To support the High School Admissions and Alumni Relations Specialist who will provide 7th and 8th grade scholars with academic and social emotional counseling as well as guidance through the high school application and acceptance process. Additionally, this position will create, implement, and manage CQA’s new Alumni Connect program which aims to offer CQA alumni the support and resources they will need to successfully navigate life beyond CQA, including high school, college, and the workforce. [CQA operates 2 schools — CQA I which is a full-scale K-8 school serving 900 scholars, and CQA II which currently serves grades K-2 and will grow by one grade each year until it becomes a second K-8 school serving an additional 900 scholars in the 2031/2032 school year.] CQA seeks to prepare its students for eventual success in college, in the workforce, and in the local community through their K-8th grade schools which integrate literacy, high standards-based academics, and culturally-responsive supportive services.

Towards the Senior Manager of Learning and Development who will help to strengthen the AmeriCorps Members’ experiences and better develop their leadership capacities needed to deliver high-quality services across their partner schools. This position supports incoming and active AmeriCorps Members by facilitating onboarding and registration days; providing logistical, content and facilitation support for sitewide Learning and Development Days, Learning and Culture Summits, and Leadership After City Year programming; and leading professional development for Team Leaders and other Second-Year AmeriCorps Members through structured trainings, capacity building sessions, and communities of practice. This position will better ensure that their AmeriCorps Members are effectively trained, supported, and prepared for continued impact during and beyond their service year. City Year New York strives to expand educational and economic opportunities for children and young adults by partnering with under-resourced NYC schools to help bridge the gap between what students need and what many schools are actually equipped to provide.

For continued support of staffing within their Academics team which oversees the implementation of their expanded Literacy Acceleration Program to support 400 scholars across Grade K-12 requiring additional literacy development assistance. This includes approximately 370 middle and high school scholars through Lexia PowerUp (grades 6-10), Read 180 (grades 9-12), and targeted small-group instruction, as well as 30 elementary scholars participating in their afterschool tutoring program with Springboard Collaborative. The initiative also provides advanced professional development for 31 educators to strengthen Tier 1 instruction and intervention practices. With a targeted focus on rising 6th and 10th graders most at risk of falling behind, the program equips scholars with the literacy skills essential for long-term academic success, college persistence, and career readiness. CIP is a rigorous college-preparatory charter school located in Brooklyn’s Coney Island community that serves over 1,000 students in grades K-12.

To support the Network Director of Curriculum and Instruction who will lead the continued development, alignment, and implementation of DREAM’s Science of Reading-based literacy curriculum from Pre-K through the 12th grade. This role is responsible for designing and refining a rigorous, vertically aligned ELA curriculum; developing unit plans, assessments, and instructional materials; and ensuring its strong implementation through data analysis, coaching, and collaboration with school leaders. By strengthening the coherence and quality of literacy instruction across the network for all grades, this position plays a critical role in advancing student achievement and better ensuring that all DREAM students build the foundational reading and critical thinking skills necessary for their long-term academic success and overall well-being. DREAM Charter School is a Pre-K through grade 12 and beyond public charter school network which prepares students for success at high-performing schools, colleges and afterwards via a rigorous academic program that develops critical thinkers who will each develop an ongoing love of learning, strong character, and longterm commitments to wellness and active citizenship.

For support of the new Senior Director of Student Recruitment & Enrollment who will directly oversee the systems, processes, and partnerships that keep their schools fully enrolled with mission-aligned families, ensuring stability for today and growth for the future. The Senior Director (SD) will design and drive the regional strategy for student recruitment and enrollment, with the goal that all KIPP NYC schools will be fully enrolled every school year. The SD will partner closely with school leaders, regional teams, and external stakeholders to meet enrollment goals through data-driven strategy and real-time community insights, leading the charge in KIPP NYC’s mission to grow and educate nearly 10,000 students by 2028. KIPP NYC, a network of 18 free public charter schools (eight elementary schools, feeding nine middle schools, feeding one college preparatory high school), is part of a national network of exemplary college-preparatory public charter schools which prepare students in underserved communities for success in college and in life.

