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project leader
Eric M
location
3-01 27th Ave
(Astoria House)
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One last chance to give on Giving Tuesday!

the project

What is the Minor Miracles Men's Academy?

The Minor Miracles Men's Academy program is based on experiential learning. Every session was designed to give the young men of Astoria House different life experiences. It was amazing, all 7 of students where engaged and active throughout the program and no one missed a class. The young men were truly amazing, we pray that we can hit this fundraising goal so that we can continue and grow the program. 
We could see by the young men's behavior, that they enjoyed the learning experiences and by the second class in they were looking forward to the next new experiences. We also saw something new in these young men's eyes that said, "this guy looks just like me - I can do this too!"

One mother stated that she was so glad that her son was a part of the program because it kept him engaged and learning thru-out the summer!

What type of experiences did our 7 summertime participants do? 
  • Visited the Deputy Borough President of Manhattan, Matthew Washington, and learned about how to manage a borough and a $52 m budget. 
  • Visited the New Museum's Shaun Leonardo,  Manager of G: Class and Community Programs, and was exposed to art & culture through the Experiential Study Program.
  • Visited an attorney, Gary Weeks, and learned about fiscal fitness and estate planning.
  • Participated in a Verbal Judo class, a martial arts course that teaches how to de-escalate situations by talking through them.
We need your help!
The Program took place this past Summer our participants finished all 8 weeks. However, sadly their Summer Stipends where never given out, because our original 501c3 fiscal sponsor pulled out. We are working with ioby to restore the 501c3 sponsorship and deliver the stipends in November - just in time for the holidays.

We would like to continue in the Fall / Winter to restore honor back to the program. We realize that when the young men are truly given an opportunity to learn something useful they responded! So now armed with this knowledge, we would like to expand the program to a total of 15 Participants, so we can have a bigger effect on our community. 

For the fall, we will reinforce the values and skills they learned about over the summer and continue with the experiential learning. We will get them out into the community to have new experiences and organically absorb and learn new things. The fall program participants will not receive a stipend but we'll use funds for the experiential learning program expenses. 

the steps

Our initial Pilot Program took place this summer and went for 8 weeks. No one missed a class it was awesome! Once we get cash in hand, I will reach out to all the community educators and agencies and restart the project for the fall schedule. We will maintain the current curriculum - if it ain't broke don't fix it!

We already have space and we already have over 15 young people who want to participate!

why we're doing it

Young men need guidance, we have been working in and around the Astoria community for over 7 years. It's time to make a difference, put up or shut up. 

Our work aims to complement the hard work of local educators and parents to provide life-changing experiences, outside of school and home, for young men to see what's possible for themselves and their future. 

 

budget

Disbursed budget (11.30.17):

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our fundraiser. We're so thrilled to have your support! We'll use these funds to support our young men through our Minor Miracles Men's Academy in the following way:

1. Stipends $2500.00

2. G&A $1,000.00

3. Con Ed $ 750.00 ( Continuing Education)

4. Clothing $ 588.00



RAISED = $5,260.00
less ioby Platform Fee  $35.00
less ioby Fiscal Sponsorship Fee (5%) $241.90
less ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $145.14
TOTAL TO DISBURSE = $4,837.96

Original budget:

  • Education stipends for 7 full-time program participants (Our summer 2017 program was involved and these students will receive a stipend) = $ 3,000.00
  • Clothing Support for our 7 full-time participants (back to school clothing) = $ 1,000.00
  • Continuing Education into the fall for our 7 original youth and 15 more youth  (word is spreading fast!) = $ 1,500.00
  • G&A                             = $ 2,000.00

 



PROJECT SUBTOTAL = 7,500
ioby Platform Fee  $35
ioby Fiscal Sponsorship Fee (5%) $375
ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $225
TOTAL TO RAISE on ioby= $8,135

 

updates

One last chance to give on Giving Tuesday!

Posted 11/28/2017 - 2:01pm

Thank you to all of our donors so far! We've got one more day, Giving Tuesday, to reach our goal and support our young men through our Minor Miracles programs this year.

We've extended our deadline to Sunday, Nov. 26th.

Posted 11/20/2017 - 4:22pm

Thank you to all of the donors who have made gifts to our online page. We've decided to extend our online fundraising deadline through the holiday weekend to give our friends, family and community a chance to help our program - and to help our youth!

We are thankful to every donation and believe that every dollar counts! Whether your donation is $3, $10 or $50 we will put your gift to work to support our young men from this summer and into this winter. 

Thank you,

Minor Miracles Team

photos

This is where photos will go once we build flickr integration

donors

  • Anonymous
  • Pierre R.
  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous
  • The Schultz Family
  • Anat K.
  • MEL GOLDSTEIN
  • Marcy
  • Mitra B.
  • Anonymous
  • Thomas and Jeanne Elmezzi Private Foundation