If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to educate one, too. At least that’s the philosophy behind PENCIL—an innovative non-profit that connects business people with public schools, creating partnerships that change students’ lives for the better— raising attendance, test scores and graduation rates, and ultimately building a culture that promotes learning. Here, Executive Director Michael Haberman talks about PENCIL’s impact.
Tell us a little about PENCIL’s history.
We were founded in 1995. The idea was that if we were going to improve NYC public schools, everyone had to be involved.
Through Principal For A Day, we brought in people working in business for a one-day visit to make them aware of what was going on in the schools. The idea was to get a sense of what the school was about, to get a sense of the principal, to get a sense of the student population, to get more of an understanding of what the needs were. Then we hoped that would turn into tangible improvements in the schools, whether through volunteering or donations. Over the years, a lot of big things have come out of it: VH1’s Save the Music Foundation, TIME For Kids, the PENCIL/Showtime Public School Film Festival—those are all a result of Principal For A Day. Today, we’re supporting about 400 public schools, with primarily business people who are bringing in their expertise and resources.
You’ve since expanded beyond Principal For A Day and formed a long-term PENCIL Partnership Program. Can you tell us about that?
This is no longer a one-day visit to a school; this is an opportunity for people who want to have a long-term impact on the school. We find out what your interests and expertise are, and then we find a school that can capitalize on that. Some of the work being done includes helping principals build a culture of success, forming academies within large schools, and establishing relationships between colleges and our city’s public schools.
How have specific schools been impacted by the program?
There are two schools, P.S./M.S. 57 in East Harlem and P.S. 153 in West Harlem, that were identified as failing schools by the Department of Education within the past 5-7 years and are now A schools.
The principals of both of those schools stated that the PENCIL partnership was the most important factor in turning around their schools. One of our partners at JP Morgan Chase helped to overhaul the technology at a school in Bushwick, and that school is now used by the Department of Education as a model of how to integrate technology into the curriculum.
How have your business partners been impacted by the program?
Over and over they say to me, “We went into this thinking we were just giving, and we’re getting more out of it than anything.” I think enlightened business people in the city understand we have our private schools, but NYC is not going to be a prosperous, vibrant city if just over half of our kids are graduating. These are their future employees, future customers, and future citizens of this city.
What else does PENCIL do?
Last summer, we provided paid internships to 138 New York City public high school students through the PENCIL Fellows Program. We also run the Seinfeld Scholarship Program. Jerry Seinfeld and his family created a foundation where they provide full college scholarships to 15 New York City public high school kids each year.
How can people get involved?
Business people should consider getting involved in the PENCIL Partnership Program. If they have a particular school that they would like to make a donation to, they can do so through our Pass-Through Program. We also have a program called The PENCIL Box, which is an online marketplace where you can make a tax-deductible donation of gently used items like furniture, computers and office supplies.
What is your vision for PENCIL’s future?
Ultimately our goal is to provide a partner for every NYC public school. We’re continually focused on not only serving more schools, but how do we better serve the schools. Are scores getting better? Is attendance getting better? Are graduation rates going up? We’re always looking at our impact.
To learn more about PENCIL, visit pencil.org.
