Successful Leaders Arising from Poverty Shadowed by Gentrification

New York, New York – August 18th 2010 – As the room for poverty in the neighborhood is becoming less, the nativity students stand tall and prove their true potential with their academic performance. In contrast to the steep declines seen at both the public and charter schools throughout New York City, the students at New York Nativity continue their strong performance in both Math and English. Results show 76% of Nativity students passing in Math vs. 46% of the students in their corresponding district and in English Language Arts (ELA) 53% of Nativity students passing vs. 43%.

As fewer Latino families are able to afford the area where they once lived in cramped slums, the school, too, has come to feel out of place…Where others might have seen only poverty, they saw possibility. “We serve the poor,” said Father Podsiadlo, who has worked at the Lower East Side school since 1973. “If they’re not here, then we’ll move to where they are.”(Gonzalez, David. “Lower East Side Has Less to Offer Jesuits Who Teach the Poor.” New York Times, August 11, 2010).

Nativity Mission Center is the first Nativity model middle school founded in 1971 on the Lower East Side of New York City, marking the beginning of the Jesuits mission in middle school education for underserved children of immigrant families. Forty years later, Nativity Mission Center is still providing students who are victims of poverty with the fundamentals they need to embark their journey to success.

The high percentage of passing grades for Nativity Mission Center students indicate the impressive success that has been expected of New York Nativity schools. The journey to success doesn’t end there Nativity history shows 88% of the students graduating into high school and then 94% of them go on to college- three times the rate their peers!

Today, that original “Nativity Model” of middle school education has inspired more than 65 Nativity schools around the country. However, as poverty is being pushed out due to the gentrification of the lower east side, this first Nativity Mission School has made the decision of relocating in the year 2012.

New York Nativity is a non-profit organization that helps students from low-income families break the cycle of poverty through education. Our non-tuition dependent middle schools provide rigorous programs that prepare students for greater rates of success.

Melissa LaBau
New York Nativity
44 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10003
T: 212-674-8490 x24
F: 212-674-2315
info@nynativity.org
www.nynativity.org

This release was published on openPR.