Securing Bright Futures For Children In Foster Care

Poul Jensen, President and CEO, Graham Windham

Poul Jensen’s first experience with the heartache often wrought by the foster care system came at the age of 10, when he had to say goodbye to his two young foster brothers. “I had no memory of life before them—when they left I lost my only brothers and was left with my sisters,” Jensen says with mock disdain, then resumes a more serious tone. “I was traumatized by that, so foster care was always in my head.” This experience—combined with Jensen’s involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, during which he saw children display incredible strength in the face of adversity—inspired him to pursue a career improving the lives of children in foster care. (In fact, Jensen’s first job in the field was with the very organization that had placed his younger brothers with his family.)

Today, Jensen is president and CEO of Graham Windham, a 204-year-old organization providing services for foster children and families in the New York City area. Family permanency is the goal for each and every child the agency serves. “Our job is to get them back to their families, or if that is not possible, adopted into a new family, or if that is not possible, connected to someone who is willing to be that anchor, that sanctuary, no matter what, throughout their childhood and deep into adulthood,” Jensen says.

Graham Windham’s services include early childhood development programs; family and community support like health care, after-school programs and preventive services; family permanency planning (foster care, adoption and post-adoption services); and The Graham School, a residential school and treatment center in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY for at-risk students in the foster care system.

As a private non-profit, Graham Windham has to work hard to finance its extensive programming. “Government doesn’t fund service excellence—at best, it provides good enough services,” Jensen says. “It takes extra money to provide superior services.” Poverty, domestic violence, mental illness and neglect are all challenges common to Graham Windham’s families, and all of these challenges can be exacerbated by growing unemployment and a tightening of funding to social services and non-profits.

But the organization does not attempt to affect change alone. “We very much believe in a public/private partnership, so we work very closely with the city’s administration to try to change the way we do foster care and adoption here in the city,” Jensen says.

Going forward, Jensen’s goals for Graham Windham remain the same: continue to improve services and secure brighter futures for more children. “Permanency can be a very steep climb,” he says. “Achieving it takes everything we’ve got.”

—Tiffanie Green

Photo by Andrew Schwartz.

Caring For The City’s Cherished Playgrounds

Kamie Lightburn, Sarah Kurita and Jill Ross, Central Park Playground Captains

If you visit one of Central Park’s playgrounds on the third Saturday of the month during spring or fall, you’ll likely receive a smile and a brochure from a “Playground Captain.” A subcommittee of the Playground Partners (a program of the Central Park Conservancy’s Women’s Committee), the Playground Captains—made up of 28 city moms—work to keep the park’s playgrounds clean and safe.

Operating tables at 10 participating playgrounds each month, the women spend the day meeting families, distributing information and advocating for the upkeep of the park’s treasured outdoor play spaces.

While at the playground, the women provide snacks for kids and coffee for parents, along with sidewalk chalk and other kids’ activities. They also provide information on the park’s many fun and educational events, says captain Kamie Lightburn, who also serves as chairman of the Playground Partners. Although most families tend to frequent the playground closest to their home, the women “hand out maps showing the locations of all 21 playgrounds in Central Park” for those who might want to venture farther, adds Jill Ross, co-chairman of the Playground Captains.

The captains also inform park goers of program funding needs. “Most people who use the park daily don’t know that 85 percent of its annual budget comes from the private sector,” Lightburn says. Events like the yearly Playground Party raise money to maintain each of the park’s playgrounds. Ultimately, adds captain Sarah Kurita, “Our goal is to generate as much support as possible for the playgrounds from the families we interact with there.”

Kurita joined the program because she felt that it enabled her to “give back to something that has been an essential component of our choice to raise our family here.” In addition, working at their neighborhood playgrounds enables the women to see familiar faces and meet new families on a regular basis. It fosters a sense of community ownership and teaches their children the value of philanthropy, Kurita explains, especially when their kids get to work alongside them, distributing information or passing out treats: “[My kids] get really excited when I tell them it’s a Playground Captains Saturday!”

—Cristina Dimen

Photo by Andrew Schwartz.

Rebuilding Failing Schools 

Dr. Pamela Cantor, Founder and CEO, Turnaround For Children

Dr. Pamela Cantor had been a child psychiatrist focusing on child trauma for nearly 20 years when, following 9/11, she was asked to collaborate with the NYC Board of Education to create the Partnership for the Recovery of New York City Public Schools. During that time, Cantor was involved in a large-scale study of the effects of the tragedy on the city’s schoolchildren. What the study found was surprising: “A lot of the trauma actually didn’t even have to do with 9/11, but had much more to do with the effects of poverty in children’s lives,” Cantor says. “When we began to work in schools in high-poverty neighborhoods, you could see the intersection between the adversity of poverty and the effect on children’s ability to learn and teachers’ ability to teach.”

