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Three Goddard Riverside and Isaacs Center senior staff members won statewide recognition in the waning days of 2024, capping a busy year of awards.

Roderick L. Jones, our president, was named to the PoliticsNY and amNewYork Nonprofit Power Players list along with executives at organizations such as Robin Hood, Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC, and Food Bank for New York City.

Asked his favorite thing about his job, he wrote: “The thing I love most about working in the nonprofit sector is helping people to see their possibilities and achieve their goals.”

VP for Innovation and Justice Susan Matloff-Nieves was named to the Responsible 100 list by City and State Magazine. This list recognizes “civic-minded leaders who selflessly serve New York.”

“I get to work across the entire organization to promote learning and leadership,” she wrote in her profile. “The joy of the work is supporting growth and learning, elevating unheard voices and working with some of the most dedicated and kindhearted people in New York City.”

Earlier in the fall, Director of Advocacy and Organizing Larry Wood was honored with the Legacy Builder Award at the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development 50th anniversary gala. Wood has worked for Goddard for more than 30 years as an organizer on housing and other issues; he is an expert on Single Room Occupancy housing. Recalling what attracted him to the work, he said, “Every night I could go home and say: I know one less person is homeless this week.”   

It’s been a big year in awards for our thought leaders. In January, Wayne Tyre, who directs our Resource Center, was named to the 50 over 50 list. Later in the spring, Community Arts Director Manon Manavit was honored in the Above and Beyond Women list. In the summer, Rod Jones was recognized as a Nonprofit Trailblazer. All three awards are from City and State.

• Holiday Meals 
  • Every year on Thanksgiving and Christmas the Isaacs Center and Goddard Riverside serve thousands of meals to members of our community, including those with homes and those without shelter. Volunteer slots for Thanksgiving at the Isaacs Center are already full, but a few Upper West Side slots remain at goddard.org/holiday. 
• Senior Food Service 
  • Help pack fresh and frozen meals to be brought to homebound seniors. Every weekday 7am-9am at the Isaacs Center. Sign up here. 
  • Help serve seniors affordable, nutritious meals at lunchtime. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 11am-1pm at the Isaacs Center. Sign up here.  
• Corporate Projects 
  • Goddard Riverside welcomes corporate employee groups to volunteer with our programs and make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable people in our community. Contact us at volunteers@isaacscenter.org to learn more.

• 593 Columbus Avenue (main office) 
• 250 W 65th Street (Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center) 
• 415 E 93rd Street (Isaacs Center) 

• Debit or credit card 
• PayPal and Venmo 
• ACH 
• Stocks 
• And more! Visit goddard.org/donate to see all the ways you can give.

• 593 Columbus Avenue (main office) 
• 250 W 65th Street (Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center)
• 415 E 93rd Street (Isaacs Center) 

CLIMB is offered through our Education and Workforce Training program. The partnership for this intensive internship and training began this fall, with an orientation that started at MMN’s uptown location at the historic Del Barrio House in Harlem and continued the following week at their new space near Hudson Yards. Students were introduced to the space, but most importantly, they were given workshops to preview everything they would be able to do in the program.  

The goal will be not only to acquire skills to work in the industry, but also to help those who have their own creative endeavors in mind. The only thing MNN asks  is the right to premiere with them first; then the creator is free to place the content where they want. And the best thing: it is free of charge.   

The culinary students from our Education & Workforce program traveled all the way to Greenpoint in Brooklyn for a “Meat & Greet” at Jubilee Marketplace. This field trip served as both a workshop and an opportunity for them to see the economic side of working with food.  

The culinary program holds morning and evening classes where students acquire the skills needed for a successful job in the restaurant industry. As part of our  Education & Workforce program, students are also provided with additional resources, such as trips like this one to Jubilee Marketplace, and other spaces that could provide an opportunity to establish contacts.  

Learn more and enroll in our culinary training. 

Halloween might be in the rearview mirror, but not the great memories it brought us. At the Isaacs Center, the Jack August After School Program and the Older Adults Center hosted a memorable pumpkin carving event for both children and adults.

The Jack August Program offers elementary-age children a space after school for fun, educational activities, while the Older Adult Center provides a space for senior citizens to gather and be a community. With both programs under the same roof, it made sense to come together to celebrate Halloween.

The end of August marked the beginning of a new chapter for our Cybersecurity and Information Technology students as they celebrated their graduation. Based at the Isaacs Center, this training program is part of a partnership between our Education & Workforce program and Per Scholas, a nonprofit with a mission of increasing diversity in technology.  

A new school year has arrived, and the Isaacs Center helped ensure that the children of the community were ready. At our annual Backpack Giveaway, staff and volunteers distributed 240 backpacks to students ranging from kindergarten to middle school.

Students and families were given a ticket and directed to tables separated by grade level. Every student had a choice of bag color, but every backpack came with a little extra depending on their age. Inside, they were packed with school supplies based on grade, from colorful crayons for early grade-school to binders and composition books for the older kids.

And then came the books and the snacks. Along with the backpacks, every table had an array of children’s books donated by the publishers. Students and families were encouraged to take as many books as they wanted, before being given an Italian ice and popcorn on their way out.

Summer might be over, but these students were able to welcome the school year with a smile.

“The best thing for me about this event,” said Eric Wyche, program director of the Jack August Afterschool Program at the Isaacs Center, “is the excitement and joy in the faces of our young people when they pick the bag of their choice and select a book that sparks their curiosity. It also gives me great pleasure to have an opportunity to speak with families and hear how excited their children are to go back to school, while expressing their gratitude for the support from our organization.”

