In January 2014, PASE began our three-year PASE Explorers program, a site-exchange, neighborhood exploration program for youth aged 8-12. Throughout the course of this program, participating sites complete a variety of activities outlined in the PASE Explorers Curriculum including: a neighborhood walk, cross-site visits, trips to a cultural institution, the creation of a neighborhood website, and an Explorers culminating event. The curriculum is aligned with Common Core and global learning competencies. In Year 2, sites who participated in the first year were given the opportunity to re-apply for the program for phase 2, with the ability to delve more deeply into one key aspect of their program, taking PASE Explorers to a deeper level.

At the culminating event, youth from participating sites give presentations on their neighborhood websites, display posters, pamphlets, and brochures which incorporated art, writing and technology, and make oral presentations about their specific neighborhood. Through this program, youth: learn about their own neighborhood as well as another neighborhood in their borough; how to work well with others; how to teach others about their neighborhood; how to ask questions to learn more; and how to do research using the internet, as well as teamwork skills; verbal and written communication skills; and project management skills, among others.

2016 Participating Afterschool Programs

Introducing the programs sites selected for our 2015-16 program year

BRONX

• New Settlement Apartments, Mt Eden Children's Academy (Mount Eden)
• New York City Mission, PS 33 (West Fordham)
• New York City Mission Society, PS 85 (South Bronx)*
• Police Athletic League, MS 118 (Tremont)
• Phipps Neighborhoods, P&J Beacon (Throggs Neck)
• Phipps Neighborhoods, Wings Academy Beacon (West Farms)
• Westhab, Inc., Lighthouse Leadership Academy (Longwood)

MANHATTAN

• Chinese Methodist Center, Mei Wah School (Lower East Side)
• Chinese Methodist Center, PS 42 (Lower East Side)
• Chinese-American Planning Council, Inc, CPC Chrystie Street SACC (Chinatown)
• NYC Mission, PS 175 (Harlem)
• Stanley Isaacs Neighborhood Center, Learning Center (Yorkville/Upper East Side)

QUEENS

• Child Center, MS 226 (South Ozone Park, Queens)
• Jacob Riis Settlement, CS 111 (Long Island City)
• Jacob Riis Settlement, PS 166 (Astoria)
• Queens Community House, Queens Collegiate (Jamaica)*
• ZMI Foundation, PS 36 (St. Albans, NY)

BROOKLYN

• Spring Creek Community Corp., PS 346 (Brooklyn)*

*Returning sites in Phase 2 of Explorers Program