On September 20, 2016, DYCD, along with representatives from the Human Resources Administration (HRA), Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), Department of Education (DOE), New York State Office of Children and Family Services (NYS OCFS), New York State Office of Temporary Disability and Assistance (NYS OTDA), the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Modell’s Sporting Goods sponsored the 10th Annual Dads Take Your Child To School Day rally at P.S. 153, Helen Keller School in the Bronx. The theme for 2016 was “Men in Education,” with an emphasis on the role of dads in education. Former NBA New York Knicks player John Wallace was on hand to greet students and their dads.

PIX 11 did live reports from the event throughout the morning (which can be viewed here and here), and check out coverage from News 12 Bronx and photos on the DYCD Facebook page!

DYCD invites you to share your feedback about resources and the needs of your community. Please take a few moments to complete the Community Needs Assessment — which includes a Youth Survey for the first time ever.

Saturday, October 15, 2016, 11:00am – 3:00pm
Madison Square Park
Madison Avenue and 23rd Street, New York, NY
Free for ages 0 – 12
This daylong event for children 0 – 12 years old and their families will feature a variety of hands-on activities and performances including music, dance, theater, puppetry, magic, and storytelling. There will be three stages teeming with a variety of performances including a whimsical comedy production with The Joshua Show and music performances with Grammy Award winner and Emmy nominated Tim Kubart and the Space Cadets. The Stages will also feature a circus performance with Sammie and Tudie’s Comedy Magic Circus, folklore storytelling with Story Laurie, a puppet show with puppeteer and storyteller Vít Horejš, Director of The Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre, a high-energy dance routine with It’s Showtime NYC, and a magical performance with children’s magician The Amazing Max. Don’t forget to stick around for Stories That Sing, Dance and Shout with Something Positive, classical Indian music and dance with Jiva Performing Arts, an elevated ensemble with Shinbone Alley Stilt Band, and a spiritual taiko drumming performance with OMNY Taiko. For more information, visit madisonsquarepark.org.

Friday, October 28, 2016, 5:00pm – 8:00pm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028
Free for ages 13 – 18
Grab your friends and take over The Met for the night. Drop in for teen-only activities across the Museum including art making, performances, gallery activities for teens by teens, music, dancing, and more. Discover what you can also do at over forty NYC cultural and community organizations this year. Doors will open at 5 pm. Teens Take The Met! is free and open to all teens 13 – 18 with a middle or high school ID. Just show up or RSVP now to get a free ticket to beat the line. Check out a video from a past Teens Take The Met! This event will be photographed, filmed, and/or recorded. By your presence at the event, you consent to the photography, filming, and use of your image and/or voice. For more information, please visit metmuseum.org.

Saturdays, October 8 – 29, 2016, 6:00pm – 12:00am
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111th Street, Corona, NY 11368 (Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens)
Admission is free for all ages
The Queens International Night Market is a large, family-friendly open-air night market in Queens, featuring independent vendors selling merchandise, art, and food and featuring small-scale cultural performances and entertainment, all celebrating the rich cultural diversity and heritage of NYC and Queens. For more information about the market, visit queensnightmarket.com.

Monday, October 31, 2016 at 5:00pm
From 89th to 76th Streets on 37th Avenue, Queens, NY
The Jackson Heights Halloween Parade is NYC’s biggest children’s Halloween Parade. Hundreds of children march with their parents or schools and are accompanied by local school marching bands and community figures. Three thousand goody bags will be distributed to children at the end of the parade. For parade and event details see the The Jackson Heights Beautification Group Facebook page.

Sunday, October 16, 2016, 1:00pm – 4:00pm
RISE Center
58-03 Rockaway Beach Boulevard, Far Rockaway, NY 11692
Free for all ages
Join Rockaway Waterfront Alliance for the 5th Annual Hip Hop Halloween. Celebrate halloween with family and friends in the Hip Hop Community Garden by taking part in painting a pumpkin, face painting and festive food. This event is free and open to the public. Registration is not required. For more information, please the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance website.

Weekends, October 1 – 30, 2016
The Bronx Zoo
2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460
For all ages
See some of the Bronx Zoo’s creepy inhabitants, including bats, rats, owls and leopards, and enjoy numerous Halloween activities on October weekends. Special Halloween-themed activities include magic shows, spooky stories, costume parades, and musical hayrides. There is also trick or treating in select areas of the zoo. Most Boo at the Zoo activities are free with zoo admission. Children under age 12 wearing costumes are admitted free to the zoo with a paying adult. See the Bronx Zoo website or call 718-220-5100 for schedules and information.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016, 2:00pm – 4:00pm
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019
Art inSight is held monthly in the Museum galleries. Specially trained Museum lecturers highlight specific themes, artists, and exhibitions, engaging participants through extensive verbal descriptions. Art inSight is free of charge. Space is limited and preregistration is required. For more information or to register, please visit MOMA.org, or call Access Programs at (212) 408-6447 or email accessprograms@moma.org.

The Stephen J. Brady Stop Hunger Scholarships recognizes students who are driving awareness and mobilizing youth to be catalysts for innovative models that provide solutions to eliminate hunger in America. Scholarship winners receive a $5,000 scholarship and a $5,000 grant for their hunger-related charity. The Stephen J. Brady Stop Hunger Scholarship is named for the Foundation’s founder and former president, Steve Brady, who was an unstoppable champion in the fight to end hunger. For more information, please email StopHunger@sodexofoundation.org or visit the scholarship website.

