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exalt youth |
Dear friends of exalt,
As spring comes into full effect, exalt too is blossoming. With the addition of several new staff over the past few months, we have a full team of ten incredibly talented people who each brings unique experience and creative talents to the organization. exalt is now poised to transform the lives of 165 youth over the next year.
exalt’s two Program Coordinators, Jolanda Porter and Kassa Belay, recently launched their first independently run program cycles after in depth training with exalt’s Director of Programs & Services, Lynnee Bonner. Under Lynnee’s direction, exalt is preparing to launch three new cycles this summer to address New York City youths’ desire and need for experiences that provide them with a constructive, educational use of their summer time, fill their immediate economic needs, and prepare them for long term educational and career success.
We invite you to help us kick off summer well and play a pivotal role in our ability to help youth with the least access to critical networks fulfill their highest personal and professional potential by joining us at our upcoming June event. Please scroll down for details...
Your support—whether through a financial contribution, providing an internship, referring youth to us, or sharing other resources such as your time and expertise—is indispensible and invaluable. We look forward to a successful 2009 and deeply appreciate your continued support.
Warmest regards,
Sonja Okun
Founder/Executive Director |
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exalt staff |
exalt welcomes...
Asadullah Muhammad as our new Senior Program Coordinator. A native New Yorker from Jamaica Queens, Asadullah brings substantive experience working with court-involved youth in an educational capacity including four years as Director of the Each One Teach One program at the Correctional Association’s Juvenile Justice Project.
Alessandra De Almeida is our new External Partner & Graduate Liaison. With significant experience domestically and internationally in community organizing and youth mobilization, she is poised to help exalt increase our capacity to positively impact long term outcomes for program graduates.
Kassa Belay joined exalt in January as a Program Coordinator. Kassa’s lifelong interest in matters of civil rights and racial equality has led him to employment with organizations—such as the Franklin Park Coalition in Boston and Camba in Crown Heights—devoted to a diverse array of social justice and educational causes.
Allyn Yamanouchi joined exalt in January as our new Director of Finance. Looking to transition from the for profit sector to the nonprofit world, Allyn is bringing extensive experience and skills built through a long career at CitiBank to exalt. |
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“My name is Ebony l and I was arrested for the first time in my life in 2008. I learned who my real friends were when none of my friends were there for me, even when they knew they were partly responsible for the crime I was arrested for.
When I walked into the exalt classroom, I thought I would have to be friendly, but protective. I felt like these other kids were “bad” because they were involved with the criminal justice system, even though I was involved with the criminal justice system. I assumed I would have to have an attitude, but I also knew that this was something that I wanted to start and finish. The class ended up being a lot different from what I expected. I thought it was just going to be another program, but it was much more than that. exalt teachers wanted us to be smart, so that we can change our lives and our communities, not just pass a test to get a grade. I couldn’t believe that I was really learning and that it wasn’t boring.
My mother died when I was 7 years old and I am the only girl in my family. I am happy that I am able to be a part of a program that has a female teacher that I could learn from. I’m not always proud of what I learn from my brothers and my father and so it feels good to have a woman I can look up to in my life.
There were a few challenges that came up for me during the class. I had to make the decision to go to exalt instead of hanging out with my friends throughout the 5 week Pre Internship Training. I realized how much trouble I avoided by coming to exalt instead. A few of my friends were involved in an incident involving the police after fighting another girl during the same time that I was in class at exalt. I have an open case and I would have faced serious consequences had I been involved in this fight. The program has really helped me stay out of trouble. I’ve never been absent from exalt and it was worth the hard work.
After completing the 5 week pre internship training I was placed at Look Effects Inc. which does post-production digital animation for films and television. I was excited because I expressed an interest in computer technology. I feel different about who I am. I’ve learned so much about myself. I use the information I’ve learned from exalt and the knowledge that I’m gaining from my internship in my everyday life. I have to do whatever I can to not get arrested. I owe it to myself and to exalt. The best part of it all is that I’m getting paid to do something I love!”
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The Tiger Foundation
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exalt is grateful to Tiger Foundation for its recently renewed support of our program. Tiger’s support will play a critical role in our ability to serve 165 youth over the course of the next year. At a time when philanthropic institutions are being forced to make difficult choices, exalt feels honored for Tiger’s recognition of the importance and effectiveness of our work with under-served young people. |
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Year Up NYC
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For more than a year, Year Up has provided exalt youth with quality internship experiences through which our youth provide administrative support and develop the important organizational and social skills required to host, plan and attend events organized by Year Up.
Charmaine Peart-Hosang has played a key role in the development of exalt interns. By keeping exalt staff informed about the progress and challenges of the youth she helps us serve, she enables us to better meet their unique needs. Our interns’ pride about working at Year Up is a testament to her and the organization’s mentorship.
In January 2009, Sonja Okun, Executive Director and Lynnee Bonner, Director of Programs & Services, attended Year Up's graduation for the class of 2008 and were honored to receive Year Up's Community Ambassador Award. The award was in recognition of exalt's commitment to working with Year Up NYC and providing opportunities for young adults across New York City. The invaluable experience Year Up provides exalt youth with helps us reach our goal of transforming the lives of young people who typically lack access to critical educational resources, networks and opportunities. exalt is pleased to highlight the work of such a valuable partner.
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The Blue Ridge Foundation
exalt youth
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exalt is honored to be supported by the Blue Ridge Foundation New York. Our first foundation funder, Blue Ridge provides financial support plus a range of technical assistance including free space, as well as administrative and IT infrastructure for its portfolio organizations for their first three years. exalt is approaching our third anniversary at the end of the year and thus needs to transition into our own space by early 2010.
While an exciting milestone in our organizational growth, raising increased revenues to support this move in a sobering economic climate is of course a challenge. But exalt is premised on a commitment to developing innovative and persistent responses to our society’s most pressing social and economic injustices. So we’re confident that with your help we can DO THIS!
let’s do it well...
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