Emily Orton describes her family's routine as weaving in and out of learning together. (Photo by Lina Zeldovich)

Karina Orton, 14, sits on the living room couch leafing through her biology textbook while her sister, Sarah Jane, 10, munches on a sandwich at the table and Alison, 12, plays the piano in the next room.  Their brother Eli, 6, is building planes with his favorite Legos and their mother, Emily, reads to Lily, 4, who is drinking milk from a sippy cup.

The relaxed scene resembles a weekend morning, but it’s 11 a.m. on a Thursday.  For the Ortons, this is the norm.  They don’t rush off to school each morning or spend afternoons doing homework. Emily and Erik Orton have been homeschooling their children for more than four years.

“I was really nervous because it’s such a huge responsibility,” Emily, who’s 37,  says about that decision.  “I have my degree in education and I was still nervous because it felt like I would be replicating a classroom in our house.”

The Ortons turned to homeschooling because Karina asked for it, her mother says. Karina doesn’t remember the conversation, but recalls that her public school wasn’t very challenging. “I’m a really fast reader, so if I like a book, I can read it in a day,” she says.  “But in school they usually read it one chapter at a time.”

A decade ago homeschooling was a cutting edge alternative approach to education, but it has become almost mainstream, says Brian D. Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute, who has studied homeschooling for 25 years. His 2009 nationwide study, published last spring in Academic Leadership Journal, estimates the number of home-educated students in America at  1.7 million to 2.3 million.

Surveying 11,739 students from 50 states via online and paper questionnaires, including achievement test results, the study also used data from the 13 state education departments, five nationwide homeschooling organizations and other published research to develop that estimate.

More than 2500 New York City students are being homeschooled this year, according to the city’s Department of Education, a number that has fluctuated from 1880 students in 2002-03 to a peak of 3654 in 2006-07.

The number of homeschooled New York kids fluctuated from 1880 to 3654 in the past decade. (Chart by Lina Zeldovich. Data provided by the New York City Department of Education.)

New York State laws give homeschooling families substantial flexibility, making the administrative procedures surprisingly simple.  Parents must submit a letter of intent to the New York City Department of Education homeschooling office and write an individualized home instruction plan for the year, with a syllabus and textbook for each course.

They must submit quarterly reports to show that children are meeting the plan’s goals, record the number of hours studied and produce a year-end assessment. The law allows parents to choose someone to administer a year-end achievement year-end test — a certified teacher, a peer group review panel, even the parents themselves. The laws also allow homeschoolers to use their district school’s gym, library and other facilities.

Emily Orton says the process proved easier than her family thought, allowed them to spend more time together and simplifying their lives. “We were finally able to get enough sleep,” she says, adding that homeschooling allows Lily, who has Down syndrome, to learn from her siblings.

Erik also thinks that traditional schooling can interfere with learning. “Children are naturally curious and able to figure things out,” he says. “If you give them some freedom, they can learn deeper than when there’s a traditional classroom and a test at the end.”

While Ortons prefer to teach their children themselves, other families hire tutors.  It can be costly, from $85 to $95 an hour, depending on the course and materials, says tutor Jessie Mathisen.  She taught science in New York City public schools for two years before starting a business, Tutor New York City, that coaches members of two uptown homeschool groups.

She says the reasons local families chose to homeschool vary.  “Some parents really enjoy teaching their kids themselves – the closeness, protection against bad influences,” she says.

Nationally, the institute study shows a similar diversity: Some homeschooling parents feel their children accomplish more studying at home with individualized approaches, some cite religious reasons or safety concerns, and others believe it enhances family relationships.

Local families build in a lot of socializing, often with other homeschooled kids, Mathisen points out. The National Home Education Research Institute’s study confirms that “the large majority of home-educated students consistently interact with children of various ages and parents outside their immediate family.”

On the downside, Mathisen thinks many homeschoolers never learn to stand up to bullies, “but for many parents it’s a small price to pay,” she says.  “Other parents can’t even bear to think about their kids bullied.”

The National Home Education Research Institute’s study also shows that homeschooling families are larger, better-educated and higher-earning than the norm:  68.1 percent families have more than three children, 81 percent have an at-home mother and over 60 percent have college-educated parents. The families’ annual incomes average $75,000 to $79,000, of which $400 to $599 is spent on educational materials per student.

Alison Orton wears headphones when playing piano under her parents’ loft bed so her music doesn’t interfere with her siblings’ studies. (Photo by Lina Zeldovich)

The Ortons live in a two-bedroom Washington Heights apartment where the kids’ bedroom has three bunk beds and the parents’ bedroom also serves as an office and piano studi0.

“I cover math, technology and music because I have a degree in music,” says Erik. While he doesn’t give his kids lessons, “they all play multiple instruments and write their own songs.”

Emily, who has a degree in bilingual education, covers almost everything else, except for Karina’s tutoring in biology, which Karina barters for in exchange for babysitting her tutor’s kids.  Karina also studies the Old Testament at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that the Ortons belong to, a lesson she gets up for at 6:15 a.m.  “I usually go back to bed when I get home,” she admits.

To support the family, Erik does graphics work for an investment bank, working a 3-to-midnight shift. “That’s when Emily and I have a grown-up time, quiet time,” he says, describing their daily routine. “We go to bed around 2 and start our day late.”

That schedule, with Erik at home most of the day, made home schooling even more appealing.  The Ortons disliked the usual morning frenzy, Erik says, lamenting that he barely saw his children. “I’d walk them to school and I’d pass them on the way to work by the subway,” he says, “and that was it.”

Now Erik does work for his theater production company, O Productions, writing and producing plays during the day and essentially keeping a second job while being with his family.

