Youth
A healthy, well-adjusted youth becomes a productive, engaged citizen who participates fully in his or her community. At the Arab-American Family Support Center our Youth Program aims to stimulate and deepen our students’ connection to their cultural identities, encourage participation in the community, and help youth reach their maximum potential through education and social support.
We provide a wide range of services to help Arab-American youth aged 8 to 18 succeed academically and artistically, and to develop leadership and social skills. The Center provides a safe and culturally sensitive environment where students have the opportunity to strengthen areas of academic weakness and develop positive study habits.
We initiated an After-school homework help program staffed by volunteers even before the Center officially opened, and have organized youth conferences, youth clubs, multicultural clubs and youth leadership activities and events. After-school forms the core component of our Youth Program and focuses on providing academic support to elementary and middle-school aged youth, particularly for those children needing specific help in reading and literacy.
Our Middle-school program offers a range of activities to instill students’ pride in their Arab heritage and to support their successful negotiation of the path into High School. We partner with the New York Writers Coalition to offer a “Writing Club”, and run project activities on themes such as nutrition and healthy lifestyles and drama. Importantly, the Center also provides a safe space for youth to express specific concerns, exchange ideas and relate experiences.
Many of our youth are second- or third-generation Americans and are not familiar with the Arabic language. By providing Arabic instruction at three ability levels, we offer students an understanding of their heritage and culture.
The Weekend Activity program provides opportunities to our youth to take part in outings to museums, sporting events, and other “Urban Adventures” thanks to our partners at New York Cares. “Arts Explorers” workshops offer hands-on arts and crafts projects to youth of all ages; both weekend activities are offered monthly.
Our College Access program features a Kaplan SAT preparation course run in collaboration with volunteer tutors from our partner organization New York Cares. High School Sophomores and Juniors have weekly evening classes throughout the school year, following the Kaplan syllabus and using free Kaplan materials. The course is offered completely free of charge (a corresponding private Kaplan class would cost more than $1,200). The program has been extremely successful, with one student improving her score by more than 770 points! We have also hosted guest speakers from local colleges, workshops on the application process and life at College, and Careers Fairs.
Our Community Outreach activities provide youth with the opportunity to become agents of positive social change through partnerships with community organizations including Project Reach, the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, and the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims. Reaching out to other student groups promotes the principles of leadership, diversity, and community service, while simultaneously educating others about Arab culture and Islam. Initiating discussions about mutual fears and prejudices provides youth with an important forum to interact with peers and friends of different races and cultures.
We also offer a six-week intensive Summer Program at the Center featuring literacy enhancement, field trips, art-based projects and recreational activities. Meeting four days per week, our goal is to help youth develop a positive self image, acquire a lifelong commitment to learning and embrace diversity. The camp is open to youth ages 8 to 12, with older students acting as camp counselors. The summer program in 2009 had 19 children attending and featured trips to five neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhattan as well as a final event on the theme of “International New York”.
We provide youth the opportunity to become agents of positive social change. They reach out to other student groups and educate them about Arab culture. Our “Cooking For Peace” program has been a great success in bringing different ethnic groups together in the kitchen and over the dining table, sharing menus and meals from a variety of cultures. In this and other partnerships we hope to promote the principles of leadership, diversity, and community service amongst the children participating in our Youth Program.
For more information on any of AAFSC’s youth programs, please contact our Youth Program Coordinator, Paul Anderton, at (718) 643-8000 ext. 39
