The Verizon grant will allow students to participate in individualized personal finance projects focused on teaching students about money, budgeting, investing, financial planning, and philanthropy. The goal of the initiative is to provide financial literacy education to help prevent the students from falling into a cycle of debt and poverty that will limit their future choices. Through this project, students will become empowered to understand concepts that will directly influence their ability to make informed decisions about their own finances. The goal is to make sure that they become part of the solution in their own community by becoming adults who pay into the tax base and save properly for emergencies and retirement.

The Verizon Foundation has a long history of supporting quality educational resources and literacy programs. The foundation focuses on preparing children to be successful; enabling teachers, parents and caregivers to help children learn; and educating adults so they are prepared to achieve their goals and contribute to their communities.

MPowering Kids serves a selected group of students in Westbury with an intense after-school program. Once accepted into the program, students and their families work with MPowering Kids staff and volunteers for nine years. The curriculum and structure of the MPowering Kids program is designed to create a culture of achievement, characterized by high academic and behavioral standards. MPowering Kids teaches a commitment to academic and personal excellence and fosters a love of learning that lasts a lifetime. Students are encouraged to develop their potential and leadership skills, and to give back to others through community service.

MPowering Kids was founded as a nonprofit 501(c)3 in 2001 and has worked with Westbury School District students for the past ten years with great success. By engaging its students in learning, MPowering Kids helps them create a vision of their future that includes higher education and a strong involvement in the community so that they can go on to college, and return home as educated adults and community leaders.

Seventeen MPowering Kids’ students, grades 10-12, who hope to be among the first in their family to enroll in college, attended information sessions and toured the college campuses. At the University of Pennsylvania, the tour was conducted by a former MPowering Kids student and tutor, Marco Guevara. Three volunteers accompanied the students on the 12-hour trip. MPowering Kids relies greatly on a corps of volunteers to tutor and mentor the students, and provide individualized support and guidance about the challenges each student faces in preparation for college admission.

MPowering Kids was founded as a nonprofit 501(c)3 in 2001 and has worked with Westbury School District students for the past ten years with great success. In 2011 the goal of college became a reality for the first group of students when they graduated and entered college, including Dartmouth College, SUNY Stony-Brook and Mercy College.

The WE CARE Fund is the nationally-recognized charitable arm of the Nassau County Bar Association. Founded in 1988 by NCBA Past President Stephen Gassman, WE CARE funds are raised by the legal profession and the community at large. The money is distributed through charitable grants to improve the quality of life for children, the elderly and others in need throughout Nassau County.
2011.7.5 We Care Press Release

To watch the video, click below.

Citizens Bank Honors MPoweringKids Mentor

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are more than 12,000 career options for children to choose from. It is hoped that the MPowering Kids students will achieve challenging academic and technical standards and be prepared for high-skill, high-wage, or high-demand occupations in current or emerging professions in the 21st century global economy.

MPowering Kids was founded as a nonprofit 501(c)3 in 2001. The Village of Westbury, Long Island, NY was chosen as the initial site for the program. In the past nine years, the Westbury site has fulfilled the original program goal of keeping materially-disadvantaged youth engaged in learning. This success is measured by student achievement and continued support from the Westbury School District. The existing MPowering Kids students have attended the program since they entered the fourth grade. The 2010 – 2011 school year is a triumphant one, in the history of this organization, as the first class will graduate high school and enter college in September of 2011.

Ms. Bittman was a dynamic speaker, creating a lively discussion. She was able to get every student involved by creating a safe atmosphere where they could discuss this often under-addressed element of Middle School. Students described situations they have witnessed, how they reacted, and what they could do if they were in a situation where someone was being bullied.

School bullying may be physical in nature – for example, hitting or kicking; teasing or taunting; or may include indirect acts such as manipulating friendships or purposely excluding peers from social activities. The consequences are dramatic for both parties. Studies show that children who are chronic victims of bullying experience more physical and psychological problems than their peers who are not harassed by other children, and they tend to retain the role of victim as they age into adulthood. On the other hand, researchers found that those elementary students who were the bullies attended school less frequently and were more likely to drop out than other students were.

Although Ms. Bittman’s workshop was prearranged, it happened to come at a time when the Westbury Middle School students most needed it. In the weeks prior to her visit, there were several incidents of internet bullying at the Middle School. The day before her visit, the school took action by administering a bullying survey, a first step in addressing the problem.

The students who attended were 6^th, 7^th and 8^th graders who have participated in the MPowering Kids after-school program since they began the fourth grade.The students have been visiting the Bristol every year for Valentine’s Day. They bring their love into the Bristol through giggles, stories and some healthy BINGO competition.

MPowering Kids was founded as a nonprofit 501(c)3 in 2001 to provide tutoring, mentoring, cultural enrichment and community service opportunities to motivated students in under-served communities.  Westbury Long Island, NY was chosen as the initial site for the program and has, in the past nine years, fulfilled the original program goals with great success, as measured by student achievement, increased enrollment, and community involvement. 

 The current 2010 – 2011 school year is an exciting and pivotal one in the history of this organization, as the first class of students will graduate high school and enter college in September of 2011.

Heidi Lobel, an MPowering Kids Board Member, visited with her ABC Studios co-workers Herb Ford and Tracy Merslich.  Their visit began by explaining their backgrounds and how they arrived at their current jobs (college, previous jobs, etc).  They showed the students a “sizzle reel” which is a brief video of all the ABC shows.  

The students were divided into 3 groups. Each group had to pick a product or agency to advertise for. One group was Geico, while another was TGIFriday’s and the last group chose to be Nintendo.  The students were given an advertising budget and had to figure out an effective way to spend their budget on advertising.  They had to consider how much money they were willing to spend on each TV time slot, and if they wanted to spend their money on any other forms of advertising such as websites, bulletin boards. The students presented their ‘campaigns’ to Heidi, Herb and Tracy, who were thoroughly impressed with our young business people! The students all received ABC notepads and water bottles, courtesy of Heidi!