For continued support of the KIPP Forward Achievement Director in Newark, NJ who will further develop and manage their College & Career Readiness curriculum and assessment project with the goal of increasing student success in choosing and then succeeding in better-chosen post-secondary paths. The individual is responsible for increasing the instructional leadership capacity of school-based leaders by deepening everyone’s College and Career Readiness subject matter expertise and modeling and coaching the instructional power moves. The overarching goal is to build a best-in-class College and Career Readiness course and assessment sequence in all of their high schools to drive higher levels of student engagement in: gaining critical self-assessment knowledge; identifying potential career aspirations; improving SAT/ACT scores; and increasing opportunities for pre-college summer programming in order to increase student success in choosing and succeeding on their post-secondary path. The Achievement Director helps to ensure that every student—primarily first-generation, college-bound scholars—receives structured guidance, rigorous preparation, and meaningful exposure to college and career opportunities.

To support a new Founding Director of Specialized Services position at KIPP Paterson, a role which will be essential to better ensuring that their expanding Paterson, NJ schools are better able to provide excellent, compliant, and inclusive services for: students with disabilities; multilingual learners; and other students requiring specialized supports. As KIPP Paterson grows from serving 510 students to 809 students in the 2026-7 school year (529 elementary and 280 middle school students), and ultimately towards over 2,200 students (by 2033–34), this school leader will be responsible for building the systems, staffing, coaching, and compliance structures needed to serve their special populations well from the earliest stages of expansion. KTAF sees this as an investment not only in compliance, but in educational excellence and equity as KTAF Paterson grows into a full grades K through 12 school community. KTAF is part of the national network of KIPP Charter Schools, and operates a network of K-12 schools in Newark, Paterson, and Camden, New Jersey that serve low-income minority students, instilling within them the desire and ability to succeed in college and beyond.

For renewed support of their Strengthening Nonprofits Engaged in College Readiness and Career Pathways Project. Through this project, Lawyers Alliance staff and pro bono attorneys will provide legal assistance to help strengthen the programs, finances, and operations of nonprofit organizations at the forefront of college access and career pathways initiatives in New York City. They expect to assist approximately 50 nonprofit groups on 70 ongoing and new legal matters, and provide timely information and guidance to 30+ nonprofits through Resource Calls, webinars, special presentations, legal alerts and other educational services. With timely legal help, nonprofits will better be able to carry forth their respective missions, in compliance with the law, and improve the lives, opportunities, and outcomes of youth and young adults. LANY is the leading provider of business and transactional legal services to nonprofit organizations that are improving the quality of life within low-income communities throughout NYC.

To work with the City University of New York to improve the CUNY Tutor Corps designed to improve student outcomes in math. The program places trained CUNY students into NYC Public School math classrooms to provide targeted support to students, primarily in Algebra I, a critical gateway course to access upper-level STEM courses in high school. The program’s full promise is currently impacted by a lack of timely, accurate, and integrated student data needed to effectively measure its success and optimize its intervention strategies. They seek to make the program more effective for the students it serves across 25 NYC high schools. To address this issue, New Visions proposes to build a dedicated and secure data infrastructure which will better connect tutoring actions to each student’s ensuing performance. The New Visions Portal will deliver accurate and contextualized student rosters to tutors and program leaders, and build new Portal features to link tutoring participation to student outcomes to allow for the effective evaluation and continuous improvement across all schools. New Visions for Public Schools serves as a laboratory of innovation within NYC’s public-school reform efforts, creating and refining helpful new approaches to systemic challenges.

