZ0oceqtrj4oH9DVaKekEgyAsCzb4ej9H

Our Kinship Support Program will now be offered in Rockland County! The Kinship Support Program of the Family Service Society of Yonkers helps grandparents and other relatives raising children in Westchester County, and we are partnering with VCS Inc., a Rockland County organization with many years of experience supporting Kinship families, to serve hundreds of additional Kinship Caregivers and their children. For full press release: https://drive.google.com//1K26hO20A3qYyBvxwE7NteFcdn/view

Thank you to United Way of Westchester and Putnam and Staples for their generous donations to students participating in our SHINE Afterschool Program at Hostos Elementary in Yonkers!

Thank you to Sharon Johnson, one of our GrandPower Advocates, for speaking out at the recent Westchester County Public Budget Session on behalf of grandparents and other relatives raising children. Thanks also to Nonprofit Westchester for recognizing us in their newsletter and for all of their advocacy work during the pandemic.

We invite our eTutors and volunteers to participate in this informative training session. Register at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us//tZ0tdOmtpzIqG91_T1urtBkbeLPwWG1lp

Family Service Society of Yonkers, as a member of the Westchester Women’s Agenda, is appreciative of the opportunity to speak to our County Executive and key staff this morning, along with many other members. Non-profits are the support structure, the hands and feet, meeting the needs of those struggling in our communities.

Parents, please consider attending this town hall:

Congratulations to Carolyn Fluckinger and Sharon Johnson for winning this year's NYS Kincare Coalition Cura Awards! Carolyn, Director of our Kinship Support Program was selected for the Outstanding Professional Award for her groundbreaking work creating programs that support grandparents and other relatives who are raising children in Westchester County. Sharon was selected for the Outstanding Kinship Caregiver Award for her tireless efforts assisting other grandparent and relative caregivers as a Grandpower Advocate. Thank you both for all that you do, we are proud of all of your efforts. For a full description of the awards go to http://ow.ly/BtrO50Bsqhv

Registration for our SHINE After School Program is now open! Please note, this is for students of Eugenio Maria de Hostos MocroSociety School only.

Our volunteer Diane Schonberger was selected to share her mentoring success story in an article in USA TODAY Best Years Magazine! Read her story as well as what we at JCY-WCP know: volunteering with children not only helps the children, it also benefits the cognitive, physical and emotional health of our volunteers. Go to this link to see the article on pages 38 - 42: https://issuu.com/studiogannett/docs/best_years_2020

A beautiful message from one of our Kinship program parents whose children participated in our eTutoring program: I am writing this email in regards to the JCY-WCP eTutoring Program. My six grandchildren received their services during the COVID19 online school transition. Their help was greatly appreciated and an enormous relief. Without this program my grandchildren would not been able to expand their skills the way they have in the past few months. With six children in ...six different grades me and my family struggled to meet the expectations of each child’s class. Even before the online transition each kid had many weaknesses that the eTutoring program was able to help them strengthen. I am thrilled to witness their growth in confidence and willingness to learn. Sincerely, Felicia Medley

Reminiscing about Summer Reading Buddies. Erik Ipsen, one of our wonderful mentors, describes how fun his experience was: This summer I have an 8-year-old Reading Buddy in Yonkers, where she lives with her mom and her robot dog, Max. We began a week ago with Roald Dahl's "Fantastic Mr. Fox". Good choice as it quickly turned out. We both loved it. My student very quickly got into the odd-ball spirit of the book, putting great feeling into her reading, which brought the stor...y to life for both of us. She would read one page and I'd read the next as we both raced onwards, eager to see where the tale would take us. Unfamiliar words, like Boggis, Bunce and Bean, the names of three farmers, Mr. Fox's mortal enemies, had to be sounded out, which she did well. Over the course of two meetings, we polished off 45 pages. Over the next weekend, she finished the book off in a sleepover at her aunt's house. Today, we began "A Ghost Named Wanda", polishing off 19 pages. In that book we both discovered what a poltergeist is, how to sound the word out, and what it means in German, where poltergeists come from. Who knew? And when the text had one character whispering to another so as not to be overheard, my student expertly did that. What fun!

Yesterday ended our Summer Reading Buddies Program with our final Wednesday Workshop, a fun plaster craft painting party. Thank you to all of the wonderful parents who stopped by the Yonkers Public Library to pick up the supplies. We could not do it without you! Thank you also to our mentors, and our partners and supporters: Westchester County Youth Bureau, The The City of Yonkers, Yonkers Public Library, Con Edison, People's United Bank, Sterling National Bank, Carvel Foundation and St. Faith's House Foundation.