Setting their own schedule gives the Ortons freedom to take day trips and travel.  “We spent a month in Cape Cod in September,” says Erik. “It was quiet and empty.”

The Orton kids are quick to recall favorite educational experiences: they visited a biodynamic farm and forged hooks at a blacksmith shop in Chestnut Ridge, N.Y., took art lessons at the Metropolitan Museum and ski lessons in Utah and learned to sail in New York harbor.

“Sailing is fun,” says Alison. She uses a yacht-shaped Christmas ornament to explain how the sails work.  “I know how to steer. I can raise the jib, but you need more than one person to raise the main sail.”

Except for Eli, who has already decided to become a ninja, the children aren’t sure what they want to do when they grow up.

“It’s such a hard question for me,” Karina says. “I love making things with my hands.”

Alison chimes in. “We’d love to grow our own food, but we don’t know how to do that very well.”

According to the National Home Education Research Institute’s study, homeschooled students test well, with scores 15 to 30 percentile points above public school students’ average of the 50th percentile.

Homeschoolers succeed at college at the same or slightly higher rate than public school kids and fare about as well in adulthood.  However, they  partake more in community services, vote and attend public meetings more frequently than their peers, and internalize their parents’ values and beliefs at a higher rate.

“Our home school isn’t something that happens between certain hours on certain days,” Emily says. “It’s our approach to life.”

During a National Dance Institute class at PS 189, Arthur Fredric demonstrates a new move to students.

Darwyn, 10, just wants to dance. “I like the rhythm and how we move our bodies,” he says after clapping, jumping and shuffling his way through a National Dance Institute class at P.S. 189 in Washington Heights.

The small auditorium where three institute instructors teach Darwyn and his classmates once a week fills with the sounds of drum beats, snaps and squeaking sneakers as the group runs through exercises, warmups and dance routines.

For 35 years such auditoriums were the closest connection to a home base for the National Dance Institute, which provides arts education to students primarily through a free in-school dance program.

Since 1976, the institute has reached more than 2 million students and expanded to 11 associate programs across the country, as well as many others around the world. Jacques d’Amboise, a former principal dancer and choreographer for the New York City Ballet, started the institute in an effort to offer free dance education to children who didn’t get much exposure to the arts.

While the in-school classes continue, the National Dance Institute for the first time has its own permanent headquarters. The 18,000-square-foot center — between Adam Clayton Powell and Frederick Douglass boulevards on 147th Street — has two art galleries, staff offices, a terrace and four studios, one of which converts to a performance space seating about 175 people.

The institute’s new home doesn’t represent much of a departure from those school auditoriums; the building itself was once P.S. 90, abandoned since the 1970s but now once more filled with excited chatter of eager students.

Originally built in the early 1900s and completely gutted, according to artistic director Ellen Weinstein, the center features gleaming white walls bedecked with bright artwork given or lent by local artists, as well as wood floors specially suited for dancers.

“When the children come in for dance classes, they’re going to sit in the halls and be surrounded by great art,” d’Amboise says. The center helps the institute expand its reach to cover a broader arts spectrum.

“It’s been a dream for most of our 35 years,” Weinstein says. “Especially in the last 10. It had become increasingly difficult to function.”

The institute had rented or borrowed space, something that became more difficult as it grew. D’Amboise remembers struggling to find places to rehearse and perform. “The programs take place in schools during school hours,” d’Amboise says. “To do more advanced programs we needed a place.”

Weinstein echoes: “We were like gypsies. We were running out of available space, and we weren’t able to do things in a planned way because we weren’t in control of our space.”

Administrators believe the center also ensures its future. “We’re here; this is our home,” Weinstein says. “For us and for our funders, we’re not going anywhere. It’s not going to dissolve.”

Their concern was perhaps intensified  by the reality that d’Amboise — an active teacher at 77 years old — has passed traditional retirement age.  He represents the heart of the National Dance Institute, but administrators wanted to ensure that the institute would endure long after he leaves.

After years of searching for a proper location, P.S. 90 came to executives’ attention. The institute spent $11.5 million to pay for the building and its renovation. George Soros’ Open Society Foundations provided a lead gift of $5 million, supplemented by board members and other donors. “I think the stars aligned,” says Kathy Landau, the institute’s executive director.

The institute purchased the building in November 2010. Renovation, begun in December, was completed under budget and ahead of schedule, and the institute moved into the center in August 2011 and opened officially in October.

“Now we’re down to the choices part,” Landau says. “Do we buy the curtains and the tracks? What are the most important things now?”

The organization’s leaders now must grapple with determining how to preserve the original mission of the National Dance Institute after such a fundamental change.  “Rather than letting the building change the mission and purpose of the programming, it was created to support the mission,” Landau says.

In-school classes remain free and the spotlight of the institute’s programming. After-school and weekend classes, as well as special events, take place at the center. The institute has added three new partner schools in Harlem, Weinstein says, “allowing us to double and triple the number of children we’re reaching.”

To make its programming available to students who don’t attend one of the 31 partner schools and to allow for more advanced instruction, the institute also offers after-school classes at the center for a fee, a departure from its traditional policy of free instruction.

Darwyn just wants to dance. He and his fourth-grade peers, whose last names the institute withheld as a condition of the interviews, are unaware of any changes; for them, the classes are simply the road to the final performance they watched last year and enthusiastically await this year.

“I’m excited because my parents are going to see me dance,” says Jordany, 9, who moments earlier was eagerly jumping up and down, striking poses onstage.

The institute reaches about 5,000 elementary school students each week — up from around 4,000 before the center was built. In some cases, institute classes are the only arts or physical education students will receive. Darwyn and Jordany’s class of about 25 is led by master teacher Arthur Fredric, co-teacher and institute alumnus Dufftin Garcia and musician Tim Harrison. This three-teacher formula is standard.

