Free afterschool programs for New York City students are offering activities like sports, arts, college prep and more at no cost to parents.<\/p>\n
Mia Diaz, 11, is a confident burst of sass, beaming from the stage for everyone to see as she plays Scar in “The Lion King” at an after-school program play in Queens.<\/p>\n
The soon-to-be sixth grader from Corona loves reading and writing, but she realized last year that she also loves theater.<\/p>\n
“You can act out a different point of view and you show different emotions,” Diaz said.<\/p>\n
“It was so amazing to watch her on that stage. She was thriving,” her mom Thalia Solares said. “It definitely made her so much more independent. I saw her become more confident.”<\/p>\n
And for being able to find her inner courage and put it on full display, Solares credits New York Edge<\/a> — the city’s largest after-school provider.<\/p>\n It serves over 35,000 students, kindergarten through eighth grade, for free.<\/p>\n Solares is a mother of four and a dental assistant. She has no ability to work remotely and no help with childcare at home.<\/p>\n “I would probably have to stay home because I wouldn’t have the option for childcare for somebody to pick up my children from school, so it would be very hard,” Solares said.<\/p>\n “It’s critical,” New York Edge CEO Rachael Gazdick said. “There’s no parent that gets out of work at 3 p.m.”<\/p>\n Gazdick said it’s about so much more than childcare for working parents.<\/p>\n The program is funded largely by the city and is available to students through 81 public schools in five boroughs.<\/p>\n Its goal is to tap into each child’s gifts and talents and nurture it, so they can blossom.<\/p>\n “Where a child may need extra support after the school day ends or they might need an extra spark — can they be the next dancer? Can they be the next scientists?” Gazdick said.<\/p>\n ———- Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News<\/p>\n
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