City-As School Parent and Community Org., INC

City-As is built for trips like this." -Watch Lucy's short interview about her experience.

You helped us take 13 students students to Paris last year and it was a huge success. We want to do it again and make it a tradition. You can see how the students prepared and all about the trip at our StoryMap.

This year we want to go back in January and continue to build relationships and offer this opportunity to another group of amazing CAS students.

The students pay what they can and we fundraise the rest. Please help us make it a reality this year for our students.

As you know, City-As-School is founded on the principles of experiential learning through real-world community collaboration. We successfully launched our exchange program within our International Network of Productive Schools (INEPs) last year with our trip to Paris. We now want to make this an annual trip. This international exchange is natural extension of our work and more important than ever to support our students in developing the ability to face increasingly challenging global problems in their futures.

We are fundraising to support MAD Academy at City-As-School in NYC. MAD Academy was founded in 2015 by two teachers and musicians, Maria Krajewski and Alex Falk. MAD is the most innovative arts internship program in NYC, developed as a collaboration between students, teachers and industry professionals. Each year we provide over 100 students 15+ hours per week of direct mentorship in design, arts, and music under the guidance of NYC’s top creatives. Students earn academic credits to move towards graduation. They create professional portfolios through writing and recording original music, designing and painting murals and developing their own style and vision across various mediums.

MAD Academy hires NYC-based artists and musicians to work with our students to support the development of their creative body of work. It is very important that students have mentors who have shared a similar upbringing in NYC. The mentor’s feedback and support is more valued because they truly understand the student. There is a special relationship between people who have been through the same experiences. It is easier for our young students to connect to these mentors and create work that is authentic to their vision. We are currently fundraising to keep four young men of color who are NYC-born and raised as paid mentors for MAD. Two of them are MAD Academy/CAS alumni who want to give back to the community that gave them so much!

CAS has a long legacy of artists coming through our doors and leaving their mark. Murals adorn most of our exterior and interior walls. We are proud to be the home of the largest mural in NYC by Magda Love, Kobra, Al Diaz and Cernesto . We will continue to paint murals and maintain our reputation as a premier destination for public art. We use our building as our canvas! Funding will help us paint more murals and give stipends to the mural mentors.

We give students, particularly those of color, who have traditionally been left out of traditional music and arts education a chance to have their voices heard, their perspective validated and build a supportive community in which they feel safe to take risks to express themselves and tell their story. We serve the most vulnerable of NYC’s students and we are proud to say our school meets their needs to rebuild their trust in themselves, others and the institution of school.

Thank you for your support which will allow us to continue providing access and resources to NYC's most interesting young people!

Thank you to those that have already given and to foundational support we are in the home stretch. Any funds raised now would help to cover the trips and tours the students would learn so much from.

We are raising money to benefit City-As School Parent and Community org., INC, to support a student group to travel to Paris January 26th-February 4th. 12 CAS students will be meeting and working with students from a similar, experiential, internship-based transfer school in Paris.

We believe an international experience should be available to all high school students regardless of socioeconomic status, goals and/or interests. Participating in an exchange with our partner school in the International Network of Productive Education (INEPs) will offer City-As-School students the opportunity to build skills that are crucial for success in any career.

Navigating new perspectives and collaborating in a foreign culture will prepare students to face challenges, compete in the job market and enable students to feel confident and engaged in participating and being leaders in our local and global communities.

Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that can truly change students’ lives, perspectives and opportunities.