Institute teachers are encouraged to change the configuration of the room periodically, shifting where they stand and which way students face so that no front line develops. This tactic gives all students a chance to be in the lead and allows the instructors to easily spot any struggling dancers.

“Another teacher might just say, ‘Let’s keep going and going,’ but here they’re really following along,” Fredric says. “We’re really taking our time with the kids.”

A move is repeated as many times as necessary until every student feels comfortable. Although many of the students would likely look out of place in a professional dance class, here their various heights and body types are irrelevant; all are eventually able to execute the moves with ease and style.

Fredric occasionally selects students to serve as “assistant directors” who decide whether a sequence is up to par, rendering the students active participants in determining the class’s success. When Nicolette, 9, adds a clap above her head to one of the moves, Fredric likes the change so much that he has her teach it to the rest of the class. She shyly complies — but smiles at each subsequent reference to “The Nicolette.”

“The movement is accessible to all,” Weinstein says. “We’re doing things they can all achieve — and they do.” Harrison wanders the room with a drum, adjusting his beat to fit each sequence, sometimes moving to the piano. Fredric and Garcia remind the students that they’ll eventually be executing these moves in front of an audience; in response, they all shriek.

Weinstein describes the end-of-year performances at each school as a rite of passage. The event creates a ripple effect, Fredric says. “You change the whole community,” he says. “The kids come to see the show in kindergarten and then there’s anticipation for it. They want to do it themselves.”

Some become so enthusiastic that they move on to advanced institute programs, like the SWAT Team — “scholarships for the willing, achieving and talented.” SWAT Dancers chosen from the in-school classes receive free training outside school hours and perform at the Event of the Year, which also features dancers from the advanced Celebration Team.

Most of these students won’t pursue arts careers, but to institute administrators, that might be the point. “You take mathematics in school and it doesn’t mean you have to be a physicist, but everyone should take it because it’s beautiful and great,” d’Amboise says. “Everybody should take dancing and music but it doesn’t mean you have to do it as a career. You should take it because it’s part of being a human being.”

Last year’s Event of the Year focused on the intersection of science and the arts; one routine explored the properties of DNA. “Now every kid in that class can tell you how DNA replicates,” Weinstein says. “It’s more than just reading it in a book.”

To her, the idea is simply to promote student achievement. “I’m equally proud of the people who go on to college and become doctors and lawyers,” she says. “The goal is not to train professional dancers; this isn’t a conservatory. We just want to make sure every child has a success.”

Some students have gone on to careers in the arts, however. One dancer has performed with Beyonce and another with Madonna. A student recently appeared on the television show “Glee.” Garcia was a National Dance Institute student who started a boy’s ballet class and eventually got a call from d’Amboise to teach with the institute. “We give students tools,” Weinstein says. “It’s about rigor, discipline, joy.”

The institute’s particular brand of education seems to have an effect on the fourth graders at P.S. 189. At one point Fredric assures them, “You guys are good.” One of the boys yells back in response, “Good, not great!”

This desire to never settle has helped the institute reach this milestone. “We built the physical space,” Landau says. “Now what we’re building is a legacy.”

For more information on the National Dance Institute’s move click here.

Arthur Fredric instructs students at PS 189 during one of the National Dance Institute's classes at the school.

For the National Dance Institute, which opened its first headquarters in Harlem this fall, the easy part was deciding to acquire a home. What came before and after proved more complicated.

The Institute, founded 35 years ago, had been searching for a permanent location for a decade. It teaches dance and other arts to more than 40,000 public elementary school students annually, primarily through free in-school classes but also in after-school and weekend lessons. As borrowing space from schools and arts institutions around the city became increasingly difficult, the institute decided to put down roots on West 147th Street between Adam Clayton Powell and Frederick Douglass Boulevards.

It has transformed P.S. 90, a school abandoned since the 1970s, into what founder Jacques d’Amboise describes as “a communication center for the arts,” with four studios, two art galleries and a convertible performance venue. “They took an enormous abandoned space and brought life to it,” says Lloyd A. Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, of which the National Dance Institute is a member.

The institute launched a $20 million capital campaign to purchase the school, including $11.5 million for the building and subsequent renovation and another $8.5 million to sustain operating expenses. George Soros’s Open Society Foundations contributed $5 million in what d’Amboise calls “a moment of generous madness,” while board members and other donors provided much of the rest, though the institute remains $6.25 million from its goal. The institute was able to purchase the building outright and has no mortgage.

Its $3.8 million annual budget comes largely from foundations (40 percent) and from its annual spring gala (25 percent); government grants, corporate and personal donations provide the remainder.

But with its new location, the program hopes to increase corporate fundraising. “Now that we have a physical space, it will make forming collaborations with the corporate sector easier, because we do have four walls and the ability to have signage and recognition and host events,” says Michele O’Mara, director of development.

The renovated school provides potential donors with a compelling reason to contribute, she adds. “We can bring them downstairs and they can immediately see the children dancing and see firsthand the experience these children have,” O’Mara says. “Seeing is believing; it’s truly a sight to behold.”

John Sheehy, the director of development and marketing for The 52nd Street Project — a nonprofit that develops and produces new plays with children in Hell’s Kitchen and acquired its own center in 1996 — attests to this benefit. “The challenges of fundraising are constant and ongoing, but we have found an advantage in establishing a new home,” he writes in an e-mail. “We have taken the opportunity to gain wider exposure for The 52nd Street Project in the press and in the community. This has in turn opened up new relationships with funders. So while it is an enormous undertaking to establish your own place, and the attendant expansion in expenses can be daunting, it can be an enormous opportunity for growth.”

