The back-to-school season is almost upon us. Once school starts up again, New York Cares will launch the third annual Stand with Students campaign. The campaign is meant to financially aid students and schools during the 2022 – 2023 academic year.
The goal is to support public school students with academic, social, emotional and supplemental programs that address the learning gap that occurred during the 2 years of remote learning.
The campaign will focus its fundraising on areas disproportionately affected by food insecurity and financial hardship, which also happened to be the areas most harshly affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Some neighborhoods receiving the aid will include Central Queens, East Brooklyn and the South Bronx.
This year’s campaign fundraising goal is $700,000.
New York Cares will host various backpack drives. These drives are where volunteers fill school bags with necessary school supplies that will be useful to disadvantaged families and students as they return back to in-person school.
Over 16,500 backpacks, 7,500 of which are funded by the Amazin’ Mets Foundation, will be sent to schools in-need across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.
“The ongoing trauma of the pandemic has caused many of our city’s students to fall behind in key subjects like reading and mathematics,” said New York Cares Executive Director Sapreet K. Saluja. “We will support our city’s dedicated educators and administrators through high-impact education programs designed to help students reach their academic goals, as well as revitalization projects to build nurturing spaces for kids of all ages to grow.”
As the academic year continues New York Cares’ corporate and community volunteers will continue to aid NYC schools and students by doing book distributions, school revitalization projects and extensive education programs. During the winter there will also be an annual Coat Drive to provide students in-need with proper clothing for NYC’s harsh winters.
Keith Grossman, President of TIME is the chair of Stand with Students. Amazin’ Mets Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Delta, Assured Guaranty, Sunshine Foundation and The Walt Disney Company all work with this year’s Stand with Students campaign as sponsors for their efforts to aid NYC.