To support the new Chief of Staff position who will serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO, coordinate and deepen board engagement, and lead critical projects to support internal culture as well as community and external partnerships. This position enhances organizational capacity by strengthening alignment across programs, development, and operations, and by ensuring staff have the systems and communications needed to deliver high-quality support to schools. The Chief of Staff will also free the CEO to focus on external strategy, fundraising, and partnerships that will sustain the organization. This role is especially needed following a period of rapid expansion of their Crew Initiative, the evolution of their instructional model, and the successful completion of a leadership transition. With these changes now in place, the Chief of Staff will help provide stability to ensure that their growing reach—over 22,000 students and almost 2,200 educators across 111 schools overall—translates into consistent, high-quality impact.

For renewed support of a Program Associate who supports the efforts of PENCIL’s 3 Program Managers who each have a portfolio of schools and corporate partners which they manage for their School Partnership Program, and who also supports their coaching of Future Ready NYC Schools which equitably seek to encourage career-connected learning. This staff role entails: the coordinating of logistics with school principals and teachers; liaising with corporate partners; and supporting data entry and program evaluation processes. This will minimize the 3 Program Managers’ need to spend additional time on planning and logistics, giving them more time to focus upon content delivery and on developing enhanced relationships with students, teachers, principals, and numerous corporate volunteers. PENCIL brings corporate volunteers together with NYC public schools for sustained student-focused volunteering with a focus on college and career readiness through programs that include the School Partnership Program, the Internship Program, FutureReady NYC, and Principal for a Day.

For staffing support including the Managing Director of Programs who will strengthen instructional quality, expand services, and refine data-driven evaluation across all Reading Team sites. Located in Harlem, the Reading Team helps children in Grades Pre-K-5 become confident, strong readers and develop the skills and habits that will continue to support their success in school and in life. Their programs are designed to focus on essential early literacy components such as phonics, explicit comprehension strategies, oral and written expression, and analytical skills. They provide two free, evidence-based, literacy programs using the Orton-Gillingham approach to multisensory phonics. serving approximately 350 children per year. The Managing Director of Programs helps to ensure the effective delivery, quality, and impact of all program services, managing 20-25 part-time teachers and program support staff, and serving as the primary relationship point of contact for parents/guardians and school partners.

For support of the Senior Full Stack Engineer who will oversee the expansion of StepReads, a research-backed tool that helps struggling students access appropriate grade-level content and build reading confidence. StepReads are scaffolded versions of ReadWorks articles that help emerging and struggling readers to build background knowledge, learn new vocabulary words, and gain confidence before tackling the original text. StepReads allows educators to teach the same overall topic to an entire class while yet offering necessary supports to those students reading below grade level. ReadWorks plans to use a generative AI solution to expand their current library of approximately 400 StepReads and to increase the usage and number of assignments made by educators across New York City. To increase usage, ReadWorks will strategically market to NYC educators and offer them free professional learnings. ReadWorks seeks to improve teacher effectiveness and raise student achievement in reading comprehension through research-based, classroom-proven instructional practices and curricula, and through widely offering free, open-access online reading-related technology.

For renewed funding of Math Matters, a comprehensive teacher professional development model designed to improve mathematics instruction for students in grades 6-8, equipping teachers with the skills, strategies, and support needed to accelerate learning and close opportunity gaps. This will allow Teaching Matters to deliver its Math Matters Learning Acceleration Program to an additional four middle schools in NYC, directly impacting 30 teachers through intensive, job-embedded coaching and 1,000 students. The program promotes rigorous and engaging instruction, emphasizing conceptual understanding as the foundation for procedural fluency. This accelerated learning approach has proven to be more effective than remediation. Coaches support teachers in improving practice and keeping students on track, while integrated edtech tools enhance small group instruction, enabling teachers to respond precisely to both student- and teacher-directed activities. Teaching Matters works to increase teacher effectiveness, one of the most critical factors regarding student success, by transforming how educators work together at urban public schools, helping the most effective teachers to develop the necessary skills by which to then lead their peers and drive school-wide improvement.

