NYA Foundation

(CFC #25839)

Our Mission
The mission of the New York Avenue Foundation (NYAF) is to be a catalyst of educational advancement for youth in need throughout Washington, D.C. Founded in 1984 as a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), charitable organization, the Foundation seeks to promote a Nation's Capital that empowers each and every young person to realize his or her potential and become a productive citizen.

Our Work
The New York Avenue Foundation financially supports, through grants, non-profit programs in the District of Columbia aimed at achieving the Foundation’s mission. We aim to support grassroots organizations and groups that provide educational and enrichment opportunities for inner-city youth (tutorial programs, mentoring programs, field trips to museums and other educational ventures). We also provide supplementary funds for children who need incentives to stay in school and scholarship funds for additional education.

We raise money through letter solicitations, fundraising events, and other sources. A volunteer Board of Directors conducts the other work of the Foundation without any monetary compensation. As a result, close to 99 percent of the money raised is passed through to our grantees to help achieve the Foundation’s mission.

The NYAF also participates in the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC #25839), which allows donors to designate funds to the Foundation on a year-round, regular basis or with a single donation. We are also listed on “Network for Good,” a national, online, charitable giving website that enables supporters to donate online to support our work.

Our Grantees
In 2009, the Foundation provided $31,000 in funds to outstanding organizations within the city that are engaged with inner-city youth in a variety of ways and places:

Community Club The New York Avenue Foundation has a long-standing relationship with the Community Club, one of the oldest tutoring programs in the Washington D.C. area. In 2009, Community Club received $18,000 in program support. The Community Club has operated continuously since February 1962. Each Thursday evening during the school year,120 students and their tutors meet one-on-one at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, to do schoolwork, to talk and to be together. Student-tutor partnerships typically last from two to six years, but many tutors and their students stay in touch long after graduation. They attend each other’s weddings, graduations and family funerals. Years later they still attend Club anniversary events and recruit tutors and students to the program. Over the decades, a total of 2,600 volunteers and 1,800 students have participated in the program.

Words Beats & Life transforms individual lives and whole communities through hip-hop culture. In 2009, Word Beats & Life received $4,000 in program support from the New York Avenue Foundation for its “College Material” curriculum. The curriculum is delivered as part of the organization’s DC Urban Arts Academy. The DC Urban Arts Academy serves as the after school program of Words Beats & Life. Students enrolled range in age from 5-23 years. The Academy includes a number of components, all of which are focused on promoting specific, arts-based skill set mastery, the pursuit of post-secondary education, multi-media literacy and employability. Funding provided was used to promote the “College Material “ program, disseminate curriculum, provide field trips to local colleges and universities as well as to help offset indirect program expenses (including rent on the program space in St. Stephen’s Church, located in the Columbia Heights area of NW Washington, DC).

Life Pieces to Master Pieces is a year round, comprehensive youth development and education organization for African American males age 3-21. The program serves more than 200 boys and young men annual in the under-served communities east of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. as well as youth incarcerated at the Oak Hill Juvenile Detention Center. Life Pieces to Master Pieces offers their youth apprentices the opportunity to discover their own innate and creative abilities to change their life challenges into possibilities. In 2009, the organization received $4,000 in funding from the New York Avenue Foundation to support their program work with the special need to replace furniture, carpeting and art supplies destroyed by a malicious attack of vandalism which caused over $10,000 in damage to the program campus this past August.

DC Creative Writing Workshop is a literary arts program which serves more than 500 students at Hart Middle, Simon Elementary and Ballou Senior High Schools. The program operates from October to June during the school year. Sixteen in-school classes and four after school sessions occur each week. Activities include poetry and story composition; reading and responding to creative works; publishing literary magazines and performing classic drama. In 2009, the organization received $2,500 in program support from the New York Avenue Foundation to off-set the costs of providing theater experiences and afterschool activities for program participants.

Young Lives at Young Life is a unique, cutting-edge non-profit Christian organization designed to empower and equip teen moms to become productive citizens in the community. The program teams up with mature Christian women to provide teen girls in crisis with timely encouragement, guidance and ongoing support. The New York Avenue Foundation provided $2,500 in funding in 2009 towards the organization’s ongoing work.

Our Supporters
The continued success of The New York Avenue Foundation is due in large part to individuals like you who are united in the belief that an investment in a young person's education is truly an investment in our community’s future. We are truly appreciative of our generous supporters and the impact that their gifts enable the Foundation to create. All donations are tax-deductible.

To learn more about The New York Avenue Foundation, please contact:
Jennifer Z. McIver
Chair, Board of Directors
jenzan at msn.com