Because each site responds to the unique attributes of its neighborhood, there is no single menu of services. Programs include:
Children’s Programs
Family Programs
Community Programs
After-School Program Grades 1-6 (all sites):
 |
Our After School Program, our flagship program, is designed for children who have been identified by their teachers as at-risk for school failure. We provide children with a safe, supportive learning environment where they receive a healthy snack and tutoring twice a week.
Our curriculum complements the work students do in school, giving them vital tools to enhance their education. In addition to standard literacy and math components, we offer courses in the arts, computer, movement, social skills building, and critical thinking activities.
Many of our tutors are high school students from the apartment complexes we serve. As they mentor their young neighbors, they gain valuable work experience and become more connected to their education and community.
Youth Program Grades 7-12 (all sites):
 |
New Futures provides a place where young people are acknowledged and nurtured for the strengths and skills they bring to their community. The goal of the Youth Program is to enhance social support networks, promote academic achievement, increase self-esteem, and foster positive peer interactions.
The program provides a wide range of opportunities for teens to build skills, develop their talents, and experience new things. The academically-focused component centers around homework help and academic planning. Recreational activities include everything from break-dancing and ice skating to planning cultural festivals and volunteering for Habitat for Humanity.
Summer Program (all sites)
During the summer months, 1st-6th grade elementary school-age kids meet four times a week for New Futures’ Summer Program. The children participating in the Summer Program have been identified by their teachers as high-risk for school failure.
Similar to our After School Program, our Summer Program provides a supportive environment and specialized curricula that help kids strengthen their skills and succeed in school, and the focus of the Summer Program is literacy. But summer is also about fun! Activities and fieldtrips - like traveling to the zoo, exploring Pike’s Place Market, picking blueberries, playing soccer, and swimming - expose children to the greater community and build social skills.
Research shows that children often lose the gains they made during the school year over the summer. New Futures’ Summer Program provides continuity for our children, and helps ensure that the academic strides they have made during the school year are sustained, while providing them with a safe, enriching setting, where they can be kids.
Parent Involvement (all sites)
We build bridges between families and schools in a variety of ways. We provide transportation and interpretation for school functions—like parent-teacher conferences and special events—increasing access and decreasing barriers. We also help parents enroll their children in school, understand and respond to notes that schools send home, and advocate for their children within the educational system. At the same time we partner with the schools to help them learn to be more responsive to the shifting community and effect systemic change in the school system.
Leamos – Let’s Read! (The Heights at Burien)
Our kindergarten-readiness program, Leamos (”Let’s Read”), serves Spanish-speaking preschoolers and their parents. Children have structured bilingual pre-school, building skills that the children will be expected to have when entering kindergarten. Many of the children don’t speak English, so these afternoons are also a time to get comfortable hearing and speaking in an unfamiliar language.
Twice a month the children’s parents attend a meeting, where the teacher reports on classroom activities, and we hold workshops on parenting, nutrition, or safety. Leamos is helping kids become kindergarten-ready, and teaching parents to become involved in their children’s education early, which we know is critical to future success.
Family Advocacy (all sites)
In order to help families be healthy, stable and self-sufficient, our Family Advocates build relationships based on respect and cultural competency. We conduct home visits and partner with families to find resources, problem solve, and meet family goals. Family Advocates also assist with basic needs, translation, transportation, mediation, information about other organizations, and help families navigate the education system and social services.
Family Time (all sites)
Once a month, we invite families to join us for Family Time, which gives them an opportunity to connect to each other, and their neighbors, while relaxing and having fun. For the families we work with—who are often busy with multiple jobs and running households – it is a blessing to have a structured evening with their kids right in their own apartment complex. Family Time also gives residents a chance to become neighbors in the true sense of the word. Because of New Futures, they have a chance to discover what they share in common and connect with their kids, right in the place where they live.
Community Development (all sites)
The members of a community are the center of its strength. We build on the natural networks of support so that neighbors can get to know each other—help each other—and feel connected to the larger whole.
Our programs include resident leadership meetings, community meetings and events (like a Mother’s Day Celebration and a Cultural Festival), and a study-circle style of community assessment. The enhanced social networks ease the feelings of isolation that newcomers experience, while increasing the likelihood of maintaining a positive life change.
ELL Classes (all sites)
Non-native English speaking residents attend English Language Learner (ELL) classes for adults, offered by community members and other volunteers. Childcare services are provided to support parents who would otherwise be unable to attend.
Clothing Bank (all sites)
Residents of all three sites are eligible to obtain clothing items from our clothing bank.
To keep up-to-date about New Futures award-winning work with children and families, sign up for our monthly eNewsletter,or click to learn more about our three sites.
Children in our after-school program improve, on average, one or more grade levels in reading.
95% of middle and high school teens are more likely to do their homework because of New Futures.
