ABOUT US
We Initiate Arts Literacy and Academic Enhancement for Disadvantaged Youth:
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Brooklyn Youth Enrichment, Inc. (BYE) fills a vital need for art and cultural education for our youth.
Students participating in the BYE programs are encouraged to achieve their maximum potential. We believe that the experience and satisfaction that comes from the study of the mastery of the arts will help them to do so.
According to a seminal study, Champions of Change: The Impact of Arts on Learning, conducted by the Arts Education Partnership and the President Clinton’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities: “When young people are involved in the arts, something changes their lives. The arts provide young people with authentic learning experiences that engage their minds, hearts, and bodies.” That report affirms our experience-based belief that we must provide more youth with arts education and exposure. Studies show that involvement in the arts can make a difference in a variety of non-arts outcomes, such as improvement in academic performance and self-directed learning and increased analytical thinking and communication skills. A substantial number of young people have had little exposure to the arts.
Appropriately presented, knowledge of the arts can play a vital role by giving youth the desire to learn, teaching them how to learn, and helping them to learn new technical skills, such as culinary arts, painting, robotics, or mastery of a musical instrument. We believe that the existing BYE programs and those we propose to initiate will introduce the arts to many young people and provide them the first opportunity to develop knowledge and appreciation of a wide range of art disciplines and the skills needed to create art.
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BYE: Michelle Morris, with a group of committed individuals from the community, founded the organization. The members of the Union United Methodist Church of Brooklyn were especially helpful in volunteering their time and energy to bringing recreational programs, arts, and holiday events low-income youth in the community. The year 2019 marked 20 years that Brooklyn Youth Enrichment has provided innovative holiday events, visual- and communication-arts programming for young people, ages three and older. Its activities are often theme-based and become an integral part of learning, useful in other participant’s curriculum areas. The programming also becomes part of art therapy intended to provide catharsis, an increased sense of competence, and improved self-esteem.
Brooklyn Youth Enrichment, Inc has made a clear commitment to exposing young people to the power of our yearly events, arts, and self-esteem raising programs by letters of praise from community centers fortunate enough to have utilized its programs. In its years of service, Brooklyn Youth Enrichment has received public-service awards from a variety of political leaders and community-based organizations and businesses because of its outstanding contribution to the neighborhoods we serve. We maintain strong collaborative efforts with the community and among individual volunteers, sponsors, and partner organizations that share Brooklyn Youth Enrichment’s vision. Among these honors was our recognition by the Brooklyn Borough President, Eric Adams, for BYE’s excellent humanitarian contributions. This recognition supports the concept that all our work is of premier value to youth, especially for children at risk. Brooklyn Youth Enrichment administrators engage only those professionals and volunteers who take seriously the need to understand and foster the overall development of the children we serve. With guides and mentors such as these, children can express themselves freely. To many of the children, we offer a first chance to shine, to discover the joy in what they can make with their own hands, drawing on their imaginations.
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YOU CARE! I CARE! WE CARE!
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