PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Olney Edmondson, Social Worker and Program Director at Center for Family Life in Sunset Park
2:48:50
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128 sec
Olney Edmondson, a social worker and program director at Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, shared experiences with Summer Rising and an alternative summer camp model. He emphasized the importance of providing families with choices for summer programming and called for a reconsideration of the Summer Rising model.
- Ran a Summer Rising program in 2021-2022 and an alternative NYS-funded summer camp in 2023-2024
- Alternative camp model includes arts-based literacy, trips, project-based learning, and social-emotional focus
- Many families chose the alternative camp over Summer Rising, especially for children performing at or above grade level
- Called for transparent sharing of Summer Rising academic outcomes and significant operational changes
Olney Edmondson
2:48:50
Hello.
2:48:51
I'm gonna kinda end like, kinda bookend what my colleagues here said.
2:48:55
My name is Olney Edmonson, and I'm a social worker and program director at Center of Family Life in Sunset Park.
2:49:01
I ran a summarizing program in the summers of 2021 2022.
2:49:06
And for the last two summers, I've saw summer of 2023 2024.
2:49:11
I have run a camp funded by the NYS, the New York State Education Department.
2:49:16
3 of our partner site in Sunset Park have been able to provide families with this alternative summer programming option, a 5 day per week summer camp, the model of which includes arts based literacy programming trips, special events, project based learning, and a focus on social emotional learning, and a staff by teaching artists, teaching fellow social workers, and young adults from the Sunset Park community.
2:49:37
As we have done since before summarizing, we worked closely with the 3 principles to ensure that students identified by their schools as needing academic intervention were enrolled in summarizing, so they received the necessary academic supports to support that student.
2:49:53
However, many families with children who were not mandated to receive summer academic intervention were delighted to have an alternative program for their children.
2:50:03
Families that have families that had enrolled their children in summer of 2023 heard such praise from parents parent networks about the alternative camp option offered by Center for Family Life.
2:50:17
They relinquished their summarizing slots that they were offered in 2024, and instead they chose a program where their children who had performed at or above grade level over the course of the school year would not need to participate in remedial academics for 16 hours per week.
2:50:35
This is the type of choice families across NYC deserve.
2:50:39
We hope our testimony will bring about a meaningful examination and reconsideration of the summarizing model, transparent sharing of the academic outcomes of student participants and significant changes in the operation of the program so that our young people can thrive.
2:50:58
Thank you.
