The East Village Community School [Ed. - Remember them?] will be celebrating the release of their album, Songs From the East Village this evening at the Tenement Museum. The album is a very creative way to raise money for the school, combining the talents of some of the parents (including accomplished singer and musician Susan McKeown, who oversaw the production) and children from the school. Focusing on the diversity of cultures and backgrounds that make up the residents of the East Village, the album includes a vast array of musical traditions from Iraq, Tibet, Nigeria, Spain, Mauritius, Ireland, England and the United States.
FREE
6:30p
108 Orchard Street
Part of the museum’s Tenement Talks series of lectures, readings, panel discussions and programming that provides perspective on New York City’s rich culture.
Mark Federman has spent the last nine days camping outside the East Side Community High School, hoping to win enough votes on Facebook to be one of the 20 winners of the Kohl’s Cares $10 million give away.
I was walking to my favorite local diner tonight when I was stopped by a group of teenagers outside the school a block away from my apartment.
“Will you please take a few minutes to help us out?” a teenage girl asked. I was a bit wary, given the prevalence of charity hustlers I tend to avoid eye contact with and mumble a bashful “sorry” to as I pass them on New York City streets. But it was 8 p.m., past charity hustling hours. She told me all they needed was for me to vote for their school on Facebook so they could win a $500,000 grant and they were camping out in the schoolyard to get as many votes as they can from the neighborhood. “The top five schools in the competition right now are private schools,” she lamented.
An adorable boy who couldn’t have been older than 14 led me over to a card table set up with a laptop among their makeshift campsite of pop-up tents.
“Are you really sleeping here and everything? All of you?” I asked, incredulously.
“Yep!” he replied, as he walked me through the voting process. “Our principal said we could!”
As soon as I was done (it really only took about a minute), I left to a chorus of “Yay!”s and “Thank you!”s. I felt like a hero and all it took was a few mouse clicks. You can be a hero to these kids too — with all the time they’re putting in to recruit votes (over 22,000 so far, though that only gets them the #36 spot), they deserve it!
ESCHS is the only public community school from New York City on the list.
The deadline is Sept. 3, and Federman says if his school looks likely to make the top 20, he will camp out until then.
Federman has a long list of improvements he would make if his school won the cash, including buying more computers, building a gym, improving arts and dance programs and helping kids fund school trips.
Over on 12th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, students and teachers are outside with computers to get people to vote online so that the school can win $500,000 in the Kohl’s Cares for Kids contest. Per the reader who sent me the photos and tip: “It’s pretty cool to see them all out there doing this.” The students and teachers will be out until later this evening. You can also vote from home.
Visit www.eschs.org for a voting link and more details.
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