In Lieu of Gifts

The Door is an unparalleled model for youth development, offering a comprehensive range of integrated services for up to 11,000 New York City youth annually across four New York City locations: youth centers in lower Manhattan and the South Bronx and two supportive housing sites on the Lower East Side. At The Door, youth can access health care and education, mental health counseling and crisis assistance, legal assistance, high school equivalency and college preparation services, career development, housing support, arts, recreational activities, and nutritious meals. The Door’s on-site charter high school, Broome Street Academy (BSA), has up to 330 students and prioritizes applicants experiencing housing instability or being involved in the child welfare system.

Thread works to weave a new social fabric to support young people and build a more connected community where young people facing the most significant opportunity and achievement gaps can thrive. Founded in 2004 in Baltimore, where it supports over 1,000 young people, Thread enrolls and commits to ten years of service to the lowest-performing ninth-grade students at the lowest-performing schools. Despite having an average incoming GPA of 0.76, Thread’s students outperform their peers, with 52% graduating in four years and 74% graduating within six years of starting high school, compared to the city’s historical graduation rate of 6% for ninth-grade students with GPAs below 1.0. Thread’s work fosters relationships across socio-economic lines between young people and small groups of attentive, caring adult volunteers to form a deeply embedded network of care and support as they work toward attaining their personal, educational, and professional goals.