For renewed support of the Success Program Director who leads the Pathways Advising Pilot for undergraduates within their College Success Program, better ensuring that all staff will work together to accomplish the Program’s goals. It is designed to sharpen year-specific support for students with the understanding that their needs and focus areas should look different each year as they progress toward bachelor’s degrees. The Program Director will facilitate the development of specific curriculum for second-year college students and curriculum refinement for first-year college students. The goals are to increase student engagement, create a consistent and equitable student experience, increase advisory satisfaction and efficiency, and increase college persistence and graduation. The project helps to ensure that students experience a well-supported introduction to college, build a sturdy foundation for college persistence, and seize opportunities for their individual goals. Bottom Line helps low-income and first-generation students apply to college, succeed at college, and find financial assistance to meet the costs of higher education through its College Access and College Success programs.

To expand the Adolescent Reading Intervention Specialist role that had provided innovative literacy strategies for grades 7-12 students with disabilities in one region to now serve all K-12 students with disabilities across their entire network of schools, creating a coordinated system of literacy support. This shift will enable broader support across the network and extend the Specialist’s instructional leadership beyond adolescent reading intervention to include self-contained English Language Arts curriculum and assessment development and quality control. The ARI Specialist will focus on designing, piloting, and ultimately embedding innovative literacy strategies that support students with disabilities to give them equitable access to their literacy curriculum. The ARI Specialist will systematize the curriculum and instruction of self-contained core content English classes, which would include robust year-long professional development in special education literacy. Uncommon Schools is a nonprofit that starts and manages outstanding urban public schools that: close achievement gaps; prepare low-income students to get to and through college; and help their alumni to launch meaningful careers

For support of a new Career Pathways Coordinator who will build employer relationships, secure internship placements, and deliver structured career exploration programming for students in grades 9–12. The Coordinator will cultivate employer partners across New York City and connect students with the best-matched opportunities with a preference for local, community-rooted partnerships where they exist. The goal is to recruit at least 10 employer partners in Year 1, placing a minimum of 20% of their 11th- and 12th-grade students in internships, and building a career exploration sequence that ensures every Unity student leaves with a concrete, supported postsecondary plan. Unity Preparatory Charter School of Brooklyn is an open-enrollment, grades 6–12 public charter school serving over 500 students from the Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Crown Heights, and Williamsburg neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Unity seeks to empower students as scholars and citizens so that they can lead fulfilling academic, personal, and professional lives.

To fund a part-time Clinic in Schools (CIS) Transfer Support Clinician who will provide interim clinical care and manage transitions for students who change schools, graduate, or otherwise exit a CIS site and require ongoing services through Northside’s main Clinic. By reducing transfer delays which can extend from 4–8 weeks during peak periods, the Clinician will prevent gaps in treatment and support client stability during critical moments. Working closely with intake and medical teams, the Clinician will deliver short-term psychotherapy, safety planning and crisis support, care coordination, case management, and group services when appropriate. The Clinician is expected to support up to 40 transferring clients annually and can also provide coverage across CIS sites during staff absences, strengthening overall program stability and service delivery. The Northside Center for Child Development provides children and their families with the support they need to overcome issues and thrive through high-quality, outcome-driven behavioral, mental health, and education services that advance the children forward, principally through the operation of their Clinic in East Harlem and their services located in NYC Public Schools and Early Learn Centers.

To expand their Counseling Center’s Short-Term Trauma Intervention Training (STTI) and support to staff on their Child Trauma Response Team (CTRT). STTI addresses trauma in the acute phase to help prevent the development of chronic trauma reactions that may have a profound long-term impact. STTI: helps survivors recognize trauma reactions; provides coping strategies; and provides further emotional support – all within the critical initial minutes when survivors call-in for help. Our previous grant successfully piloted the program last year within their eight domestic violence shelters. They hope to now standardize these trainings, equip additional trainers, and replicate this model within CTRT, an early intervention program that provides outreach and a swift and coordinated response to families after serious incidents of violence, including homicide, domestic violence, and other traumatizing experiences. Within the next 3-5 years, Safe Horizon intends to implement this model organization-wide … and well beyond. Safe Horizon is the nation’s leading victim services provider, serving some 250,000 persons annually via a wide range of programs and a network of over 150 program locations across NYC.

