Early Childhood Education
Parent-Child Home Program
Through a partnership with Parent-Child Home Program, Masa offers an early literacy home visitation program to families in the Mott Haven area with toddlers. The PCHP model is designed to foster school readiness where it starts: at home. With the support of trained home visitors, parents learn how to engage their child in talk, play, and reading. Increasing these parent-child verbal interactions can have a profound impact on children’s future academic performance. Learn more about the PCHP model at their site.
Pre-K Playgroup
To help prepare toddlers for the world of pre-school and kindergarten, Masa runs a weekly playgroup for children aged two to five. Through simple, age-appropriate learning experiences conducted in English and social interactions with their peers, young children learn through play, gaining the foundations needed to succeed in their first years of school.
K-12 Education
Masa After-school Program (MAP)
When Masa moved to Mott Haven in 2006, parents told us over and over: I am struggling to help my children with their homework. For parents who are learning English and, in some cases, have little formal education, supporting their children with homework can be a frustrating task. Masa volunteers help students complete their homework and really learn the material. Whenever possible, volunteers work with the same students from week to week, nurturing a mentorship relationship between the tutors and their students. Volunteers also facilitate activities focused on building literacy skills and a growth mindset.
Volunteers truly are the engine of MAP. If you want to help a child succeed academically, visit the volunteer page for more information!
Intensive Literacy Program
Masa wants its students to nurture a true love of reading. The intensive literacy program focuses on providing a select group of students who are reading below grade level with tailored, culturally supportive interventions.
Robotics
Students in the robotics program hone their creativity and engineering skills by designing innovative robots using programmable Lego kits. Students spend each program cycle building robots and learning about gears, sensors, programming, and autonomous behaviors — all with a focus on creating robots that can serve the needs of the community.
Summer Enrichment
At Masa, we want to ensure our students have a fun-filled summer with lots of opportunities for hands-on learning. During our summer program, students participate in intensive literacy, math, and science courses. Our literacy classes cultivate a love of learning while challenging students to develop their reading fluency and comprehension. Our STEM classes challenge students to hone their problem-solving and analytical thinking skills, and apply those skills to the world around them — some students even participate in an innovative robotics course. Families in the summer program also have the opportunity to attend cultural and educational trips, and participate in neighborhood outdoor activities.
Youth Development
Alianza
Recently-arrived immigrant high school students face many barriers to success in and after high school. Our Alianza program – based at the International High School at Union Square – provides academic, socioemotional, and employment supports to 16- to 24-year-old immigrants in New York City. These supports ensure that youth who immigrated here in search of a better life can achieve that dream.
Social Justice & Civic Engagement Summer Workshops
This seminar-style program brings together middle and high school students, along with a college student facilitator, to think critically about the community around them. Students:
- Develop a framework for evaluating issues at different levels of community,
- Work to understand the impact of their actions on others, and
- Sharpen their critical thinking and argumentative skills.
This summer program creates the foundation for a group of politically aware student leaders. Students leave the program better prepared to be active and involved members of their communities.
Mexican-American & Chicano Studies Program
This is a six-week course in which students learn about Mexican and Chicano history, geography, and culture. The dream is for this course to culminate in a week-long trip to Puebla and Mexico City, especially for students of undocumented parents who may not have had the opportunity to visit Mexico!
Family Support
Parent Support
Masa supports parents of children enrolled in the Masa After-school Program (MAP) through ESL classes, parent support and peer groups, and civic engagement workshops that focus on knowing your rights and other topics geared toward immigrant and undocumented families. We also provide parents with information they need to better support their children academically at home.
Referral Network & Case Management
Masa strives to provide individualized supports to parents, including by referring them to appropriate social services. Because Masa families trust our programs and our staff, we are well-positioned to ensure families that could benefit from additional supports are able to access those services. To this end, Masa has partnered with several other agencies that provide services not offered by Masa.
Legal Services & Outreach
Masa provides free legal services to undocumented individuals that may qualify for administrative relief or other pathways to adjust their immigrant status. In addition, Masa is one of three organizations leading MIDA, a New York area project that will help adjust the status of over 1,000 Mexican parents and children.
Community Leadership
Parent Committee
The Parent Committee is a group of parents of children enrolled in the Masa After-school Program (MAP). The Parent Committee represents and voices parent concerns, as well as proposes and implements solutions
Youth Committee
Masa launched its Youth Committee during the 2015-16 school year, affording youth participants in Masa the space to plan their own service projects and special events.
Asset Mapping Project
An effort to identify community assets and needs to inform Masa’s future work.
Early Childhood
PCHP
Pre-K Playgroup
K-12 Education
Masa After-School Program
Intensive Literacy
Robotics
Summer Enrichment
Youth Development
Alianza
Social Justice Summers
Mexican American Studies
Family Support
Parent Support
Referrals & Case Management
Legal Services & Outreach
Community Leadership
Parent Committee
Youth Committee
Asset Mapping