What makes us unique?
OUR HOME,
THE SOUTH BRONX
The South Bronx is a place marked by deep beauty, diversity, and resilience. Known as the birthplace of hip hop, breakdancing, and graffiti, it has made massive cultural contributions whose impact spans the globe.
The South Bronx is also a place marked by massive inequity. With a 51% child poverty rate, 58% parental employment instability, and a median income of families with children of $24,582, children born in the Mott Haven community that A House on Beekman serves are far more likely to face significant barriers to living out their potential than their Manhattan counterparts, from economic security, to housing, healthcare, and education. According to the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, only 8% of graduating students in Mott Haven are ready for college-level work by the end of four years of high school, compared to 79% of students graduating in Tribeca, the wealthiest neighborhood in Manhattan.
A PASSION FOR RENEWAL
A House on Beekman exists to help close the opportunity gap for children in the South Bronx. We believe that a child’s zip code should never limit his or her ability to dream about the future.
A House on Beekman offers programs that support children and youth through all stages of their development. This means that we are here for the long haul. Our babies become our preschoolers, who enroll in our after school program and summer camp. As they enter middle and high school, they transition into our Beyond School: Secondary education program that aims to equip and support them as they get ready to transition into adulthood.
OUR MISSION
A House on Beekman
empowers children and youth
to flourish by providing programs
that focus on academic, social,
and emotional growth.
OUR VISION
Children in the South Bronx equipped
to live out their God-given potential.
The Four Fundamentals
Though our programs span a range of ages, we’ve identified four shared practices that serve as the unifying threads that run through all of our programs, for the tiniest babies all the way to high schoolers beginning to navigate their career paths.
2. Social-Emotional Learning
We believe that we must teach children social-emotional literacy as intentionally as we teach them to read and write. This includes teaching children to recognize emotions in themselves and others, helping them develop a robust emotional vocabulary, and equipping them with the skills they need to express emotions appropriately and self-regulate. Our programs implement robust SEL practices that set students up to have healthy relationships with themselves (through emotional fluency and self-regulation strategies) and other people (through empathy, active listening, and conflict resolution).
1. Faith Foundation
We believe that every person is made in the image of God, and therefore is inherently valuable and worthy of being treated with dignity and respect. Fueled by our understanding of God’s love, we aim to create environments where kids and their families can experience deep love and belonging.
3. Anti-Bias Education
Anti-Bias Education aims to teach children to feel strong and proud of their own identity without the need to feel superior to others. It also teaches children to notice, name, and celebrate diversity rather than ignoring human differences. Finally, we believe that it is our job to equip our students with skills they need to stand up against injustice, and to advocate on behalf of themselves and others.
4. Experiential Learning
We believe that children learn best through hands-on, active, “learning by doing.” We seek to provide educational experiences that cultivate the skills needed for 21st century learning. Because we live in a rapidly changing world, we know that the individuals with the best chance of success in the 21st century workforce are the ones with the ability to think outside the box, explore creative solutions to new problems, collaborate with others, and expand possible outcomes. In our programs, we celebrate courageous risk taking and creative problem solving as much as we celebrate exceptional test scores. Not only does this foster creativity in students, it helps instill in them the mindset of being lifelong learners, another quality that will serve them well for years to come.
