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Dear friends of exalt,
We're so glad to be back in touch with you! This past year has been rich and filled with important growth:
- We’ve developed and launched an expanded version of our core educational internship program.
- We’ve reconfigured staff roles to best accommodate the enhancements made to our program, most of which enable staff to have more time to meet individually with students and assist them directly with school.
- We’ve launched a comprehensive database reconfiguration project that will enable us to capture, track, and measure more aspects of our innovative work.
- We’ve moved into our new office space--right up Court Street, at 175 Remsen Street in downtown Brooklyn.
While these organizational milestones and developments are critical for helping exalt get to our next level of growth, our real accomplishments lie in the experiences of the young people we’ve continued to serve. 90% of our graduates have avoided obtaining any new convictions, and 94% remain enrolled in school or have obtained high-school diplomas or GED’s. Many are now applying for and enrolling in college. These tremendous achievements--when the alternative path for many of them would have been dropping out of school and falling into the revolving doors of the criminal-justice system – could not have been accomplished without you.
Your support—whether through making a financial contribution, attending our upcoming fundraiser in March, 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 2011 and deeply appreciate your continued support.
Warmest regards,
Sonja Okun
Founder/Executive Director
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“Imagine you saw a truck bearing down on you going 60 miles an hour. What would you do? You’d jump out of the way, of course. Well, that is the situation you’re in right now – and here’s your chance to make that jump.”
With those words, exalt Director of Curriculum and Content Lynnee Bonner welcomed 17 incoming students to the first week of Cycle 27 in our core educational internship program. Through classroom discussion, paid internships, and a network of alumni support, exalt will help these court-involved youth to acquire and expand the skills and experience necessary to avoid re-arrest, continue their education, and succeed in life.
Over the next 6 months, exalt will offer these young people an intensive, carefully structured experience designed to transform their lives – the same mission we first undertook in 2006. But we at exalt are also students – and we’ve learned a lot in the last four years. Using the comprehensive blueprint we developed last year after going through an intensive “theory of change” process, we’ve been building many program enhancements.
Already we’ve implemented a number of changes, including a retooling and expansion of our program. In response to alumni feedback that students need more time to process their exalt experience, we’ve shortened the internship period to 8 weeks and added an additional 4-week post-internship classroom component. We’ve also redesigned our staffing, changing what has been the Program Coordinator position into two Jobs, Senior Teacher and Program Coordinator.
In addition, we’ve engaged the California-based software development firm Exponent Partners to build out our Salesforce database and help us record, manage, and optimize a wide variety of information about our programs and participants. Our thanks to Nicole Hanson, a graduate student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, for her data-analysis evaluation of our programs, which helped us to see what should be included in the upgrade.
For more on these and other changes, please keep reading!
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exalt students from cycle 26 gather at Rush Gallery, a longtime internship provider, to meet Bryan Wood, clothing designer.
Recently, eight graduates got together at the exalt office for a wide-ranging discussion about the program. They represented different cycles, and their internship sites ranged from XXL Magazine and the Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture to Girls Inc., the Innocence Project, and Madiba Restaurant. Nonetheless, there were a number of common threads in their experiences. Here are excerpts from the conversation:
Channel (Cycle 24): We were on the pipeline from school to jail – but then exalt stepped in and stopped us and pushed us back into school. They taught us that you shouldn’t just react to stuff but you should respond – use your critical thinking and figure out what’s actually going on.
Shamari (Cycle 13): Going through the whole cycle made me more open-minded. I saw that success is possible, but you have to keep from being discouraged and figure out the roadblocks.
Pattrice (Cycle 24): If you go down the wrong path, you can be incarcerated -- you have to stay off that school-to-prison pipeline. Being at exalt helps you stay away from that negativity that shows up in the community and in school and that comes from the prison lifestyle.
Portia (Cycle 24): I can’t say I’m happy I got locked up, but being in exalt taught me how to avoid acting out of ignorance. When I was younger, I felt like the only way I could solve a situation was to hurt someone – but not now. In exalt we learned that there’s always going to be stuff you don’t like and you have to learn to deal with it – and that a simple “Hi” can get you really far.
Ashley (Cycle 5): The training helped me challenge myself more. Before that, I was quiet in class, but exalt helped me to be more comfortable talking in front of people. It prepares you to stay out of the juvenile-justice system and how to retain a job. Channel (Cycle 24): I really value the mock interviews we did – now I know what to say when a job interviewer says tell me about yourself.
