BRONX BETTER LEARNING'S AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM NEEDS YOUR HELP!

We Need Your Help!

Each year, our After School Program depends on generous contributions from our donors. Last year, we offered free after-school services to over 350 Bronx youth!  In June, 2014, our goal was to raise enough funds at our annual spring gala to increase student participation to nearly 500 children during the 2014-15 school year.

Unfortunately, two weeks before our fundraiser we learned that Jennifer Lopez would perform a free concert next to our event -- at the same time! Due to concerns about crowd control, traffic delays, and road closures, the NYPD could not guarantee that our guests would have access to our venue. With regret, we were forced to cancel our fundraiser.

As a result, we could not raise the necessary funds to continue our After School Program in its entirety. The program's Fall session has just begun, without charge to the students, but the Spring session remains uncertain. However, with your help we can meet our goal of offering our After School Program to nearly 500 children in Spring, 2015.

We hope you will give generously. Your donation will go directly to one of our After School Programs, such as the Tennis Club, Chess Club, Drama Club, Photography Circle, Robotics, Culinary Arts, etc.

Through generous donations from individual donors and organizations familiar with what happened, we've already raised $50,000 for our After School Program, which means we need your help to raise the remaining $25,000.

Please help us continue to give all of our children a safe and enriching place to be after school. We appreciate any donation you make towards this initiative.

Click the image below to watch the ABC Eyewitness News Report on Jennifer Lopez' impact on our fundraiser.

Who We Are:

Some schools look at their students as empty vessels, waiting to be "filled-up" with words coming from a teacher standing in front of the classroom. We don't.  At the Bronx Charter School for Better Learning, we know that every child comes to us already equipped with a remarkable power to learn.  Our job is to nurture that power, to let it grow and develop, so it stays strong and vibrant, not only for the next lesson or the next test, but for a lifetime.

Based on the work of educator Caleb Gattegno, our philosophy recognizes that by the age of two or three we learn to speak, perhaps life's most challenging intellectual task.  And, we do so essentially by ourselves!  That incredible feat clearly demonstrates the powerful learner within us.

The learner within us can thrive in a school environment or it can atrophy.  We do not let the latter happen at our school. A school day dedicated to drilling and endless memorization can provide children with the "right answers," but this may come at a great price: a duller mind and a diminished desire to learn.  When school days encourage curiosity and exploration, students stay connected to their intrinsic power to learn, along with the sheer joy that comes with such learning. Those are the days we try to create.

Far from easy, our approach requires the teacher's commitment to meet each child where he or she is at each moment. Only then can the teacher become aware of how the students are approaching the task put in front of them. Our teachers do not interfere with the learning process by simply supplying answers, asking overly leading questions or depriving the student of the time needed to reflect on the given challenge.  Aware of children's natural ability to self-teach, teachers give only what students would not be able to figure out for themselves.  In that way our children become responsible for their own academic learning.  Of course, they do arrive at the "right answers," but more importantly, in the process they develop a better understanding and a sustained awareness of the learner within, which will serve them for the rest of their lives.