As the National Dance Institute adjusts to its new home, it will also try to engage with the Harlem community. “We just arrived here in October,” O’Mara says. “We’re all just settling in and getting to know one another, but we very much want to be part of the neighborhood and partner with not only the residents but the businesses here as well.”

The business community has already started to benefit, Williams says. “Of course they’re bringing visitors and employees, so the fact is that naturally the center has a broad economic impact on the surrounding landscape for the businesses that now have a strong infusion of economic capital,” he says. The institute employs nearly 50 full and part-time teachers and administrators, but Williams estimates that it brings hundreds of people to the neighborhood daily.

Its eventual impact remains to be seen, however. In the future, for instance, the institute could rent out space in its new home, but such plans remain unclear.

“This is going to be a year of firsts for us,” O’Mara says.  Along with its evolving programs, “We’re very hopeful the new space will change the fundraising landscape for the organization a bit as well,” she says.

For more information on the National Dance Institute’s move click here.

Gregory Hodge displays one of many financial prizes he wrangled during his tenure as principal at Frederick Douglass Academy. (Photo: Ali Leskowitz)

After months of anxiety about losing principal Gregory Hodge, who’d steered their school to greatness over 14 years, students and parents at Frederick Douglass Academy in West Harlem are adjusting to a newcomer from Queens.

Hodge, injured in a fall that damaged his hand, arm and shoulder, announced his retirement in June, but stayed on during the transition. Uneasy parents launched a petition asking him to stay. “I’m concerned about having a principal that will pass the legacy on,” says Keisha Bruno, who signed the petition despite no longer having children at Frederick Douglass. “It can’t just be anyone.”

“It’s not an easy situation because I’ve been here so long and you have to continue what we’ve started,” Hodge explained, lapsing into the plural that often punctuates his descriptions of the school. Hodge seems hesitant to take credit for the school’s successes, instead emphasizing the community he’s built during 14 years as principal.

His replacement, Joseph Gates, former principal of the Susan B. Anthony Middle School in Queens, took the helm about six weeks ago and has maintained a low profile; he didn’t respond to interview requests.

Parents seem positive, but tentative about the change. “It’s a big adjustment,” says one who requested anonymity. “It’ll take time to see how it really affects the school and the students, but we’re all hoping that everything works out for the best.”

A public college prep school serving grades 6-12, Frederick Douglass Academy boasts academically successful students—99 percent of last spring’s graduating seniors went to college—and a graduation rate of 85 percent. In one hallway, a bulletin board lists students’ college acceptances and decisions: Harvard, Yale, University of Virginia, University of Pennsylvania. “Dr. Hodge is concerned about his students’ success not just in high school but in college,” says Jerome Hyacinth, a program chair and attendance coordinator at Frederick Douglass.

Larry Strickler, who works for undergraduate admissions at Baruch College, agrees. “His students, when they come to us, they’re prepared,” Strickler says.

Jokingly referring to Frederick Douglass as “Stuyvesant North,” Hodge defines his educational philosophy as providing a public school run like a private school. “My kids should have the same quality education they get at Horace Mann or Riverdale,” he said in an interview before he retired. He introduced Advanced Placement classes and travel abroad programs, along with partnerships and mentorships with such companies as HBO and the Gap.

Hodge himself grew up in Harlem and the Bronx without the support of his parents, who had died by the time he was 16. “Him living on the street, being in the shelter, he has a soft spot for the kids,” says Yvette McKenzie, FDA’s parent coordinator. “He’s hard, really hard, but it works.” College office advisor Caroline Lai-Turay recalls Hodge sending her to buy socks and other clothing for students in need.

This caring extended beyond students, staff members say. Teacher Tara Bramble owes her career to Hodge, she says; he encouraged her to finish her degree when she’d only completed 26 credits. “Dr. Hodge’s foresight gave me the courage to become the counselor that I am,” Bramble says. “I was able to do a good job because of him.” Bramble now has 159 credits and expects to graduate soon.

“He’s a legend,” adds Japanese teacher Mas Ichida. “It’s not just the school that’s going to be missing Dr. Hodge—it’s the whole education department, the city of New York.”

Administrators found this true; many potential replacements were scared off by Hodge’s mandate that the school remain open seven days a week. Hodge referred to the parade of candidates as a “comedy club.” However, the field narrowed through three levels of interviews and several background checks. The eventual selection, Gates, served as principal of the Susan B. Anthony Middle School for 10 years. “He is bright, hard working and committed to the mission of FDA and will help our school achieve even greater success,” said Hodge, whose last official day was October 31.

The slow changeover may have reflected Hodge’s reluctance to leave. “If it were not for the accident, I would be retiring in 10 years,” Hodge said. Two surgeries have been unable to repair the injuries sustained in his fall, however. “You have to know to walk out when you can walk,” he joked.

While parents and teachers worry about filling his shoes, Hodge seems less concerned. “We have a good foundation. The school’s going to continue on,” Hodge said. “You have to believe in the kids and then you’ll be a good principal.”

Kelvin Perez teaches students at the Technology Services Corps. (Photo by Lucy Pawle)

The students at the Technology Services Corps program gaze at Kelvin Perez, their teacher for the next 22 weeks. “If you work hard, and you take everything we teach you on board, you can go far,” he says. “You can earn six-, even seven-figure salaries.” Excited whispers fill the classroom: Most of the 18 students come from low-income Manhattan neighborhoods where such salaries are a largely alien concept.

The program, launched last month in East Harlem, provides free IT training, mentoring and internships to students 18 to 25. The course prepares them for the A+ certification required for employment in the tech industry. The Corps aims to get all the students jobs, either with corporations or non-profits.

