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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Jai Nanda, Founder and Executive Director of Urban Dove Team Charter School
5:48:26
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133 sec
Jai Nanda, founder and executive director of Urban Dove, testified about the need for Learn to Work program funding for charter transfer schools. He emphasized the importance of social-emotional services for over-age and under-credited students and requested the council to include charter transfer schools in future Learn to Work RFPs.
- Urban Dove runs a network of transfer high schools for over-age, under-credited students under 17 years old
- The Learn to Work program provides grants to community-based organizations for social-emotional services, internships, and other support for these students
- Charter transfer schools like Urban Dove are currently excluded from Learn to Work funding, impacting over a thousand students in their network
Jai Nanda
5:48:26
Good afternoon Chair Joseph, Chair Brennan, members of the council.
5:48:31
Thank you so much for taking a minute to listen to our testimony this afternoon.
5:48:35
My name is Jay Nanda.
5:48:36
I'm the founder and executive director of Urban Dove.
5:48:39
I started Urban Dove about twenty five years ago working with high school youth here in New York City.
5:48:44
We now run a network of transfer high schools for over age under credited students.
5:48:49
Some of you have been to our schools.
5:48:51
You know our schools.
5:48:53
We work very closely with schools in the DOE.
5:48:56
It's a great synergy between us and DOE transfer schools.
5:49:00
They take kids 17 and over.
5:49:01
We take kids 17 and under.
5:49:03
All of our students are over age and under credited.
5:49:06
All the testimony you heard today about social and emotional health, it's double for kids who are over age and under credited and disengaged in school.
5:49:13
That's why the Learn to Work program was created over twenty years ago.
5:49:18
The Learn to Work program provides grants to community based organizations.
5:49:21
The money does not go to schools.
5:49:23
This is not a charter versus district issue.
5:49:25
The money doesn't go to the charter schools or the district schools.
5:49:27
It goes to community based organizations who then provide social emotional services, internships, college awareness, advocate counselors, attendance coordinators to help over age undercredit students engage.
5:49:41
It's an unbelievably successful program which is why ten years ago, chancellor Farina made sure that every single DOE transfer school got it.
5:49:51
But because Urban Dove team charter transfer schools are charter transfer schools, we were denied this.
5:49:56
It was a political statement but really the people you denied the service to were the students that are sitting here with me.
5:50:02
We have over a thousand students in our network.
5:50:05
We're asking the council to please ensure that charter transfer schools are incurred to any included in any future learn to work RFPs.
5:50:14
And until that day comes, and we don't know when that will happen, we are asking the council to please provide the funding for those services and resources.
5:50:24
You'll hear it much more eloquently from the students that we brought here.
5:50:27
Again, in the essence of time, we've only brought one student from each school, but we have over a thousand students in our network.
5:50:34
And, you can hear from them as to why these resources are so critical.
5:50:38
Thank you for your time.