As Coronavirus sent New York City into quarantine and the scourge of racial injustice became increasingly evident, a wave emerged of individuals seeking to respond to the crises with action. One of them was Kapil Dattani, an account executive at LinkedIn, who decided to harness his desire to do good by creating a mentoring program for New York City teens.

As part of its efforts to sustain and advance New York City’s afterschool system, ExpandED Schools directly provides grants to community-based organizations that run elementary and middle school programs in low-income communities around New York City. In addition, ExpandED offers coaching and training to help directors and line-staff deliver exceptional programming.

When the Summer Youth Employment Program was cancelled, you could practically feel the collective dismay of tens of thousands of New York City youth who faced yet another disappointment in a season defined by loss. In a typical year, SYEP offers income-generating, skills-building summer jobs to more than 70,000 teens and young adults, ages 14 – 24.

In the wake of Mayor Bill De Blasio’s decision to eliminate the Summer Youth Employment Program, ExpandED Schools is proud to unveil the Youth Empowerment Summer Plan (YES), a reimagined system that would enable the city to provide remote work for 40,000 teens from communities hardest hit by the Coronavirus pandemic.