A Year in Review: The Anniversary of COVID-19

March 22, 2021/

March 17, 2021 marked the one-year anniversary of New Yorkers For Children transitioning to quasi remote services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with the rest of the city and most of the country, our staff had to pivot quickly, with the goal of never lapsing in our services for youth in NYC foster care. It has been a harrowing year for all of us – full of fear, sadness, and isolation. But it has also given us a chance to reflect and recommit to the values we cherish, including lifting up and supporting our city’s most resilient young people. Please read on to learn more about the work we have done to support youth throughout the COVID-19 crisis. 


With your help, we can continue to meet the needs of NYC’s children, youth, and families who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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We have continued to host our monthly Youth Advisory Board (YAB) meetings and other events such as workshops and study halls virtually, as well as meet with our youth individually more frequently from the onset of the pandemic.

The COVID-19 Emergency Fund

“When I didn’t have any food or anyone to turn to and was starving, NYFC was there … it’s nice to know that someone will help.”

-Keysh, COVID-19 Emergency Fund Recipient

Thanks to our dedicated board members, supporters, the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), and other key partners in the field, NYFC has been able to accomplish the following since the onset of COVID-19:

$1,739,212 dispersed since March 2020.
1,886 children, youth, and families served by our COVID-19 Relief Efforts, including our Emergency Fund, ACS-involved family payments, laptop recipients to facilitate remote learning, E-cards for college students, internship stipends, and more.
$748,643 distributed directly to 1,575 youth in NYC foster care through NYFC’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund Program.
208 youth participated in our Summer and Fall Virtual Internship Program in partnership with ACS and received a total of $534,200 in stipends.
Approximately 582 of the 1,575 COVID-19 Emergency Fund recipients (37%) are young parents.
Approximately 142 Emergency Grant recipients (9%) were awarded multiple grant requests, which is a testament to how many of our young people have continued to struggle throughout the pandemic.

While delivering these critical COVID-19 interventions, we also continued to operate our signature programming. Some signature accomplishments from 2020 include: 

• Providing 24 college-enrolled students with over $200,000 of support in tuition assistance, one-on-one academic coaching and mental health support, living allowances, and more through our Nick’s Scholars Program.
• Dispersing 578 Back to School Packages containing laptops and gift cards, totaling over $150,000 of support.
• Hosting over 40 Fair Futures Learning Communities for 100 specialists across 26 foster care agencies focused on youth engagement strategies, which in turn support a collective caseload of 1,500 youth.
• Growing our YAB Peer Mentoring Program to include nearly 100 young people, about 50% of whom have been certified as Peer Educators. 

Thank you for your ongoing partnership and commitment to youth in New York City foster care. None of our work would be possible without your compassion and generosity. Please join us as we continue to serve as a safety net for our resilient scholars throughout the duration of the pandemic and as we all rebuild together.

With best wishes,

Saroya Friedman-Gonzalez
Executive Director

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