Tevaughn (Cycle 12): Help from exalt started when people there started taking an interest in me, helping me to get books and do my homework. But even for an alumnus, exalt helps. It helps with job search, resumes, applications to college, even choice of a career. You can just update the resume you do at exalt, and you can meet other kids and help each other.
Ashley (Cycle 5): I’ll be honest – at first, I came to be paid. But the program grows on you – now I wish I could do it over!
Pattrice (Cycle 24): Me too!
Shamari (Cycle 13): Me too!
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Lynnee Bonner's Transition, exalt's Director of Curriculum & Content
In February 2011 Lynnee Bonner, Program Director from 2007-2010, and Director of Curriculum and Content for most of this past year, stepped down from her job at exalt. During our first four years, she played a critical role in our development, growth, and success, overseeing the development and implementation of our program model to nearly 400 young people who’ve been negatively impacted by their experiences with the juvenile and criminal- justice systems. Under Lynnee’s direction, our program has achieved outstanding results: 90% of our program graduates have not received any new convictions, and 94% have remained enrolled in school, graduated from high school, or obtained a GED.
Lynnee has played an essential role in all aspects of exalt’s development. Her influence has helped shape not only our curriculum and pedagogical approach, but also the practices of other exalt staff members, all of whom have learned from her. This past fall, she expanded our original 5-week pre-internship training class to 6 weeks and developed curriculum for a new 4-week post-internship class that she piloted for the first cohort of participants.
In addition, Lynnee developed our annual summer community-awareness fundraisers, held at MoCADA (Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts), which have brought together multiple stakeholders and tapped new audiences for us. She’s also expanded our resources on multiple fronts, ranging from contributing her own DJ’ing and event-planning expertise to gathering external in-kind resources to help generate funds, strengthen programming, and gain a strong reputation amongst a growing and diverse set of constituents, all critical partners in our success.
Lynnee has always believed that both she and exalt participants experience a transformational learning experience every time they enter the classroom. She is a life-long student, and part of her next chapter will involve traveling, writing, and building upon the work she has done at exalt. She will always be a vital part of this organization. On behalf of exalt’s board and staff as well as all the young people she’s touched, thank you, Lynnee.
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Introducing Gisele Castro, Director of Program Operations and External Relations
Back when she was a high-school student in the Bronx, Gisele Castro dreamed of being a journalist. Her senior year, she had an internship at ABC News on the Rolanda Watts Show, a public-affairs talk show, and she seemed headed to a career in journalism.
But then she took a course in juvenile psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and got a job at the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES). Soon she found that that she had a new dream – helping young people who’d been arrested.
She was especially interested in the question of whether the young people she encountered were receiving fair sentences for what they’d done. “We know their minds aren’t really developed until they’re at least 21,” she said. “What’s a truly fair sanction if they write graffiti on the wall or have a fight? The real issue is the things in their lives that lay behind the arrest and brought them into court.”
For 6 years, she served as director of the family court division at CASES and met with judges, probation officers, and school administrators. There she saw up close the layers of bureaucracy in the school system, how easily a young person could get suspended, and how suspensions were so inextricably connected to juvenile and criminal-justice system involvement, particularly in New York City.
Later, during graduate studies at Pace University, Oxford University, and in Italy, she explored various notions of justice, including the restorative approach used in the U.K. “It’s very different than the punitive system we have here,” she said. “It focuses on helping young people navigate the institutions they encounter and gain a sense of ownership of themselves and who they are.”
In mid-2010, Gisele joined exalt and took on a dual role as Director of Program Operations and External Relations. She works with program staff to manage the implementation of our core educational internship program, and she also maintains connections with key external constituents such as the Department of Probation and judges.
“I came here because this is a job that calls on everything I’ve done so far, from working on a talk show to CASES to studying in Europe,” she said. “But I’m also here because I like working with young people. Not all of them make it, but the crucial resources are here, and I’ve seen that those who are willing to change can do so.” |
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Graduate Profile: Misael Sanchez
When Misael came to exalt, he was 17 years old and going nowhere fast. He’d been arrested for assault at a baseball game, and he’d gone to live with an aunt in another borough in order to avoid more trouble. But his poor English had left him far behind in class and he was worried about getting caught up in hallway fights, so he began staying home from school more and more often.
