On April 12, 2017, the STARS Citywide Girls Initiative, a nonprofit collaborative funded by the New York City Council, will host its 3rd Annual Girls Leadership Summit at the High School of Fashion Industries in Manhattan. The Summit targets middle school and high school girls from the city’s five boroughs and will offer a full day of speakers and seminars in career awareness, college access, and leadership development run by nine of the city’s leading nonprofits. The STARS Citywide Girls Initiative helps girls and young women of color overcome barriers to success, grow emotionally, academically and physically stronger, and develop as leaders in their communities.

While the Robert Bowne Foundation closed its doors in 2015, its work is living on through the Robert Bowne Foundation Legacy pages of the Youth Today OST Hub. In these pages you can explore the history of the foundation, its philosophy of funding and of providing support for grantees, its vision for the OST field, and principles and practices. Access in-depth articles and research projects, as well as video and text snapshots of its work. Download a copy of the Bowne Foundation Legacy Letter from Executive Director Lena Townsend and Prorgam Officer Anne Lawrence.

The Center for Educational Options OST Networking Meeting takes place March 30, 2017 from 10:00 am - 1:00 pm. The January Networking meeting conversation focused on youth participation, youth-adult partnerships, and the inextricable links between community, social justice, and youth development. The March meeting focuses on strategies for improving and increasing youth participation and provides an opportunity to share activities people have implemented using problem and solution trees to break down social justice issues. RSVP to annehlawrence@gmail.com by March 27, 2017. Download a flyer for more information.

Effectively Engage Students With YCteen Stories, a free workshop from Youth Communication (YC) on March 31, 2017, provides concrete strategies for effectively using YCteen magazine’s award-winning true stories in the classroom. Learn how to use Circle protocols and open-ended questions to target students’ reading comprehension in a way that’s both successful and engaging. YC's story-based circle approach bolsters social and emotional learning, enhances literacy engagement, and builds trust and community in the classroom setting. You’ll also learn more about ways Circle creates a safe and comfortable space for students to share their personal connections to and questions about the stories they read. Participants in this training are eligible to receive a free group subscription for their school or youth program. Registration is required.

The Art & Science of Effective Youth Programs takes place on April 24, 2017 from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm at the CUNY Graduate Center. This symposium will engage youth development practitioners in conversations about how to strengthen social emotional learning (SEL) for youth based on recent findings from a large-scale, national collective impact study conducted by Algorhythm, with the support of Youth INC and News Corp. The goal of this symposium is to examine the four key drivers of success in promoting SEL, bring these data to “life,” lifting up our collective strategies and tips for success. RSVP is required.

Taking to TASC: Too Few New Yorkers Are Passing the High School Equivalency Exam is a new brief from the Center for an Urban Future. The data brief, which was funded by the Working Poor Families Project, shows a sharp drop in the number of people taking and passing the high school equivalency exam in every corner of the state. The report points out that that the New York State Education Department switched to a new high school equivalency exam in 2014 from the GED to the Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC). According to the Center, although New York almost certainly did the right thing in replacing the GED, early TASC results suggests that education officials and policymakers in the state need to take additional steps to ensure that many more New Yorkers can earn a high school equivalency.

The Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York (NPCC) is accepting applications for their 2017 Nonprofit Excellence Awards. The Awards provides area nonprofits with an opportunity to examine their management practices and receive expert feedback to strengthen their ability to meet their mission. Winners share innovative and replicable practices and compete for $60,000 in prize money as well as scholarships to Columbia Business School’s nonprofit management courses. Applications are due 5:00 pm, April 21, 2017. All operating 501(c)(3) nonprofits in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester are eligible and encouraged to apply. Organizations do not need to be members of NPCC to participate. Organizations considering applying for the Awards are encouraged to attend an upcoming Application Clinic, for a chance to ask questions and get detailed information about this year's improved application and selection processes.