PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Albeliza Perez, Senior Manager of Youth and Workforce Development at American Museum of Natural History
1:28:33
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3 min
Albeliza Perez, Senior Manager of Youth and Workforce Development at the American Museum of Natural History, testified about the museum's workforce development programs and their impact. She shared her personal journey from program participant to program manager, emphasizing the importance of paid opportunities for young people in the arts and cultural sector.
- The Science Network NYC program supports STEM and cultural career development across all five boroughs, including research mentoring for high school students and museum education experience for undergraduates.
- Programs develop skills in research, public speaking, scientific communication, and group facilitation, which are adaptable to various careers.
- Many program alumni now work across the cultural sector in New York City, demonstrating the long-term impact of these initiatives.
Albeliza Perez
1:28:33
Good morning.
1:28:33
My name is Albelisa Perez, and I serve my community as the senior manager of youth and workforce development at the American Museum of Natural History.
1:28:42
My colleague, Doheny Sampora, has submitted a comprehensive testimony detailing the museum's workforce programs for the record today.
1:28:49
I'm here to testify as a former participant of these programs, and as someone who now manages the programs at the American Museum of Natural History.
1:28:58
When I reflect on my journey, I think about the girl from the Bronx who commuted into Manhattan to go to El Museo del Barrio, to go to the International Center of Photography, to go to AMNH, at the time that I was participating in these programs, they were unpaid.
1:29:13
What has shifted is across the sector is the importance of making these opportunities paid for the young people who participate in them because we understand that there is an economic crisis for a lot of our young people who are facing, you know, hurdles in terms of their housing, in terms of their ability to provide for their family units.
1:29:38
And so this is incredibly important for us and I think important for the sector at large.
1:29:44
The sign network NYC fosters STEM and cultural career development opportunities across all 5 boroughs.
1:29:51
So we are in every single borough.
1:29:54
In fiscal 25, the funding for the network, that we received at AMNH supported 2 of our programs, the science research mentoring program for high school students and the museum education experience program for our undergraduate students.
1:30:10
The research program enables, young people to join world renowned scientists at AMNH and engage in authentic research opportunities.
1:30:20
They are asking questions about the natural world, about urban ecology, about climate change, and they are producing genuine research that oftentimes gets published in academic peer reviewed articles, launching them into, their careers in STEM.
1:30:37
The museum education experience program develops skills in public speaking, scientific communication, group facilitation.
1:30:44
And, obviously, these are not just foundational skills for the workforce.
1:30:48
They're very much adaptable skills to any career.
1:30:52
We're so fortunate to have alumni of our programs working across the sector in our city already giving back.
1:30:58
The, Nick Martinez, who is VP of Education and Public Engagement at the Museum of the City of New York, is an alumni of the Museum Education Experience Program.
1:31:07
Jonatul Ahmed, who is currently working in global business development at AMNH, is an alumni of our science research mentoring program.
1:31:15
But there are scores of others who are working in such varied roles as media communications and animal husbandry and live exhibits and working across the city in both the formal and informal sector as educators.
1:31:29
So we also make teachers.
1:31:32
So thank you so much for listening to our testimony today.
1:31:35
I hope to continue to expand on this great work.