It was within this high-poverty public school environment that Cantor and her team developed a unique model for taking broken, failing schools and turning them into healthy, functional places to learn. Today, Cantor’s nationally-recognized non-profit, Turnaround For Children, has successfully partnered with 55 high-poverty schools and is now in the process of expanding to school districts in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. Recognizing that most struggling schools suffer from a negative culture often defined by the intense needs of a small percentage of children, Turnaround employs a three-stage model to rebuild failing schools. The first stage is “systems”—the creation of problem-solving teams who work to meet the needs of students who are struggling academically, behaviorally and who are having a negative effect on overall school culture. The second stage, “services,” involves installing a social worker in the building and partnering with local mental health partners to ensure that necessary support is in place for kids who need it. The third and final stage is “skills”—through professional development, Turnaround gives faculty and teachers a new “toolkit” with which to handle the challenges they face. These new “tools” include better control over classrooms, the ability to quickly identify children who are struggling, and the ability to give “differentiated instruction,” or teaching to a wide range of ability levels in one classroom.

Ultimately, Cantor hopes the Turnaround model “can emerge as standard practice in high-poverty schools” across the country. Until then, she’ll continue partnering with as many failing schools as possible to help them achieve health and vibrancy.

“We define success as a school that is filled with adults who know where the kids are coming from, understand what they need in the classroom, and where every child feels the effects of being in a healthy, vibrant educational community,” she says. “For us it truly is not losing any child, not leaving any child untouched by the opportunity of a really great education.”

—Jessica Shyba

Photo by Daniel S. Burnstein.

Cultivating A Love Of Science In Learners Of All Ages 

Dr. Emlyn Koster, President and CEO, Liberty Science Center

Dr. Emlyn Koster has lived a learned life. Having conducted research in the Gobi Desert and the badlands of Western Canada, headed the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Alberta, Canada and revamped the Ontario Science Centre, Koster’s expansive career has been devoted to sharing science with others. And yet all of his experience has prepared him for one of his greatest and fondest challenges: serving as CEO and president of Liberty Science Center (LSC) in Jersey City, New Jersey, a post he has held for the past 14 years. “My days are long and no two are ever alike,” Koster says. It’s a demanding role, but Koster, who was born in Egypt and raised in England, has experience on his side, as well as a passion for promoting science education. As the U.S. produces fewer science professionals than many other nations, Koster believes it’s essential to find innovative ways to introduce children to science.

“We have somewhat of a crisis of education in this country,” Koster says. “U.S. high school students are ranking between 20th and 30th on international scales in science test scores. Families would do well to introduce their children to the maximum amount of science, especially in this region, as we have a particularly high dependence on careers in technology. We need to create a solid workforce in science and technology, which is one of the big dimensions of Liberty Science Center.”

Of course, the museum has plenty to offer to all kids, even those who may not grow up to be scientists. In addition to the nation’s largest IMAX Dome theater, LSC boasts hundreds of hands-on exhibits, including a 20-foot wind tunnel, giant models of skyscrapers around the world, an 18-foot-high balance beam and giant fish tanks—not to mention the center’s latest attraction, “Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age,” featuring more than 100 rare fossils and tons of hands-on activities for kids.

“It’s a unique and exciting place for families,” says Koster. “There’s always fascinating things to see, to learn, to do and to touch.” The most visited museum in New Jersey and recently ranked fourth in “Parents Magazine’s” list of U.S. science centers, LSC is accessible from the city in minutes by ferries and path trains.

LSC is always expanding its tangible offerings for families, but Koster has other goals in mind for the museum’s future, too. “I want to create a sense of lifelong learning in those who visit,” he says. “I would love for the children who have had such a great time here to [one day] bring their own children.”

—Tiffanie Green

Photo by Andrew Schwartz.

Sharing And Celebrating Chinese American History 

S. Alice Mong, Director, Museum of Chinese in America 

S. Alice Mong has always loved museums. Mong, who was born in Taiwan before moving to the United States with her family, vividly remembers her first museum experience—a trip to the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan when she was a young girl. These days, the former executive director of Committee of 100—a national group dedicated to aiding both the Chinese American community and United States-China relations—and the current director of the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) even goes as far as to call herself “a museum geek,” and admits that museums are always the first places she visits when exploring a new city. “Every time I go to a museum I learn something,” Mong says. “It’s a place of continuous discovery.”

Under Mong’s direction, MOCA has seen numerous changes, which include re-focusing the institution from a museum about Chinatown to one about Chinese American history. “It’s an unknown chapter of American history,” Mong says. “I wish I had this when I was growing up as a Chinese American.” What’s more, the museum’s re-focus also included a more tangible expansion—the museum recently relocated from a 2,000 square foot space on Mulberry Street to a 14,000 square foot space on Centre Street. Mong believes that both changes have helped to keep the museum interesting and relevant to the New York City community. “The museum is a place for families to learn about the dynamic history of 150 years of Chinese in America,” Mong says. “We don’t just focus on the past, we also focus on the future.”