To find out more about the afterschool and other youth program opportunities, click here.

Getting into college can be a challenge —and for low-income students of color and first-generation students it’s even harder. A recent study by the Pew Research Center found only 20 percent of first-generation students completed college, compared to 82 percent of those who had two parents with bachelors degrees.

This summer, as they have for years, the Isaacs Center and the Goddard Riverside Options Center awarded modest scholarships to make the fight for higher education more equitable.

Students, parents, and staff gathered to award students their scholarships and celebrate their college journeys. Thirty-nine students from the Options Center and the Isaacs Center received scholarships to help pay for books, travel and other necessities.

“I am very grateful for this scholarship because I am a first gen student,” said Valerie Ramirez-Salgado, recipient of the Bridging the Gap Scholarship. “It is very difficult to pay for college …and it’s going to help me and my family.” Ramirez-Salgado has been a student at Options since her junior year and is now plans to attend Fordham University to pursue a degree in economics and psychology. 

“I feel amazing, very happy, like I’ve been given a second chance,” said Brianly Urena, recipient of the Henry and Lucy Moses Award. Urena plans to use her scholarship to pursue a 2-part program for her master’s in science with the goal of eventually becoming an RN. She’s a graduate of our Certified Nursing Assistant program who got her certification in January 2024 before deciding to upskill by continuing her education.

Goddard Riverside and Isaacs Center President Roderick L. Jones began his remarks by thanking the donors.

“For our young people this is a life changing opportunity,” he said. “I grew up in public housing in Brooklyn and I remember when I got a scholarship it made all the difference in the world.”

He encouraged the students to be bold in their pursuit of opportunity.

“All you need is for someone to crack the door open just a little bit. Walk through it with courage because you have every right like everybody else to participate in society,” he exhorted them. “Your life has a purpose and this is the beginning of it.”

The room sparkled with balloons and shiny streamers. Some guests lined up for drinks while others filled the dance floor. Hit tunes boomed from the sound system while servers plied the crowd with trays of chicken tenders. 

It was Senior Prom time at the Older Adult Center, and the mood was festive.  

For those who attended their prom many years ago, it was a time to reminisce. For others who’d never been, it was a chance to experience it for the first time.  

“I didn’t get to go to my high school prom. I couldn’t afford it,” said center member Aurea Garcia, who was taking a brief break from the dance floor. “I didn’t see what the big hoopla was about. Now I see!” 

The theme, chosen by a vote of the members, was the 80s. Classic pop tunes from the era rang out in English and Spanish.  

“We decided we wanted to make it a little fancy so we have a live DJ and hors d’ouevres and a mocktail bar,” said Kathy Edouard-Bell of the volunteer organization New York Cares, which assisted in planning the event and provided volunteers. 

New York Cares recruited a key age group to help: teenagers, who traditionally care the most about prom. “They’re putting together the food, serving the seniors, mingling with the seniors and experiencing a senior prom with them,” Edouard-Bell explained. “We thought that was a cool way to bring the two generations together.” 

Center member Ron gave the event high marks. “A-plus plus plus,” he said; “the staff worked very hard and the DJ knows what to play. It’s really nice.” 

It was 6 PM on a weekday, and the teenage members of our Health Professionals in Training program had already spent nearly two hours learning about emergency response and practicing CPR. They were tired and sweaty and it was time to go home—but when Dr. Joy Howell asked if they wanted to learn how to intubate a patient, they all said yes without hesitation. 

About a dozen young people watched intently as Howell tipped the patient’s chin back, then guided a tube with a tiny camera through the mouth and into the windpipe. “You want to see the tube go through those two white strings – those are the vocal cords,” Howell explained, pointing at monitor that showed the output of the camera. 

Then the students split up into groups to practice on patients of their own, working with Howell and three other doctors. But these weren’t human patients—they were the same medical simulators, or manikins, that Weill Cornell uses to train its providers. 

Health Professionals in Training is a partnership between our Beacon 2 After School Program and Weill Cornell. Dr. Howell, a pediatric critical care doctor and Assistant Dean for Diversity and Student Life at Weill Cornell Medicine, reached out to the Beacon to launch the program in 2021 as part of her department’s diversity work. The goal is to help students of color to see the healing professions as an option.  

“We want them to envision themselves in these careers so that if they choose to pursue it, they know they can,” she said. “They know it’s within reach.” 

This year in addition to visiting the Simulation Lab and its manikins, the students got to tour a high-tech ambulance for stroke victims. They got an in-depth look at the dermatology and asthma/immunology departments, and chatted with scientists in the laboratory working on cures for diseases like HIV and COVID. While the four providers who oversee the program are all physicians, Howell said, they make sure the students meet people in a variety of careers: “We involve nurse practitioners, nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, physician assistants, so they’re exposed to a range of health professionals.” 

In the summer the program hosts two Beacon students for a month-long paid internship, giving them a deeper level of exposure to the work.  

It’s not just the students who would benefit from a successful career in medicine, Howell points out; it’s critically important for patients. Multiple studies have shown that Black and Latino populations, in particular, have worse outcomes in the U.S. health system than white patients.  

“Whether you’re talking about adults, children, medical care, surgical care, every which way you cut it, there are differences in outcome based on race and ethnicity,” she explained. 

Studies show that patients of color do better when they have access to providers of color. With the help of Health Professionals in Training, more people may one day walk into an exam room and see a doctor who looks like them.