Youth Program

Faced with rising residential rents following the rezoning of the North Brooklyn waterfront, working-class families in Greenpoint-Williamsburg have been forced to work long hours. The result has been an increase in the number of latch-key children. At the same time, the loss of local job opportunities due to both the rezoning and the current economic recession, has made it more difficult for parents to afford daycare and after-school programs for their children. After-school programs and Children’s Summer Camps are thus in high demand in the Greenpoint-Williamsburg area.

NBDC believes that the time spent outside of school can be just as (if not more) important for childhood development than the time spent in school. After school programs offer children the opportunity not just to remain in safe environment until their parents return from work, but also to socialize and develop in new and interesting ways. NBDC’s mission for its after-school program is: to improve the educational performance of students; to teach students how to behave in different settings (classroom, cafeteria, gymnasium, hallways, in public and on field trips); to teach students how to respect adults and fellow classmates; and to encourage students to enjoy and appreciate school.

NBDC has provided after-school programs for the Board of Education for over 20 years. Currently, with support from the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development, NBDC is administering an Out of School Program that provides a warm, healthy and safe environment for 63 children (male and female), ranging in age from six to eleven. The program includes: homework assistance, arts and crafts, and literacy, mathematics, computer science and physical education activities. For the past three years, NBDC has also run a Children’s Summer Camp. For ten hours a day, five days a week, NBDC has provided a wide variety of educational, artistic and physical activities and field trips for neighborhood children.