To support the Director of Clinical Education and Practice, a new leadership position responsible for strengthening clinical training and quality assurance as TAP expands its workforce development initiative. This Director provides strategic oversight of their school-based clinic as well as practicum learning for social work students serving as clinicians-in-training, better ensuring compliance and quality across TAP’s clinical services. The Director will also coordinate group supervision, case conferencing, and supervision toward clinical licensure for staff and trainees. As TAP builds a training pipeline designed to prepare and place diverse social workers in community mental health settings, this role helps to ensure that trainees receive rigorous clinical instruction while maintaining high standards of care for middle school youth. The Director will also oversee emerging clinical needs across sites and support integration with school partners, positioning TAP to responsibly scale its model while addressing the broader shortage and lack of diversity in the youth mental health workforce. The Arthur Project is dedicated to creating a replicable model that professionalizes traditional mentoring by using clinically-focused mentors to work intensively with youth throughout their middle school grades.

The Cummings Fund annually makes additional grants to qualified charities to which the Advisory Board Members requested the Fund to make a donation.

For support of a Career Pathways & Postsecondary Success Coordinator at their George Washington Educational Campus in Washington Heights, serving as the Coordinator for their career readiness and other post-high-school support services. This position would significantly increase their capacity to respond to unmet demand for career-connected services in Upper Manhattan, while helping to ensure that students receive consistent, student-centered support grounded in both immediate needs and long-term planning. Responsibilities would include delivering workshops, providing individualized student advising, coordinating certification referrals, developing internship and employment opportunities, and collaborating with school staff to identify and support students having the highest levels of need. East Side House is a settlement house which serves more than 15,000 individuals annually via 29 sites situated throughout the Bronx and Northern Manhattan, providing community members with the education and technology skills that they need to create economic and civic opportunities for themselves, their families, and the Bronx community.

To support the hiring and salary of a GED/Life Skills Instructor who will lead GOSO’s Next Step Scholars Program, a new classroom-based initiative serving justice-impacted young adults ages 22-24. Nearly 60% of GOSO participants enroll without a high school diploma or GED and read, on average, at a second-grade level, making access to consistent, structured classroom instruction essential to their progress. When the New York City Department of Education reduced the age limit for its Pathways to Graduation program from 24 to 21, participants in that 22-24 age range lost access to classroom-based GED instruction mid-progress. The Next Step Scholars Program fills that gap through small-group and individualized GED instruction integrated with life skills and workforce readiness training, delivered in a trauma-informed, culturally responsive environment. GOSO strives to reduce recidivism and support greater long-term stability among court-involved youths aged 16 to 24 through education, employment, and emotional well-being services. This dedicated classroom will better ensure that their older participants are not left without a viable path forward.

For continued support of the Director of Talent Acquisition & Onboarding, an important member of their 10-person People Team, which collectively lead Henry Street’s efforts to strengthen their staff recruitment, hiring, onboarding, and retention across their large agency. The Director works with staff leadership to manage and support enhanced recruitment and onboarding efforts, offering the full range of recruitment or supportive recruitment, depending upon the needs of the program and individual hiring needs. Because their success as a settlement house very much depends upon the strength and commitment of their staff, it is essential: that they attract the best candidates; that all of their staff are onboarded effectively and understand their specific roles; and that they invest in and then retain their employees by providing them with appropriate ongoing opportunities to learn and grow. Henry Street Settlement serves some 50,000 low-income New Yorkers each year via its 18 program sites across Manhattan’s Lower East Side, providing comprehensive social, health care, and educational services.