Brooklyn-based for the last six years, this represents the program’s entry to Harlem, an expansion funded largely by a $100,000 investment from Accenture. Perez sees the course as vital for creating opportunities in a neighborhood where unemployment typically runs double the city’s average rate, currently about 7.8 per cent, according to the city labor department.

“There’s a lot of disadvantages for kids in here. These programs are a way to even out the playing field,” Perez says.

His words strike a chord with Harlem native Raymond Flowers, 24. “I look at my family and they live paycheck to paycheck and I don’t want to live like that,” he says.

The Harlem classrooms occupy an elementary school’s third floor on 123^rd Street and Second Avenue.  The drab rooms, broken projector and lack of textbooks belie the course’s track record. With an 85 per cent graduation rate from 26 classes over six years — each with about 20 students — Technology Services Corps can brag about transforming students’ lives.

“If you go to one of these graduations, I just stand there and cry because it’s so life-changing for these kids,” says Stephanie Cuskley, CEO of NPower, the non-profit that runs Technology Services Corps.

The Corps has schooled former criminals, parents, school dropouts, and many with complicated home lives. A permanent counselor is on staff, but the course’s success to date may stem from a lengthy and competitive application process, which requires references, a cover letter, a writing test and an interview.

“We screen them for certain qualities” says Program Director Patrick Cohen. He lists “willingness to learn, a good attitude, and commitment to our program” as the most important. He adds that 20 per cent of the course teaches professionalism, “life skills and how to conduct themselves,” and that the five-day-a-week, nine a.m. to one p.m. course is “a huge commitment.”

Schools, churches and other community organizations usually refer students but in Harlem, recruitment was not as easy. Fewer students were referred through the normal channels. “We were a little disappointed,” admits Cohen, who at one point even asked students to tell their families and friends to apply.

During orientation, Perez promised that the course could “put you guys in the position where you can break through the cycle of not feeling empowered or feeling that life is one dead-end street.”

Successful IT professionals play a role in that process. Accenture offers several of the five-week internships that all students take; other companies offering internships include the New York Times, investment bank UBS and accounting firm Deloitte.

In one lesson, Perez asks the students to find three jobs advertised on the Internet that might interest them, and to write cover letters. “If it makes six or seven figures a year I’ll make sure I’m interested in it,” jokes one student.

But a graduate with only the A+ certification stands little chance of earning six or seven figures. A more realistic salary is $50,000, for a job doing the basics – “small work,” says Paul Flaharty, regional vice president of Robert Half Technology, an IT recruiting agency. Those with strong Windows experience “may be able to find positions as a junior desktop support,” Flaharty adds.

Perez acknowledges that those aiming for top salaries would have to go on to college for further credentials. Alumnus Bleuberthol Scott, 27, suggests that the course should earn college credits “towards degrees that so many of us want to attain after we finish the program.”

However, IT is an expanding sector with an increasing demand for experts, and Cohen is confident the training will give the students skills for long-term employment. “It’s 2011 and IT drives the world and the economy, so the kids can pick the technology up quickly and add value to non-profits and companies,” he says.

Most graduates do get jobs, 70 per cent at non-profits and others with corporations. Scott uses the skills he learned “practically on an every day basis” as IT coordinator for the downtown literary center Poets House Inc.

Joshua Cortez scored a job at the online stock brokerage TD Ameritrade, where he interned during the course. “It’s the reason I have my job and a start to my career,” he says.

However, not all the students see their futures in IT. Michael Rogers-Thomas, 20, wants to work in fashion. “This is a stepping stone to helping me secure financial stability. That way I can go back to school and be independent,” he says.

Students seem to find the commitment worth making: Many had complained of a lack of such courses uptown. “I was so happy when NPower came to Harlem,” says Flowers.  “There’s not a lot of programs like this.”

Principal Nadav Zeimer outlines his plans for the new music studio (Photo by Gabriel Stargardter)

At the Harlem Renaissance High School, Principal Nadav Zeimer unlocks the door to a small, dusty room full of boxes. On a cluttered desk sits a soundboard donated by the Chicago-based company Lakeside Media, the foundation for what he hopes will soon become a fully functioning music studio. He wants to use this embryonic space to promote student-to-student learning and preserve Harlem’s oral histories. “I want students to learn to be producers rather than consumers of digital media,” he says.

For the last two years, Zeimer has been principal of Harlem Renaissance, a school not only in the midst of its own renaissance – the graduation rate jumped from 17 percent to 39.9 percent in just one year – but also one looking to harness the benefits of working with the private sector. And in Harlem, it’s not the only one.

Despite the economic malaise, Michael Haberman, the president of PENCIL, a non-profit organization that seeks to improve student achievement in public schools by linking business leaders with educators, says that more and more private sector firms want to form relationships with some of the city’s most disadvantaged schools. “A lot of business people out there want to help and don’t know how to do it,” he says.

Haberman says Harlem, in particular, is “a high demand area.”

“I don’t know if it’s just that it’s an iconic neighborhood, its geographical location or the activity we have seen there in the last 10 years, but a lot of people ask to work in Harlem,” he says.

Such corporate largesse triggers not only gratitude but some skepticism about motives.  But at the Choir Academy of Harlem, home of the Boys Choir of Harlem until 2006, principal Ellen Parris is delighted to have just taken delivery of 36 refurbished computers, donated by American Airlines in a deal brokered by PENCIL. Parris says it’s not the first business donation the school has received, but it is the largest. The computers’ arrival has had an instant impact on morale. “The teachers are very excited and it motivates them,” she says. “That might have a more profound effect than the actual donation.”

