Sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds can now apply for membership on NYC Community Boards. On December 11, 2014, the Center for Practice of Social Studies, Generation Citizen, the Police Athletic League, and the Office of Manhattan Borough President Gail Brewer are sponsoring an orientation and workshop for teenagers on why they should apply to serve on boards and how to do so. The event will be held from 4:30pm-6:30pm at the Hudson High School for Learning Technologies at West 18th St. between 8th and 9th Avenues. Interested youth should email teensonboardnyc@gmail.com to RSVP or for more information.

On December 13, 2014, Mentoring in Medicine and Science Pathfinders are holding Health and Science Expo: Empowerment and Education, a free event for students (elementary through post-baccalaureate levels), parents, and educators interested in learning more about health and science careers. Activities include hands-on workshops, an "ask the expert" fair, opportunities to network with health professionals, a research competition, and a health resource fair. Lunch is provided. The deadline to register is December 8, 2014.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) offers free hands-on studio art classes this spring for NYC youth ages 13-19. No art experience is necessary, and MoMA provides all materials, food, and other costs. Each course runs for 10 weeks and culminates in a show of participants' work. Classes include "I AM a God! Artists, Obsession & the Cult of Celebrity Culture," "Destroy Everything: Tearing Things Down & Building Things Up," "Corpus Collectus: Breaking Up Bodies Using Large-Scale Stencils & Prints," and "CLICK@MoMA: Spatial/Augmented/Reality Using Music Production & Video Projection to Remix 3-D Space." Applications are due January 8, 2015.

Girls Who Code, a national nonprofit organization working to close the gender gap in the technology and engineering sectors, is now recruiting high school sophomore and junior girls for its 2015 Summer Immersion Program, which will take place in NYC and Newark, NJ, as well as in eight other cities around the US. Program participants learn computer science skills, are immersed in a technology company for seven weeks, interact with other girls with similar interests, receive mentorship, hear from guest speakers, and participate in workshops, all with the purpose of developing a supportive network for their growth. Potential participants should fill out an interest form in order to find out about upcoming recruitment events and info sessions for the program, as well as details around how and when to submit a successful application. Applications will become available in January 2015.

The Kinder Morgan Foundation provides funding to nonprofit organizations and schools in the following areas: academic programs, including tutoring; arts education programs; and environmental education programs that work with local schools and meet curriculum standards. Grants range from $1,000 to $5,000. The application deadlines are the 10th of every other month, beginning in January.

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities invites applications for the 2015 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards. Afterschool and summer programs that work with underserved children and youth and use one or more disciplines of the arts or the humanities as the core content of its program(s) are eligible to apply. Twelve award-winning programs will receive $10,000, an invitation to accept the award from First Lady Michelle Obama at a ceremony at the White House, an award plaque, the opportunity to attend the Annual Awardee Conference in Washington, DC in summer 2015, and a feature on the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award website. Applications are due February 2, 2015.

The Research Alliance for New York City Schools recently published New York City Goes to College: A First Look at Patterns of College Enrollment, Persistence, and Degree Attainment for NYC High School Students. Using a unique dataset that tracks multiple cohorts of NYC students from 9^th grade through college, this report describes recent patterns of college enrollment, persistence, and completion for NYC students, and begins to explore factors that may affect their college outcomes. Read the research brief, or download the full report.