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September 23, 2006 |
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As Roosevelt Island continues to grow, one of our challenges is to maintain the sense of community that has developed among the families who live here. The RIOC Board, at its last meeting, took a major step towards strengthening that sense of community by approving a $75,000 grant proposal to revitalize Island Kids, a longtime community program for kids on the Island.
The grant is designed to support the work of the program, which offers everything from music programs for pre-schoolers to yoga and dance for teenagers. The grant will allow the program to add to scholarships for Island youngsters who might not otherwise be able to afford the programs.
Roosevelt Island is obviously not immune to the pressures of the higher cost of living in the City that surrounds us, but we have worked hard to maintain affordability and the ideal of a mixed income community that has guided development here. The Island Kids scholarship program is one way in which to forge a greater sense of community among both newer families who have recently arrived and those who have long lived here.
"Roosevelt Island is changing, with new and old buildings, and this is a way to pull the Island together," said Nikki Leopold, Island Kids’ director who grew up on Roosevelt Island and returned in 1997 with her husband and four children to raise her own family.
The website for the group, www.islandkids.org, describes its mission better than I could, so let me quote:
"Island Kids has its roots in a playgroup started in the early ’80’s by a group of parents committed to bringing the Roosevelt Island parenting community together. Today, Island Kids strives to support family and community by offering daytime classes for infants to four-year-olds and afternoon and evening classes for older children and adults. Sessions are 45 minutes to one hour long and include mother and baby support groups, music classes in Spanish and English, creative play for toddlers and babies, and science and cooking classes just to name a few. Island Kids stands firm in its mission to serve the entire Roosevelt Island Community and therefore offers scholarships to those who might otherwise not be able to participate in our programs."
The program, once a mainstay of Island life, had dwindled over the years before Leopold stepped in to revive it and run it. This summer, she ran a camp, along with dance and yoga classes, averaging between 10 and 12 kids a week. The class offerings have been expanded dramatically. Leopold hopes to run ten classes this fall, serving between 150 and 200 kids from the Island.
Leopold is also looking to strengthen ties with other groups on the Island, including PS/IS 217, by inviting kids to take part in the programs and making them aware of the scholarship program.
The grant approved by the RIOC Board will help professionalize the staff and expand the scholarship program so those who are unable to afford the average $230 cost for a program will be able to take part. The emphasis is on safety and community, two ideas that drive what we do on the Island.
Check it out for your own kids. It is part of what makes Roosevelt Island such a special spot in our City.