American Airlines has long-standing relationships with a number of local organizations, including the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, the Apollo Theater, Harlem Stage and Aaron Davis Hall. The airline’s New York vice president, Art Torno, says: “The Harlem Renaissance is very real. We see it, we feel it and we want to be a part of it.” Torno also characterizes the relationship with the Choir Academy of Harlem, as with the other groups, as “for the long haul.”

Torno acknowledges that such acts of corporate social responsibility can produce mutual benefit. “Our company, like so many others, has felt the effects of a global recession, but our CSR activities are important to our employee morale and impact customer loyalty,” he says.

Elender Foxe was the parent coordinator at East Harlem’s Esperanza Preparatory Academy when the school received a $250,000 grant from Hewlett Packard, furnishing the school with computer tablets, laptops and smart boards. “In East Harlem, we have low performing students due to not having the resources they need,” she says. In this predominantly low-income Latino neighborhood, the technology allowed the students “to do a lot of their work in school. Because it is a dual language school, they could do their work in both languages.”

Zeimer is grateful for the support his school has received, though he’s not exactly sure why corporations choose to invest in public schools. He hypothesizes that the corporate tax structure may have something to do with it, then shrugs. “The ones that made a lot of money have a lot of guilt, which we can benefit from,” he says.

Parris’ views are clearer. “They get a sense of satisfaction that they are investing in the futures of our children,” she says. For Haberman, investment in the next generation is also a key motivator. “There are 1.1 million kids in New York public schools,” he says. “You can’t ignore that.”

Not all are convinced by the private sector’s show of unbridled altruism. Peter Newell of Sussex University in the U.K. has written extensively on how corporate social responsibility affects communities. “Education is often a target as it is seen as difficult to criticize, intrinsically positive and apolitical,” he says. “There may also be a catch-up effect where once one big company has got involved, others feel they should follow suit. Harlem figures highly in the popular imagination of poverty in NYC so it is an obvious way of communicating a message on the part of the company that it is doing something for the poor.”

The case of Exxon Mobil reveals other benefits of investing in education. In 2000, the oil giant spent $35 million on education in the United States. By 2009, that figure had jumped to $125 million. But as the company said in its 2009 Citizenship Report, self-interest mattered as much  as altruism. “Three decades ago, the United States ranked third among developed nations for college students pursuing science and engineering degrees,” it said. “Today, the United States ranks 17th in science and engineering and 26th in math. By investing in education, we are addressing a critical need and contributing to our own competitiveness and that of the U.S. workforce.”

Mentoring and internships can also be beneficial. American Airlines offered two Choir Academy of Harlem students full internships last summer. Zeimer says he can count on the support of “roughly 30 organizations in the neighborhood who we can send interns to.” In a survey of those involved in PENCIL partnerships, 97 percent of principals and private sector investors said the programs had an impact on the school community. Ninety five percent of principals reported a positive impact.

Supporters of corporate involvement point to a trickle-down effect, in which a culture of giving encourages individuals with lesser means to contribute. “One guy called this week and offered to volunteer,” says Zeimer. “Just making money left a gap in his life.”

In the basement cafeteria of Harlem Renaissance High School, Hakiem Yahmadi, 60, sits opposite Earl Gray, 54, the school’s basketball coach. Yahmadi doesn’t represent big business, but his Metro Hawks basketball program, a community outreach initiative, is sponsored by Nike. The high school has no dedicated gym, despite winning last year’s alternative league, so the team has been practicing in local parks. Yahmadi has come to help Gray find a permanent gym.

Gray pats Yahmadi affectionately on the shoulder. “He’s very important,” Gray says. “He’s the only one who helps me. We didn’t have any uniform or equipment and he provided that. It is important there are programs like this. They can help change a kid’s life.”

New York Public Library branches, like this one on 145th street in Harlem, are working out ways to deal with City budget cuts. (Photo by Dewi Cooke)

New York Public Library users are visiting uptown branches in record numbers, but the library says it is “preparing for the worst” after the city inflicted significant budget cuts this fiscal year.

Around 3.3 million people visited the 19 libraries in the Countee Cullen network, stretching from the Upper West Side to Inwood, in fiscal 2010, compared with 2.7 million in 2007.

While 130,000 supporters – rallying at City Hall, sending in donations and lobbying elected officials — helped stop a proposed $33 million in budget cuts, the library is still feeling the pinch. It’s currently running a fundraising campaign to fill a 26 percent shortfall in its book buying budget.

“The city is not in very good shape,” Countee Cullen hub manager Michael Rodriguez says.

“Of course we are hoping for the best, but in some ways we are preparing for the worst as well.”

Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a research unit of the library, is also seeking help. “Recent budget cuts have threatened core elements of the Schomburg’s activities including our award-winning public programs,” director Howard Dodson said in an email to the Schomburg’s thousands of members and supporters. “That is why I am asking you to help by joining as a member of The Schomburg Society.”

Dodson, scheduled to retire on Feb. 1 after 26 years leading the center, believes in making the best of what’s available. “My philosophy is, you don’t fold up the tent. You do what you can,” he said in an interview.

The Schomburg no longer receives the $150,000 to $250,000 a year previously allocated by the Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus. “When the state gets caught up in its budgetary wars, we get caught in it,” says Dodson. Its national membership program, established in 2000 and chaired by the writer Maya Angelou, raised $7 million from its 9,000 to 10,000 members a year who annually pay from $35 to $25,000.

But the $700,000 to $750,000 the membership program raises each year isn’t enough for the Schomburg to sustain itself. After state and city budget cuts, it has reduced its staff by 10 to 12 people and suspended a traveling exhibition program.

It used to mount up to four exhibitions a year at its Lenox Ave. galleries but trimmed that to two. It has begun closing on Mondays, reducing its days of operation to five. Even the acquisition budget was reduced. “We are not acquiring everything we would have five years ago,” says Dodson.