Too often, in the eyes of his social worker, who referred Misael to exalt. He was accepted for Cycle 6 and did his internship at Brooklyn Defenders, where he learned general office skills, filed documents, and made photocopies. In May 2008, he graduated from exalt and seemed to be on his way. While the assault case he came to exalt with was still open, he had been doing well, had avoided any further trouble, and expected to be sentenced to probation.
But then, in a hurry to get to a meeting with his probation officer on New Year’s Eve, Misael used a school Metrocard and got arrested for a second time. The court told him that until he graduated from high school, his case would remain open. Once again, he turned to exalt, and he started working as a Junior Facilitator. During Cycles 14 and 15, he assisted Program Coordinators using exalt’srigorous curriculum with new cohorts of young people and, with support from exalt staffers and alumni, finally got serious about school.
“It’s been a lot of changes for me,” he said. “I used to be really quiet in class, but exalt got me into talking. They kept asking me questions, asking me what did I think about something, saying that if I don’t engage in the discussion, what’s the point of being there.”
And, he added, exalt also taught him the importance of thinking before he acts. “Before exalt,” he said, “I never thought about what would happen after I had a problem. Now when I’m about to get into trouble, I ask myself if it’s worth it, and it’s never worth it, so I keep my head down and keep walking.”
In June 2010, he received a high-school diploma, and in August he enrolled at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, where he’s planning to study computer science. In addition, he’s working part-time at exalt as a Graduate Assistant, helping with program and administrative management.
“I’m the first person in my family to go to college,” he said, “I started thinking about the future, and there aren’t that many options with just a high-school diploma. My friends look at me like I’m weird because all I do is go to school and to work, and I always have a book in my hand. But at exalt I saw people doing something they love, and I want that too.”
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Internship Provider Spotlight
Brooklyn Family Defense
 
Every year, the Brooklyn Family Defense Project (BFDP) represents 800 low-income families in Brooklyn Family Court. Lawyers, social workers, and parent advocates work together to defend the rights of low-income parents and to help these families remain safe and stable. “It’s a huge job,” said Adrienne Girard, BFDP’s Director of Administration. ”That’s why having interns is so important to us. We’ve had about 10 interns from exalt so far, and we like working with them more than those from any other program.”
The reason? “The people at exalt do a good job of matching interns to programs,” Girard said. “The ones they send us have an interest in what we do, and the program coordinators handle any problems really quickly. Everything gets figured out and squared away right away.”
Four afternoons a week, exalt students are busy scanning documents into the computer, distributing mail, and making photocopies. When BFDP has special mailings, interns stuff and seal envelopes, and there are always errands that need to be done. “What they do isn’t glamorous,” Girard said, “but it’s really helpful to have them here.”
Working in a high-volume legal office has been an inspiration to at least one exalt intern. Marco, now 20, who interned at BFDP in Cycle 18 during his senior year in high school, had always thought he’d end up as a plumber. But after being at BFDP, he decided to continue volunteering there and to pursue a career in the legal field. He's now enrolled at ASA College in Brooklyn and majoring in pre-law.
“Each student is only here for eight hours a week, which may not sound like that much,” Girard said. “But when we don’t have interns, I notice. What they do really makes it possible for us to be better advocates for our clients.”
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Over the past year, exalt’s funders have been incredibly supportive of our work, and we’re extremely grateful. We received increased support from some of our core funders, including a $75,000 leadership grant as a supplemental grant from our funder in Wisconsin (this on top of their renewal of a $75,000 grant for our program); a $100,000 challenge grant from Tiger Foundation, which we met--also on top of a renewal of our program-support grant; and an increase of $25,000 from the Clark Foundation.
Part of the revenue we raised this year was from new sources, including the Threshold Foundation, Achelis & Bodman Foundations, Booth Ferris Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, and Maverick Capital Foundation. The increased and diversified support exalt has received over the past year is a testament to the dire need for our intervention as well as the unique, substantive, and successful approach we take to positively impacting the lives and trajectories of New York’s most neglected and under-served youth. |
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(click to for tickets)
- Thursday, March 24, 2011
- 7-10pm
- exalt's Step Into Spring Fundraiser & 2nd Annual Silent Auction at Tribeca Cinemas in the Main Dining Room
Please join exalt for an evening of drinks, appetizers, music, and a silent auction in support of New York City youth with high potential but limited access to critical resources, networks, and opportunities.
Please go to www.exaltyouth.org for tickets or if you would like to donate to exalt.
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