For renewed support of the People Operations Manager for Training, Development, and Retention who will continue to help Hudson Guild, a settlement house, to further strengthen their staff training, development, and retention efforts. Last year, the People Operations Manager developed and implemented targeted strategies by which to better hire, onboard, and then retain a dedicated workforce. They have already seen improvements in retention levels for employees, especially during their first year of employment when they had experienced the most turnover. They hope to expand upon those efforts and implement additional ones. Ultimately, their goal is to equip all staff with the skills and tools to succeed at their current jobs, and to further their long-term careers at Hudson Guild so that the agency can continue to provide outstanding services and programs to the individuals and families — many of whom reside in public housing — in Chelsea and along the West Side of Manhattan.

For support of an Early Education Specialist for their new early childhood literacy program called NAC L.I.T! (Literacy, Inquiry, and Togetherness) for children aged 0-5 involved in the child welfare system and their respective caregivers. NAC L.I.T! provides literacy engagement and individualized interventions designed to ensure that young children enter kindergarten with the foundational skills, support, and learning environments necessary for long-term academic success. This position plays a central role in engaging families, building caregiver capacity, and better ensuring that children are connected to appropriate early childhood services, educational placements, and community-based resources. Through one-on-one support, the Specialist helps families navigate complex systems, access high-quality early learning opportunities, and remain engaged in services that support their child’s development. NAC’s mission is to provide innovative high-quality services that help ensure children with complex medical, developmental, and mental health needs can safely remain with or be reunified with their families and achieve long-term stability and well-being.

To support the new Associate Director of Data & Analytics who will lead the development and execution of a comprehensive data strategy to drive evidence-based decision-making, strengthen accountability, and enhance program impact. This role will formalize data-sharing agreements with Community Partners; design performance dashboards; and oversee monitoring, evaluation, and learning efforts. The Associate Director will use data to inform program site selection and to guide strategic growth, particularly within their chosen deep-impact initiatives, including College Access, which focus on long-term economic mobility. The Associate Director will play a key role in the expansion of College Access, which will serve 785 disadvantaged high school students in the coming year, up from 662 students. For 39 years, New York Cares has been New York City’s leading volunteer management organization, now annually mobilizing some 66,000 volunteers and 400 Community Partners to help meet various community needs.

For renewed support of the Workforce Partnership Coordinator responsible for identifying workforce training programs tailored to Eagle Academy students’ interests and needs, developing comprehensive program plans, and facilitating placements into internship, training, apprenticeship, and job opportunities. By monitoring participants’ progress and providing ongoing support across all 6 Eagle Academies, the Coordinator will help to ensure seamless transitions into the workforce for their graduates. This role will contribute to EAFs overarching strategic goal of streamlining and leveraging the City’s vast opportunities to ensure that Eagles have a full range of post-secondary opportunities that will lead to economic empowerment and mobility. Over the next year, the goal of the Workforce Partnership Coordinator will be to continue to develop new partnerships, expand existing partnerships, and better support their students’ transition into the working world. EAF supports a network of 6 all-male, grades 6 through 12 college-preparatory public schools that are strategically located within challenged urban communities in New York City and Newark, NJ which collectively educate and mentor 5,000 young men, the majority of whom are Black or Latino.

For continued support for their Chief of Staff who handles special projects, including data management and Board Meeting coordination, and liaises with the various Board committees working to achieve their strategic plan’s objectives. This position has enabled HOPE to integrate data and AI tools into their operations, reinforce compliance and quality assurance, and enhance coordination between the Executive Director, staff, and Board. This role provides the organizational and communication channel framework for the leadership team, employees, and other external partners to implement HOPE’s strategic vision. As they enter the next phase of their strategic plan implementation, this position will help them to deepen their impact and deliver lasting results for the 400 jobseekers whom they annually enroll, plus an additional 400 program graduates to whom they continue to offer job-related support. HOPE empowers New Yorkers to build more sustainable futures through comprehensive training, jobs, advancement, and lifelong follow-up career support.