Elsewhere in the library system, the bulk of the cuts are now confined to the book- buying fund and programming budgets. But some sites also reduced operating hours.

Staff are trying to be “as optimistic as possible”, Rodriguez says; he’s focusing on training to ensure branch employees are able to work a variety of jobs.

Library spokeswoman Angela Montifinise said the book-buying cuts had affected all branches. “Due to the cuts, we were forced to reduce the number of new acquisitions across all formats – print, non-print, downloadable, etc – and all age groups,” she said in a statement.

Private donations to the library’s fundraising campaign will be matched two to one by trustee James S. Tisch, the library says.

The financial restraints have also inspired Dodson to look for creative programming solutions. The Schomburg is collaborating with the New York Opera and has expanded its independent film series in place of other, more expensive programs.

Its anniversary gala on Jan. 24^th will also be a fundraiser.

The intersections of West 215th Street, next to Northeastern Academy, where locals are pushing for crosswalks.

The road in front of the Good Shepherd School in Inwood, which serves prekindergarteners through eighth graders, is closed to traffic the entire school day.

This is not the case for another school  just up the hill.

Northeastern Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist high school at 532 W. 215 St., has no crossing guards, crosswalks or even signs to alert drivers that there’s a school on the street, despite two intersections on either side of the school at Park Terrace East and Park Terrace West.

The need for more safety measures around the school prompted one neighborhood resident, Linda Cardillo, to contact the city’s Department of Transportation last spring.

“It is so strange that the city would not automatically install crossing zones by a school,” she said via e-mail.

The Department of Transportation’s Manhattan Borough Commissioner, Margaret Forgione, said in response to Cardillo’s e-mail that Northeastern didn’t meet the department’s enrollment criterion of 250 students for  signs or other markings.

But Northeastern principal James Bennett Sr., whose school enrolls 150 students,  says he doesn’t know why enrollment should be the sole criterion. “The level of the need shouldn’t be solely be contingent on … the number of the students we have,” Bennett says.

Bennett adds that he has been at the school for three years and doesn’t know why previous administrations didn’t pursue the matter. “As far as I am concerned, I do see it as a major point of concern for us,” he says. “What’s most important is the safety of our students.”

Despite the school’s location, tucked in a residential area and surrounded by apartment buildings, “This is a very busy little area here,” Bennett says.

Commercial trucks often drive through the area, Bennett says,  and it’s hard for drivers to tell that a school is nestled there. “For the unsuspecting driver, if there was signage available, that would instill a certain level of caution,” he says.

On one fall afternoon, as school was in session, several service trucks turned onto West 215^th from Park Terrace East.

Still, not everyone sees the lack of crosswalks and signage as a major problem.

West 215th  Street runs one-way  between Park Terrace East and Park Terrace West. Park Terrace East dead ends into Isham Park, behind the school. The majority of students at the school, says  secretary Avery Dawson, turn right out of the school onto Park Terrace East and cut into the park to catch the train home – thus avoiding crossing any intersections.

At the end of one fall school day, students could be seen using this route after exiting the school. “The kids are older so it may not be as needed,” says Dawson, also a school parent.

But Janette A. Emtage, school treasurer and business manager, disagrees. “People are crazy nowadays,” says Emtage, who has been at the school for over 14 years.  “Sometimes you hear crazy drivers passing.”

She  says that having signs at the very least would be helpful. “They have a lot of little children living in this neighborhood,” she adds.

Margaret Velez, crossing at West  215^th Street at Park Terrace East with her 18-month-old grandson in his stroller, agrees that there should be signs posted around the school. “You have to be very careful here,” she says  of  the intersection.

Betsy Karick, who lives across the street from the school and is the mother of a 4-year-old and a 3-month-old,  says she is less worried about the high school students. “I’m more concerned for the small children and the elderly people,” she says.

Cardillo also reached out to Assembly Member Adriano Espaillat’s office for help on the matter. Martin Collins, Espaillat’s chief of staff,  says he contacted Forgione’s office at the Department of Transportation and got the same response as Cardillo.

“I’ve asked them to please do what is necessary to improve safety,” Collins says.

The Department of Transportation did not respond to requests for information about its  criterion for signs.

Fighting the Sag from The Uptowner on Vimeo.

In prisons across the United States, inmates received over-sized uniforms without belts, to prevent suicides and their use as weapons. This led to the sagging pants trend now seen outside prison walls. Over the past few years, communities across the country have tried to battle the trend.

In August 2007, Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, enacted a law banning the public display of undergarments. In March 2010, state Sen. Eric Adams of Brooklyn spent $2,000 on billboards urging people to raise their pants. Now an 84-year-old Harlem tailor, Marion Anderson, is trying to send the same message but in a different way: by teaching a free pants-making class to men of all ages.

The Manhattanville Needle Trade School, at 419 W. 141^st St., has two rooms where students learn the craft of tailoring. The living room, heaped with pattern pieces, instructional boards and a large cutting table, is Anderson’s demonstration area. The den, filled with industrial Singer machines and shelves stacked with fabric, is where students practice their skills.

Anderson, the school’s director and chief instructor, usually teaches six-week tailoring courses that cost $375. But since the beginning of October, he has been teaching nine men how to make pants for free, in hopes that they will not only learn a craft but also pull up their pants and pass on their knowledge.

Francine Brown, a Harlem resident, found Anderson when she was passing his school one day and stopped to read the sign on his window.

“I hadn’t realized the school was active,” says Brown. When she went in to find out more, Anderson shared how his concerns about the type of pants fashionable young men were adopting.

“I thought, how can I help him pass on his skills?” says Brown.  She sent an e-mail blast to her friends, writing, “He said that he offered to train some young boys for free to teach them to make their own pants, that would fit, if they promised not to sag.”

