Charities
- TruConnection.com supports select charitable organizations. These organizations
share our strong belief in the power of literacy and creativity in one's
personal development.
- NEW YORK
- ART START
- http://art-start.org/
- In the Spring of 1991, a handful of artists got together
with homeless kids to make art in New York City. Over
the next twenty years, ART START has become an award-winning, nationally
recognized model for using the creative arts to transform young, at-risk lives.
ART START kids live in city shelters, on the streets, are involved in court
cases, or surviving with parents in crisis. Through ART START’s daily creative
arts workshops taking place inside some of the city’s loneliest places, at-risk
youth collaborate with local teaching artists and educators who donate their
time and guidance to nurture the youth’s creativity and talents.
- ART START uses a student-centered approach to education. Our
workshops instill in our youth the confidence to appreciate who they already
are and what they innately have to offer the world; then, to think critically,
ask important questions, and pursue meaningful opportunities in life – against
all odds.
- REACH OUT AND READ, GREATER NEW YORK
- http://www.reachoutandreadnyc.org/
- Reach Out and Read of Greater New York prepares children in
the greater New York City region to succeed in school by partnering
with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together. We
serve nearly 280,000 children in 180 hospitals and community health centers
throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Long Island, and
Westchester, Dutchess,
Putnam, Orange,Sullivan, Ulster and Rockland Counties.
Reach Out and Read trains doctors and nurses to advise parents about the
importance of reading aloud and to give gree books to children at pediatric
check-ups, with a special focus on children growing up in poverty. In the past
year, Reach Out and Read of Greater New York has distributed more than 425,000
books to children living in low-income neighborhoods throughout the region.
- BOSTON
- JUMPSTART MASSACHUSETTS
- http://www.jstart.org
- Junpstart is a national early education organization working toward the day every child in America enters school prepared to succeed. Jumpstart delivers a research-based and cost-effective program by training college students and community volunteers to serve preschool-age children in low-income neighborhoods. This year, in Massachusetts alone, 650 volunteers are serving over 1,400 preschoolers. Through a proven curriculum, these children develop the language and literacy skills they need to be ready fro school, setting them on a path for lifelong success.
- One in three children in America enter school without the skills they need to be successful. Children in low-income neighborhoods start kindergarten 60% behind peers from more affluent communities. of 50 children having trouble to read in kindergarten, 44 of them will still be having trouble in third grade. Children who start school behind are more likely to stay behind, and this gap only widens over time. Jumpstart intervenes early to prepare children for kindergarten, helping close the gap before it is too late.
- HORIZONS FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN
- www.horizonsforhomelesschildren.org
- Unfortunately, families with children is the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population, with 1 out of every 45 children across the country now homeless, according to the National Center on Family Homelessness. And approximately half of the children who are homeless are under age 8. According to a study by the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, early experiences determine whether a child’s brain architecture will provide a strong or weak foundation for all future learning, behavior, and health. Children in stable environments who have access to stimulating early play and educational experiences will develop neural pathways in the brain that lay a foundation for academic readiness, positive social skills, and emotional stability. Unfortunately, children who have experienced homelessness are often denied these early developmental opportunities and might exhibit problems including developmental delays, social/emotional issues, and educational difficulties at much higher rates than their housed peers.
- HHC seeks to improve the lives of young children experiencing homelessness while working with their families to improve their economic and social well-being. Through education and play, we assist children in greater Boston and across Massachusetts by enriching their cognitive, social, emotional, and physical well-being. HHC aspires to ensure that children leaving our Community Children's Centers are better prepared for school by developing foundations for learning while also empowering their parents to support that learning. Together with our volunteers and partners, HHC staff participates in a national movement to improve access to high-quality early education and care and to create systemic change to support the unique needs of children experiencing homelessness.
