On Friday, April 20^th, 2012, the Karuna Kids Early Childhood Center held its first Karuna Kids Kare Earth Day Event.  Thanks to a partnership with Goldman Sachs Community TeamWorks, twenty volunteers along with HPAC staff assisted in educational and eco-friendly activities for local children from La Peninsula Head Start.  At five different stations, children learned about planting seeds, growing food, and the living environment.  Volunteers assisted children in reading, making rain sticks, planting, even making a butterfly garden!  For lunch, the volunteers toured a local garden, sponsored by an HPAC donor at St. Ignatius School.  Great weather and enthusiasm from all sides made it a perfect Earth Day event!

Check out photos of the event on our Facebook!

A banker by day and photographer by weekend and night, Chris Arnade captures on his camera scenes and faces of the Hunts Point Community. Toils and triumphs, children and homeless alike are all subject matters for Arnade. Beginning March 9th, for the first time the public will be able to view his portfolio of work in his “Portraits & Pigeons.” All proceeds from Print Sales will directly benefit the Hunts Point Alliance for Children HPAC Scholars Program, which provides financial aid to promising students, and enables them to attend the best possible middle and high schools with the goal of reaching top-tier high education institutions.

As one scholarship recipient explained, “My middle school is hard and I have had to work really hard to keep up. I feel so accomplished that my grades are so good and that my parents are proud of me.  I dream of going to a good high school and a good college. I need to do that to be a vet!”

As another said, “School is important to me because it is a door that has the keys to other doors that are greater than school itself. I think of it as a golden key studded with the most valuable gems. This key is precious.”

Please join us to view Arnade’s snapshots of a community in need, and in doing so support the children and their families, and support their dreams and help end the cycle of poverty.

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Six kids from Hunts Point recently traveled to lower Manhattan to visit the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.  We were able to capture the moment with the Iphone of one of the teachers.The kids were able to bond with each other and the teachers, and they also learned about history and technology.

Our website is going through some changes.

You can take a look at our youtube page if you are interested in some general statistics about HPAC; our facebook is also constantly updated.

Click here to check out the website for the Dignity for All Students act, a recent anti-bullying law set into place in New York.  Hopefully this will help to keep our schools safe.

Bright Horizons, Jumpstart and HPAC have come together to create an amazing space in Hunts Point, on 875 Irvine Street.  Volunteers from Bright Horizons recently finished rennovations on 875 Irvine Street, as well as in La Peninsula.  These rennovations are making Hunts Point a safe place for young children looking for a place to learn, play, and grow.

The day was highlighted by a visit from David Lissy and Mary Ann Tocio, the CEO and COO of Bright Horizons, respecitvely. The brand-new Jumpstart CEO, Nalia Bolus, also made an appearance.

Feel free to take a look at our facebook page for photos of the events.

Maryann Hedda, the managing director at HPAC, recently accepted the New York Post’s Liberty Medal Leadership Award.  The award is given to distinguished citizens of New York City who have shown amazing dedication to the safety, education and general betterment of the city.

You can see Maryann’s interview on Good Day New York, or you can check out pictures of the event on our Facebook page!

Students from Hunts Point recently took part in Read for the Record, a campaign started by Jumpstart that encourages reading and literacy in low-income neighborhoods.  Pre-K and Kindergarten students from P.S. 48 and La Peninsula sat down to have Llama Llama Red Pajama read to them by local teachers and professionals, including officers from the NYPD, sailors from the U.S. Navy.

You can read more about the ongoing initiative here.

HPAC’s Managing Director Maryann Hedaa was recently featured in a full-length article in the New York Post.  In it she discusses the role of HPAC in Hunts Point, as well as the potential the area holds.  Feel free to check it out below!

New York Post Article