Brown assumes that somehow that email got passed on to the New York Daily News, which ran a story on Anderson’s quest. “I find this trend ridiculous,” he says. The article reflecting his sentiments let readers know that he was looking for a few young men to take his free pants-making class.

Anderson started receiving phone calls from interested parties after the story was published and scheduled interviews to meet with applicants. Nine men between aged 19 to 50 came for interviews, some commuting from as far as Brooklyn and the Bronx. Some, like Joshua Cave, 24, and Christopher Hunter, 19, came because they were interested in learning a new craft. Others, like Kendall Donaldson, 20, were a little closer to Anderson’s main cause.

(Click play below to hear more.)

“I actually sag my pants, so I’m actually a part of that little era,” says Donaldson. “But I think it’s kinda bad because it kinda gives like a negative message.  But I’m trying to fix it so that I don’t have to do that anymore.”

During the interviews, Anderson, who accepted all nine candidates, had them read a pledge to reject the sagging pants trend and pass on their new skills to others.

Student Jamal Morris, 25, signed up to learn the trade and further his education beyond high school and General Educational Development requirements. His views on the sagging pants trend are just as strong as his teacher’s.

“That particular culture of wearing pants sagging below your butt is not a culture of ethnicity,” Morris says. “It’s not even a culture of the streets. It’s a culture of the prison system that was designed to turn you into a slave and have an image of a slave. I would never walk around with a sign saying I’m a slave. So I can’t walk around with my pants below my butt.”

While the course is Anderson’s way to fight the fad, his other goal is to teach the  trade he’s practiced since 1946. A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Anderson took up tailoring when his mother, Ethel, insisted he learn a trade.

“I took tailoring more or less to satisfy her, only to realize later that I enjoyed it,” says Anderson. “It became my life’s occupation.”

Anderson became a pioneer, the first African-American certified as a men’s clothing manufacturer teacher by the New York Board of Education.

Anthony Nichols has assisted Anderson for 30 years in tailoring and pattern-making. They met through the Black Fashion Museum in Harlem. Nichols was drawn to Anderson’s wealth of knowledge.

“If you weren’t around in the ’50s to learn the techniques from someone in the ’30s, then there’s no information out there,” says Nichols. “He’s from the ’30s. He was taught by masters. This is old world tailoring.”

Now Anderson leads a different pioneering effort with his pants-making course. The course is divided into two sections: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Thursday and Friday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Anderson hopes that this introduction to tailoring will inspire his students men to continue in the tailoring trade, expand their skills and eventually start their own businesses.

New York State law is driving out the best podiatrists. (Photo by Zaheer Cassim)

New York State’s best podiatrists are moving to other states because of laws limiting them from working on the ankle, says an administrator from the largest and oldest podiatrist school located in Harlem.

Associate Dean of Student Services and Admissions Lisa Lee who works at New York College of Podiatric Medicine says: “New York State is losing its best trained podiatrists because it is so limited here. I’ve seen my best students leave.” Forty-four states in America allow for podiatrists to work on feet and ankles, while New York and five other states still lag behind. Lee says this is an outdated law but prevails because the orthopedics lobby is wealthier and hence has more sway with Congress.

In June, the state Senate passed a measure that will increase the scope of podiatry to ankles. The General Assembly will now vote on the issue. However, this may take some time explains podiatrist Eric Walter, who is also a member of New York Podiatric Medical Association. Walters says the association has been trying for more than six years to change this law and has seen some of his best residents leave New York during this period. “Our biggest nemesis is the orthopedic surgeons who feel like we don’t have the right training,” says Walters.

The New York State Society of Orthopaedic Surgeons has not denied this and says it will continue to oppose podiatrists wanting to work on the ankle, because the society says the podiatrists do not have adequate training. In a memorandum of opposition (PDF) to the measure, addressed to New York Legislature, the orthopedic society states that “training for orthopaedic surgeons and podiatrists are very different. Orthopaedic surgeons complete four years of medical school followed by five years of fellowship training. Podiatrists, by comparison, receive four years of graduate education followed by either a two-year or three-year residency.” This two- to three-year difference in training “is detrimental to patient care,” the letter says.

In the last 20 years, training in podiatry has become more rigorous. Residence has increased to three years from initially being a single year, so that new doctors can learn other skills, like surgery, and how to work with diabetic patients. The prevalence of diabetes, especially in poorer communities, has increased the demand for podiatrists.

Since the beginning of the recession more pre-med students have chosen podiatry as a profession. Lee says the podiatric school had a 15 percent increase in applicants over the last three years. She adds that more people are choosing podiatry over other forms of medical specializations. “Back in the early 2000s, I would say over 70 percent of our students, podiatry was a second choice after they couldn’t get into other medical programs,” she says. “But now I would say podiatry is a first choice for over 65 percent of our students.”

Third-year student Chioma Odukwe Enu, 29, worked as an administrator in the medical industry for several years before choosing podiatry. After receiving a master’s degree in molecular biology she decided to pursue a career in podiatry. She admits that in the past podiatrists were known to be the students who didn’t get into medical school, but this has changed. “You find as a trend now, kids are choosing podiatry,” she says. “Not saying I want to be in the medical field, but saying I want to be a podiatrist. It’s not so much that they didn’t get into medical school or they didn’t have the credentials to get into medical school because our credentials are pretty high, too.”

Enu says she doesn’t know if she is going to stay or leave New York after she graduates, but she implores her fellow students to get involved in the debate and make their voices known to the Legislature. She believes that if “other states like Connecticut or Washington, D.C., did it in order to increase their scope of practice so why shouldn’t New Yorkers step up?”