{"id":239335,"date":"2026-05-21T14:57:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/239335\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T14:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:57:07","slug":"tribeca-citizen-manhattan-youth-loses-contracts-at-12-middle-school-afterschool-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/239335\/","title":{"rendered":"Tribeca Citizen | Manhattan Youth loses contracts at 12 middle school afterschool programs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Manhattan Youth has been stripped of its city contracts at 12 middle schools and local parents are panicked \u2014 and rallying. They have started a petition<\/a> which already has more than 3800 signatures, and are demanding that the city explain the reason for the change in leadership for the afterschool programs after more than a decade. There will be rallies at the middle schools today around 3p.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamilies here chose middle schools based on the strength of the after-school programs,\u201d said one parent who got in touch. \u201cWe are now working with the community board and Community Education Council representatives across the city to get clarity on how and why these decisions were made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manhattan Youth founder and executive director Bob Townley said the letter from the city\u2019s Department of Youth and Community Development, sent May 14, said simply the proposal submitted by your organization is not being considered for award at this time. \u201cIn many schools we started the after-school programs,\u201d Bob said. \u201cI only know that we were ranked very high in these proposals. The process itself seems faulty. We are looking into an appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The schools affected include:<\/p>\n

Facing History School
\nNew York City Lab Middle School for Collaborative Studies
\nProfessional Performing Arts High School
\nQuest to Learn
\nSchool of the Future High School
\nJ.H.S. 104 Simon Baruch
\nM.S. 255 Salk School of Science
\nThe 47 American Sign Language & English Lower School
\nM.S. M245 The Computer School
\nWest End Secondary School
\nJ.H.S. 167 Robert F. Wagner
\nYorkville East Middle School
\nThe Judith S. Kaye School<\/p>\n

I checked with DYCD, the city agency, and this was their statement: \u201cWe recognize that transitions are challenging and that parents and youth value relationships with their afterschool providers. Families can be reassured that programs will remain free, activities will continue to be enriching and safe, and the City and school will work closely with the incoming provider to ensure a smooth transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that is not good enough for parents, who all said those relationships are hard to establish. And they are also worried that some programs, like sports leagues, are in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I have two daughters in Baruch Manhattan Youth and I cannot overstate how these counselors are an integral part of their middle school experience,\u201d said Lily Wicker, who is organizing the rally at Baruch and expects it to have big crowds.<\/p>\n

The Change.org petition<\/a> requests that the city reinstate Manhattan Youth and also explain how it got to these decisions in the first place. \u201cThis decision was made through a rushed and opaque process that excluded the very stakeholders most impacted by the outcome \u2014 students, families, teachers, School Leadership Teams, PTA leadership, and broader school communities,\u201d the petition says. \u201cWe are deeply troubled both by the process itself and by the substance of the contract awards.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is worth reading.<\/p>\n

The new providers are being awarded six-year contracts. The parents did a deep dive on the providers who did get the contract and have the following complaints:<\/p>\n

The Imogen Foundation (IF), assigned to MS104, ASL, SALK, and the Ella Baker School, does not appear to have experience operating large-scale middle school programs or competitive athletics programming.
\nImogen Foundation reportedly does not permit outside partnerships, jeopardizing longstanding relationships with afterschool vendors and enrichment providers.
\nWagner Middle School has reportedly been assigned NYJTL, a tennis-focused organization with limited middle school presence in Manhattan schools
\nThe Anderson School, Dual-Language MS and The Computer School share a building but next year they will have different after-school providers. This will require duplication of efforts and loss of many shared resources and spaces. For example, Dual-Language participated jointly in many sports teams with the Computer School.<\/p>\n

\u201cManhattan Youth staff members are not interchangeable contractors. Coaches, instructors, and program leaders have become trusted adults and integral members of our school communities,\u201d the petition reads. \u201cThey have built longstanding relationships with students, families, teachers, counselors, principals, and administrators over many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis continuity matters profoundly. Middle school is an especially vulnerable and formative period socially, emotionally, and academically. At a time when adolescent anxiety, depression, and broader youth mental health concerns continue to rise nationwide, maintaining consistent relationships with trusted adults should be a priority, not an afterthought.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manhattan Youth has been stripped of its city contracts at 12 middle schools and local parents are panicked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-239335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}