Rachael Gazdick, New York Edge’s chief executive officer, was our guest speaker for the April 5th meeting at the Larchmont Yacht Club. New York Edge is the metropolitan region’s largest provider of after-school enrichment programs. It serves more than 30,000 students in 136 schools across all five boroughs and Long Island. Over 85% of its students come from low-income households. It began over 30 years ago under the “Schools Sports & Arts Foundation” from the efforts of tennis legend Arthur Ashe.
Rachael joined New York Edge in 2019, after serving as president and CEO of Colorado’s “I Have a Dream” Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on empowering children from low-income communities to succeed in school and beyond.
She stated that NY Edge tries to help its kids excel academically via its after-school activities. These include: academics, preparation for college, sports & wellness, performing & visual arts, book publishing and podcasting. It has formed partnerships with many local organizations, including hospitals, health organizations, professional athletic teams, theater companies and universities whose members work with the kids. Apprenticeships have been offered to some of the high schoolers.
In addition, NY Edge recently opened food pantries at three city schools.
Rachael passed out several examples of books which had been published by middle schoolers. We also viewed a dynamic video about the organization which can be found on its homepage. Their website address is: https://newyorkedge.org and their phone number is (718) 786-7110.
