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News NEW FACILITY STEPS is happy to announce our relocation to 1325 Fifth Avenue and East 112th Street where the facility layout is more flexible and the larger space better able to accommodate the 80 plus students we work with daily. REDUCED FUNDING for HUD
DONATIONS
STAFF DEVELOPMENT
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED |
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Staff Members:
Affiliate Organizations
Executive Director:
Virginia Kwarta
ABE Teacher:
Erica Abbensetts
ABE & Computer Teacher:
Greg Frett
G.E.D. Teacher/Job Trainer:
Annamarie Hill
Office/Program Administrator:
Sherita Joe
RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF THE CITY U DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH AND COMMUNITY NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTME LITERACY ASSISTANCE CENTER VOLUNTEER MATCH EAST HARLEM INFORMATION OUTREACH
Programs at STEPS
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The academic program addresses skill levels from Adult Basic Education to preparation for the GED exam. Formal assessments and individual and small group sessions are routine. A variety of instructional approaches and materials is used to meet diverse student needs.
Long-term employment and economic self-sufficiency are STEPS' goals. Pre-employment training, career awareness, resume preparation and job search strategies, along with work-internships as needed, are included. Assistance with job placement and job retention is provided.
This program strengthens new skills and interests of adult students while teaching ways to encourage children's learning at home and at school. Emphasis is placed on age-appropriate learning skills, children's books, home activities and parent-school relations.
This program provides parenting skills classes and a support group for those rearing children and a support group for those rearing children, from infancy and adolescence. It emphasizes building parental confidence and improving understanding of child development stages. .
This program teaches computer fundamentals and the use of the internet. Students are given access to advanced workplace computer skills and programs. They learn to do job search through the internet.
As part of STEPS' pre-employment program, students are being offered a new curriculum on finance and economics.
Why, some may wonder, should the homeless or those threatened with homelessness, who might never have held a job, learn about business and finance.
"One of the important things our students learn in our employment-readiness classes," said Virginia Kwarta, STEPS' Executive Director, "is how the business world works, and how they might play a part in it. This course introduces them to basic concepts of personal finance and business savvy – important concepts to learn if you are working to be independent of the welfare system and street life."
The 15 week course, offered once a week, covers many useful ideas, such as the need to make a financial budget and plan, to set goals for your job and career, to understand how credit works and how to use it wisely, and how to identify financial opportunities and analyze their risks and benefits.
The curriculum for this course was written by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship and by Merrill Lynch. Created in 2003, its aim is to provide materials for volunteers, community leaders and educators to use in teaching youth to become economically productive members of society.The classes are taught by Sam Zaepour, a STEPS' volunteer with extensive business experience in currency trading, dot.com development and money management training. Having grown up in Iran and Switzerland, Mr. Zaepour brings to class a fresh perspective and personal experiences that help students think more openly about future possibilities.
For example, he stirred the imaginations of the group when he recently talked about the educational value of PBS documentaries, a low cost computer school near Times Square, and the cheap tuition of European universities.
In a recent class looking at financial opportunities, students discussed how they might start a T-shirt business, and how they could start a business taking advantage of stores that would not permit strollers inside. The discussion showed creative thinking logical analysis, and solid problem solving – useful skills to build for their futures. That program is now in progress and the students are involved in all phases of business development. They are using computer programs and have an online group that they can use to communicate with each other and with the instructor. In the final stages there will be a mini-catalog and a video made.
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