Success Stories

When You Feel Lost COCNYC Can Help Map Out Your Future

Cold, hungry and on the verge of tears, Ana a, 17 year old with a 22 month old baby on her hip, contacted the Children of the City office desperate for help. She had been living with her mother in a shelter in the Bronx until the family relocated to the Sunset Park area. Anxious to finish high school, or get her GED, she was seeking advice and emotional support. The counselors in our mentoring program welcomed Ana and told her about our tutoring, GED and college bound programs. They took some time to explain all of her options and how COC could be of service. As Ana, bonded with her mentor...

Claire – The Future Presidential Candidate

Claire is a bright, confident, smiling second grader who has her sights set on being president of the United States. She speaks with such enthusiasm that you would never suspect her mother enrolled her in Children of the City (COC) because of an extreme lack of self confidence. It was heartbreaking to hear Claire repeatedly say “I hate myself”. Claire was assigned to a counselor at COC who recognized her challenges and leadership potential. By designing and implementing a social emotional learning plan Claire began making friends and not only joining in, but initiating activities...

Jorge – The Struggle is Real

Jorge is a quiet, shy, perfectionist who loves to learn and wants to please his teacher. But it takes more than motivation to pick up on difficult math skills when you have a tendency to reverse your numbers. After a few low marks in math, Jorge lost confidence. He was too embarrassed by his mistakes to ask his teacher for help and quickly fell behind academically. COC’s counselors and tutors worked with Jorge to encourage him to ask questions and persevere when faced with a challenge. They used math games and taught him some tricks to do math mentally so that he could talk through a...

Joel – Give It Your All

Joel was so used to having the wrong answer whenever the teacher called on him that he rarely raised his hand. School was a source of anxiety, a power play between frustration and perseverance that left him drained at the end of the day. He was enrolled in Children of the City to bring his academic skills up to par, but his counselor quickly discovered low self-esteem was Joel’s real nemesis. Whenever he got the wrong answer he would feel so ashamed that he just shut down for the rest of the day. He would isolate himself from his peers and teachers. By the end of six weeks of support...

Helping Homeless Families

In addition to the 500 hundred families that Children of the City serves annually in Brooklyn, we have taken on the challenge of an additional 10% of clients from the homeless shelters in Sunset Park. Children of the City is the first of the local agencies to step up to the plate, and offer consistent and continuous help for the local shelter families. Our monthly “Super Saturday” program has provided an easy access outreach where parents can come for workshops, practical advice, and the bare necessities including diapers and emergency food. “This is a wonderful organization that is...

Ashley’s Story

“Look the zipper works!” cried Ashley as she ran around the room giggling and showing off her new pink winter jacket. This is “my very first and my very best coat.” What Ashley meant was that this is the first time she had received a coat that wasn’t a hand me down. And the first time she was in possession of a garment with a functioning zipper. Ashley loves school, but her attendance was sporadic because she didn’t have a warm sweater or jacket. Her family had arrived at a nearby homeless shelter with only the clothes on their backs. Children...

Saadia’s Story

Saadia was distraught, forlorn, and pregnant with her fourth child when her husband abandoned the family. When her children joined Children of the City’s “Future Safe program” she had no family or support system in the community. Her oldest daughter found out about Children of the City when a classmate invited her to a Super Saturday event. Through a casual conversation we found out that Saadia needed basic supplies, such as emergency food, and baby clothes to keep her household running. She immediately signed up for workshops and services and has become a regular at our...

David’s Story

David: Growing Up in Children of the City When David Santos was nine years old, a Children of the City outreach counselor visited his home. “My mom just loved it,” recalls David. “She was a single mother, and to hear that someone was willing to grab her four kids and take them for a Saturday morning, well, she agreed to that. I grew up with Children of the City. If I had a dollar for every hour I spent there I could retire right now.” In fact, David has made Children of the City his second home. He began volunteering in the programs when he was a teenager. He wrote and performed Rap...

Rosa’s Story

Rosa Cintron, at age 12, Brooklyn, New York A few years prior, if someone dared ask Rosa to read, even a book as simple as one by Dr. Seuss, there would have been mayhem. In the midst of screaming and pounding fists, Rosa was known to overturn her desk and send books flying across the room. “I would have tantrums,” explains Rosa. “I would think, ‘Are they slow? Why don’t they understand? I don’t read!! Do they even care?’” Schoolteachers gave up on Rosa, aiming to manage her tantrums rather than provide any instruction. “They just put me aside,” she says. “In third...

Kace’s Story 2017

“I have braces now, so I don’t like smiling,” Kace admits. The loquacious 17 year old is hoping to get them off in time for senior prom next year. She beams when she talks about her volunteer work at the Afterschool Program and Super Saturday. “I want to help because Children of the City was my whole childhood.” She and her older sister Rosa were rescued from a devastating home situation and placed in our Guardianship Program when Kace was only 3 years old. She refuses to dwell on her past, but speculates that “I’d probably be out on street or dead without Children of the...

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