This broad focus seems to be working, as Mong says she frequently sees several generations exploring the museum together—and not only Chinese Americans, but New Yorkers of other backgrounds, too.

“People [leave the museum] knowing how similar our story is to the general immigrant experience,” she says. What’s more, the museum’s many family programs bring generations together to learn through performances, readings, games and art projects.

Mong hopes that visiting MOCA will inspire children of all nationalities to want to know more about their family’s history and heritage: “I would hope all kids leave this museum asking questions about where they came from, and proudly.”

—Tiffanie Green

Photo by Andrew Schwartz.

Sharing And Protecting The Wonders Of Nature

Andrew Haight, Manager, Everett Children's Adventure Garden at the New York Botanical Garden

Andrew Haight’s journey to his current position at the New York Botanical Garden was a bit like the winding paths found throughout the garden itself. Haight’s interest in the garden was piqued after serving as a volunteer during his sophomore year at Fordham University, so he stayed for an internship in the educational programs department. After he graduated, a second internship turned into a part-time job, followed by a full-time position shortly after. “I came in expecting to get some volunteer hours, and it became quite an exciting place for me to be,” says Haight, who now serves as the manager of the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden.

Created in 1998, the Adventure Garden hosts programs for children between the ages of 2 and 12 that provide hands-on experience with both nature and science in a beautiful setting. Yet what makes the garden most unique is that instead of lectures or classes, children learn through a series of activity stations (which can range from leaf rubbing to owl pellet dissection to a fruit seed hunt), and activities are led by 13- to 18-year-olds in the Teenage Explainer Program. “It’s a very cool dynamic between young children and adolescents,” Haight says. “They learn together. The adolescents know the content, but they’re learning how to be public speakers, how to conduct themselves professionally and how to provide customer service, and that’s happening at the same time as the children are learning and having an adventure,” he says.

Haight believes that exposure to a place like the Adventure Garden is particularly important for children raised in the city. “It has a special role, because not only does it provide access to real nature, but it also provides that access in a maybe more constructive way than another outdoor setting would, because it allows children to see the excitement behind the outdoors, and why it’s important for them to take care of the environment.”

Haight’s clear passion for nature, and for the New York Botanical Garden, is something that he hopes will rub off on its young visitors. “I hope that [kids] come here and have an experience that lets them feel like they can question the world around them, and that helps them feel more comfortable in searching for that answer.”

—Elisabeth Frankel Reed

Photo by Andrew Schwartz.

Caring For Families With High-Risk Pregnancies

Dr. Mary D’Alton and Dr. Lynn Simpson, Thain Center for Prenatal Pediatrics, Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, New York-Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center

After years of delivering babies into the world, Dr. Mary D’Alton and Dr. Lynn Simpson of Columbia University are helping to bring a unique prenatal pediatric center to life. By early next year, they will be treating women with complicated pregnancies at the new Carmen and John Thain Center for Prenatal Pediatrics in the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. It’s the first center of its kind in the New York area, and one of only a handful nationwide.

Dr. Simpson, the center’s medical director, explains that women who have serious problems with their pregnancy— such as a fetus with a heart defect or twins who require in utero surgery to separate their circulatory systems—need specialists from many branches of medicine. “Rather than making 12 different appointments with 12 different doctors to get all the information about their case,” Simpson says, at the Thain Center, “they are seen in one place in one day, and all the specialists come to them.”

Dr. D’Alton, the director of the hospital’s OB/GYN service and a director of the new center, says that collaborating with the Thains to turn her vision of optimal care into reality was “as good as it gets.” Since 2004, she and her colleagues had been seeing patients with high-risk pregnancies in a few shared rooms within New York-Presbyterian’s ultrasound unit. In this busy hallway, women often learned their unborn babies were in trouble while overhearing shrieks of joy from families with normal pregnancies. Their doctors trekked to the other end of the medical campus for a room big enough to consult with each other.

The new space, in contrast, is a calm sanctuary, with Hudson River views, light streaming through opaque glass walls, private exam and treatment rooms, and spacious conference rooms. “This allows us to focus on what we’re doing,” says Dr. Simpson, “and it allows the patients to focus on what we’re saying.”

These two doctors seem thrilled by this latest chapter in their long partnership (Dr. Simpson sought a fellowship in Boston nearly two decades ago to train with Dr. D’Alton). “The field of obstetrics is rewarding,” says Dr. Simpson, “But I think it’s even more rewarding when you’re looking at high-risk pregnancies.” Dr. D’Alton says: “I feel that if you can optimize the outcome for a child you deliver, you have perhaps the biggest impact on society.”

—Molly O’Meara Sheehan