The Arts and Family Engagement program leverages schools’ existing arts partnerships to create more family connections to the arts programs offered at their schools. Through this initiative, schools and their current arts partners receive grants of up to $5,000 for interactive family workshops or events that showcase students’ school-based arts experiences, draw connections between student art and other academic learning, and offer innovative art-making or learning experiences. By creating new opportunities to engage around the arts, this program helps students, family members, and the school community experience the power of arts education in the school setting. For application information, please review the program guidelines. The proposal deadline is Monday, November 7, 2016.

The Brooklyn Film and Arts Festival is pleased to announce the call for submissions for the 2016 Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize. The Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize, a cash award of $500, will be awarded to the best Brooklyn-focused non-fiction essay which is set in Brooklyn and is about Brooklyn and/or Brooklyn people/characters. The Festival is seeking compelling Brooklyn stories from writers with a broad range of backgrounds and ages who can render Brooklyn’s rich soul and intangible qualities through the writer’s actual experiences in Brooklyn. From the collection of selected Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize submissions, five authors will be selected to read from their work and discuss their Brooklyn stories with the audience at the December 2016 event. The exact date/time and venue will be announced later. These stories and several other submitted stories will be published on the Brooklyn Film and Arts Festival website and made available to the public. The deadline for submissions is November 15, 2016. The competition is free to enter and the awarded amount is $500. Submissions should be between 4 to 10 pages (up to 2500 words). Send your Brooklyn Non-Fiction story as a Word document by email to Brooklynfa@yahoo.com. Please include the story title, your name, email and phone number. The submitted writings will be judged by a panel of Brooklyn writers. Runners-up will be invited to read from their writing and their entries will be included in the Brooklyn Film and Arts Festival’s Brooklyn Non-Fiction Collection of stories in an online anthology. For more information, visit filmbrooklyn.org.

Foot Locker wants to celebrate you, not just because you scored the game-winning point, but because sports have helped you grow into a strong leader at school and in your community. The scholarship award is $20,000 and will be distributed in four equal, annual installments. One scholarship winner will be selected to receive the Ken C. Hicks Scholarship for demonstrating superior educational achievement, outstanding leadership, and a true love of the game. This winner will receive an additional $5,000 award (for a total of $25,000). To apply: applicants must be a current high school senior entering a four-year accredited U.S. college or university in the fall of 2016; must be a U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident; must currently be a member (in good standing) of a high school sports team or be involved in after-school sports and must have maintained an unweighted grade point average of 3.0 or higher from 9th grade to the first semester of 12th grade. Applicants will be judged on the following criteria: embodiment of good sportsmanship and strong moral character; passion and commitment to empowering their communities; confidence and enthusiasm about being a leader; demonstrated academic excellence; diversity; other key attributes, such as being proactive and highly motivated, inspiring and charismatic, honest and trustworthy, genuine, strong and courageous. Applications are due December 16, 2016 at 5:00pm EST. To apply, visit the Foot Locker Scholar Athletes website.

AmeriCorps grants are awarded to eligible organizations proposing to engage AmeriCorps members in evidence-based or evidence-informed interventions to strengthen communities. An AmeriCorps member is an individual who engages in community service through an approved national service position. Members may receive a living allowance and other benefits while serving. Upon successful completion of their service, members earn a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award from the National Service Trust that members can use to pay for higher education expenses or apply to qualified student loans. Grant awards generally have two components: operating funds and AmeriCorps member positions. Grant award amounts vary — both in the level of operating funds and in the type and amount of AmeriCorps member positions. Unless otherwise specified, the grant generally covers a three-year project period. In approving a multi-year project period, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) generally makes an initial award for the first year of operation. In most cases, the application is submitted with a one-year budget. Continuation funding is not guaranteed.

The deadline for applications to the 2017 Notice of Funding Opportunity is Wednesday, January 18, 2017 at 5:00 pm EST. Organizations that propose to operate in only one state must apply through the Governor-appointed State or Territory Commissions. Each state and territory administers its own selection process and puts forward to CNCS the applicants it selects to compete for funding. State applicants must contact their State Commissions to learn about their state or territory processes and deadlines which may be significantly before the CNCS deadlines and may have additional requirements. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a Notification of Intent to apply for this competition, but it is not required. Notifications of Intent to apply should be filed by Wednesday, December 7, 2016. For more information, visit nationalservice.gov.

The United States Senate Youth Program, established in 1962 by U.S. Senate Resolution, is a unique educational experience for outstanding high school students interested in pursuing careers in public service. The 55th annual program will be held in Washington, D.C., from March 4 – 11, 2017. The William Randolph Hearst Foundation awards 104 scholarships each year. Two student leaders from each state, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity, will be selected by the office of the chief state or district school officer. These students will spend a week in Washington experiencing their national government in action. Student delegates will hear major policy addresses by senators, cabinet members, officials from the Departments of State and Defense and directors of other federal agencies, as well as participate in a meeting with a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. All transportation, hotel and meal expenses will be provided by The Hearst Foundations. In addition, each delegate will also be awarded a $10,000 college scholarship for undergraduate studies, with encouragement to pursue coursework in history and political science. To apply, please contact the New York state selection contact. To learn more about the United States Senate Youth Program, please visit ussenateyouth.org.

Looking for an afterschool program in your neighborhood? Need information on improving reading skills or finding the nearest community center? The web application discoverDYCD allows you to search in multiple languages for DYCD-funded programs. You can search by borough, neighborhood or zip code, and discoverDYCD provides contact information, activities offered, and a mapping feature with navigation.
Categories of services include: Afterschool Programs, Family Support, Literacy Services, Youth Services and so much more! We hope you find discoverDYCD useful as you take advantage of the diverse resources and opportunities that New York City has to offer.