Dr. Scott Levy is excited by the news that his interns from the Children’s Aid Next Generation Center (NGC) have been approved to do minor, basic chairside assisting in the dental clinic. He has been training Miaya and Tyler for just over six months, since he and the staff of NGC’s Workforce Preparation Program launched a new partnership.
The Children’s Aid Bronx Health Center in the Bronx has a dental suite with two chairs where Dr. Levy and his certified assistant, Renee Colon, see more than 1,600 patients per year ranging in age from young children with their first teeth to young adults age 21. Children’s Aid provides them with routine exams and cleanings, as well as X-rays, fluoride treatments, fillings, and other services. It’s all part of Children’s Aid’s commitment to health and well-being so that children grow up strong and healthy, and ready to thrive in school and life.
Miaya Ortiz
Miaya was in high school, on track to go to college, and planning to be a nurse. But she got pregnant and complications made her too sick to go to school. She dropped out and, in her words, “was lost.” But not for long. A few months after giving birth she realized, “my daughter needs a future.”
She came to NGC to get her GED. But Children’s Aid is not a place where you go to finish. It’s a place where you go to start a new journey.
Miaya had never had a job. She didn’t have any practical experience and no way to get her foot in the door.
The Workforce Preparation Program addresses that very challenge through internships. The problem for Miaya was, there wasn’t a medical internship offered.
Dr. Scott Levy
“Open real big,” Dr. Levy tells a 3-year-old patient. When the child stretches his mouth wide, the dentist exclaims, “Wow!”
The 4-foot-tall patient giggles when Dr. Levy asks, “Do you go to school or do you work?”
He nods when Dr. Levy says, “I want you to brush when you wake up, after lunch, and before you go to sleep. Can you do that?”
Dr. Levy is wearing a New York Yankees sweatshirt – he is the official dentist of the team. But he dresses casually to make the children feel more comfortable. The white coat can be scary.
“Thank you for coming,” Dr. Levy says.
“Thank you,” the child says and turns to go.
When was the last time you heard a child thank a dentist?
Throughout his 35-year career, Dr. Levy made it a priority to give children a good experience, so they don’t fear the dentist. While busy every day, the Bronx Health Center is a place that allows him to take time, explain what he’s doing, check body language, and make sure children are calm and comfortable during their visit.
Last fall, he was thinking about the volume of patients and the demands on Renee as he walked across the street to NGC to pick up lunch made by interns in the NGC culinary program. He had a revelation—he could train interns to be dental assistants.
Keyana Miller
Keyana develops partnerships with companies and small businesses for paid internships. The NGC Workforce Development Program typically has 50 kids at a time rotating through the Job Prep Academy and into internships. She tries to identify or create opportunities that match the participants’ career goals. She wants to help them find internships that are a gateway to college or careers.
At the same time Dr. Levy was picking up his lunch, Keyana had been trying to identify internships in the medical field for young people like Miaya. Thus a new partnership formed.
She identified four candidates who sat through what everyone agrees was an intense interview with Dr. Levy. He said he looked for a willingness to learn. “I just wanted people who had a desire to make a change in their lives,” he said.
Tyler Davis wanted to be an orthodontist but was nervous when she was selected and began the internship. But, she says, everyone encouraged her and now she regularly steps out of her comfort zone to interact with patients.
“This partnership was a marriage made in heaven,” Keyana says.
The dental internship has changed the trajectory of Miaya’s and Tyler’s lives. The hands-on experience they are getting will enable them to begin a career in dentistry. The staff of the Bronx Health Center say the two young women are growing more confident every day. They can see what the future can look like for them.
Girl Scouts of the USA
Three Girl Scouts Collect Over 1,000 Books for Our Youth
Three fifth grade Girl Scouts from Great Neck, New York, were looking for ideas to complete their "Bronze Award" project, so they put their minds together, and started brainstorming. They landed on wanting to help young children at a local charity, and after some online research, they looked no further than Children’s Aid—New York’s premier organization fighting childhood poverty.
After they chose their charity recipient, they needed to develop their fundraising idea. Two of them wanted to support literacy, and one wanted to make a donation more related to the arts. When discussing what direction they wanted to take, one girl suggested a collaborative approach: why not do both?
With a lot of coordination and a spirited fundraising campaign lasting two months, the girls promoted their book drive at homerooms all throughout their school. Children’s Aid was blown away when this incredible group of three elementary school students told us that they collected more than 1,000 books for our youngest learners!
The girls didn’t stop there. To make the donation extra special, they hand-painted a space-themed bookshelf to house a small portion of the books. The bookshelf was sent to the Early Childhood Division and will be awarded as a prize to the site that has shown tremendous growth among their students.
Many thanks to the Girls Scouts Troop 606 of Nassau County for helping our youth have access to the power of literacy, and for delivering a beautiful bookcase reminding them that they, too, can use education to reach for the stars.
Difference Makers
Small Gifts, Big Impact
No one has proven more than students from Susan E. Wagner High School that gifts of all sizes add up to make an impact. Through a partnership with St. John’s University, the youth raised donations, mostly in coins, for our Goodhue Center on Staten Island—for a grand total of $600!
St. John’s University Professor William Reisel, Ph.D., led the “Difference Makers Program” an academic service-learning initiative, working with a group of driven students to instill in them the importance of community service and help prepare them for college. Under his guidance, the Wagner High School students researched worthy nonprofits in the area, and selected Children’s Aid as their charity partner. They were particularly impressed by our Goodhue Center on the North Shore of Staten Island, which has long been a crucial resource for the local community. With one of the largest greenspaces on the island, the center has a wide range of youth development programs for kids, including summer camp, after-school homework help, nature hikes, and swimming, just to name a few. The Wagner students decided to host a sale of baked goods and fruit snacks at school, where they raised small donations from their fellow students. The $600 they generated is enough to purchase books or recreational supplies for an entire classroom at Goodhue, which will be an invaluable resource for the center.
In addition to their fundraising effort, the scholars at Wagner conducted a research analysis on the issue of adolescent school attendance and how community-based organizations, like Children’s Aid, can help boost it by providing academic, physical and mental health, and family services. Their research projects culminated in a certificate ceremony at St. John’s where the high school students presented their findings to a group of academics, parents, and fellow students. Through this partnership, the Wagner youth are primed for success in college, and have gained a special appreciation for the value of charity for the rest of their lives. Congratulations and a huge thank you to this group of young research scholars and fundraisers!
For more information or to join us for our 20th Annual Golf Classic, please contact Director of Events Malia Poai at maliap@ChildrensAidNYC.org or 212-284-4591 or click here.
Fortune Magazine:
The Shrinking Middle Class: Tales from New York City
The New York Times:
Taking College One Meal at a Time
The 74
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