Henry Streeters Going Above and Beyond
By Nicole Fogarty
Team JET/YAIP, left, and Team BGR/Facilities pose with Henry Street Executive Director David Garza at the Spring 2018 Above and Beyond Recognition Ceremony.
It’s a tie! The winners of Above and Beyond, Henry Street’s employee recognition program, were announced this month, with the top prize being split between two teams: Job Essentials Training (JET)/Young Adult Internship Program (YAIP) and Boys & Girls Republic (BGR) and Facilities.
The biannual program rewards teams across the Settlement for work that exemplifies the tenets of Henry Street’s vision statement — innovation, inclusivity, integration, and excellence.
JET and YAIP were awarded for their growth and collaboration over the past year. Once two completely separate programs, they now work in harmony to support one another. Both are located at the Settlement’s Workforce Development Center, with JET serving adults ages 18-65 on the Lower East Side looking for employment or to advance in their careers, while YAIP provides youth ages 17-24 who are out of school and out of work with paid internships.
Team members at YAIP wanted to keep clients engaged when their program ended, so JET joined forces with YAIP to help provide participants with the path to gainful employment once they’ve graduated from the program. This has resulted in skyrocketing attendance statistics for both programs, and also works to increase the resources available to participants in each program.
The winning JET & YAIP team members are: Letitia Akens, Marcelle Craig, Jay Koo, Agnes Luna, Daniel McKenzie, Connie Mendez, Jessica Mendoza, Jesse Nanka-Bruce, Maria Scazzero and Lisa Tomanelli.
BGR and Facilities were awarded for their consummate dedication to the Settlement. Both programs work together to quickly address any needs that arise. Whether it’s camping out in front of BGR to wait for a plumber so that programs can continue without interruption or strategizing how to operate more efficiently, the two teams work tirelessly together to ensure that BGR and Jacob Riis Cornerstone continue to be an example of holistic programming and inclusion on the Lower East Side.
The winning BGR & Facilities team members are: Miguel Arroyo, Samuel Cardona, Leonor Colon, Raymond Feliciano, Teodoro Fernandez, Devan Lord, Rafael Ortiz, Ramon Vargas and Giovanni Velez.
A total of four teams were nominated in this award cycle. Each nominated team worked collaboratively across the agency to propel Henry Street’s vision to open doors of opportunity for all New Yorkers through innovative, inclusive, integrated and excellent work. See below for highlights and team members from the other nominated teams:
Team Response & Solution
Ramon Vargas, Frank Rotundi, Angel Mendez, Jean LaGalia, Carlo Liggio, Patricia Karbowski, Dimas Silva and Juan Aguirre
For exemplary dedication in several crisis situations that occurred at the Community Consultation Center (CCC), including rapidly responding to and addresing a water leak and flood, as well as quickly and creatively fixing a software failure in the CCC’s medication prescription module, ensuring the program could run efficiently and correctly.
Team Volunteers and Seniors
Simon Liao, Olivia Johnson, Karina Munguia, Emma Barker and Laron Tolliver
For innovative collaboration between the Henry Street Settlement Senior Center and the Volunteer program, leveraging volunteers and over $12,000 in grants from ten corporate partners to support 11 on-site parties for the senior center members.
Nominations were reviewed and winners were chosen by the Above and Beyond Achievers Review Panel, made up of staff members from across the agency. The winning teams received individual awards, will be featured on an Above and Beyond Winners plaque at Henry Street Settlement’s historic headquarters, and will be treated to a group professional or personal experience, and all nominated teams will attend a luncheon celebrating their achievements.
