BREAKTHROUGH NEW YORK
Mission
Breakthrough New York empowers motivated students from low-income backgrounds to graduate from college and access a fulfilling career.
Ruling year
2009
Executive Director
Ms. Beth E. Onofry
Main address
39 Broadway Suite 820
New York, NY 10006 USA
Formerly known as
Summerbridge at the Town School
EIN
27-0628927
NTEE code
Secondary/High School (B25)
Undergraduate College (4-year) (B42)
IRS filing requirement
This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.
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Communication
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Talent and motivation are equally distributed across race and class, but access to high-quality educational opportunities are not. Only 11% of students from the lowest socio-economic quintile graduate from college, and 26% of Black Americans and 18% of Latinx Americans hold a college degree. A college degree is the most reliable lever for economic mobility. Beyond increased wages, a college education leads to better health outcomes, higher civic engagement, lower incarceration, and more charitable giving - enriching entire communities. The problem of college access begins well before a student submits their college application. Students in low-income communities are less likely to attend a high school that prepares them for college, more likely to lose academic skills over the summer, and furthest from the extracurricular and internship opportunities that propel students into top-tier colleges.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Breakthrough New York Middle School Program
Summer Program: Students attend an academically-rigorous six-week summer program (8:00AM-4:00PM) with a specific focus on solidifying skills mastery in the core curriculum of math, science, English and social studies. This past summer, we piloted our first in-house designed curricula in order to maximize academic gains. In addition, students choose from a variety of teacher-designed academic electives such as Spoken Word, History of Hip-Hop, Chorus and website design. While our focus is intensely academic, we also seek to develop our students’ character, sense of responsibility and cultural exposure through a positive learning environment and experiences in the larger community. This summer, we hope to re-examine our middle school program’s impact by developing a comprehensive evaluation plan with a professional evaluator and aligning our middle school curriculum accordingly.
School Year Program: From October to May, Breakthrough New York provides Monday and Wednesday after-school programming (4:30-6:30pm) that focuses on intensive tutoring, study skills and writing mechanics., which is held at The Town School in Manhattan. High school and college teachers also teach these classes. Meeting for two days a week represents an increase from our once-weekly program and was informed by research of academic out-of-school time. Since the start of the new school year, we have averaged a 91% attendance rate and our students averaged a 90% GPA in the fall 2009 semester.
Placement Program: Beginning in the spring of 7th grade, we begin placement guidance and support to our students and families as they navigate the high school admissions process for magnet public, independent and boarding schools. We begin teaching a high school options curriculum in our 7th grade summer which introduces our students to types of schools available, financial aid processes, interviewing skills and ways to identify the proper school fit (size, location, academic program, private/public etc.). We also work one-on-one with families and offer free SSAT/ISEE preparation for our students.
Breakthrough New York High School Program
High School Program: Breakthrough offers free SAT preparation, referrals to summer and employment opportunities through partnership organizations, a mentoring program, workshops on college essay writing and financial aid applications and trips to various universities.
Breakthrough New York Teacher Training Program
Breakthrough hires over 100 high school and college students throughout the course of the school year as teacher interns. Our teacher interns are trained and mentored by seasoned professional educators who train them in both theoretical and practical teaching methodologies. Of the teacher intern alumni that we have tracked, 83% have gone onto pursue careers in education and public service.
Breakthrough New York College Success Program
In 2014, we piloted a program to support our our high school seniors transition through their first year of college successfully. Based on the success of the program, we now introduce a college persistence program focused on academic, financial, social and career-readiness support.
Where we work
Awards
Klingenstein Award for Service 2006
Columbia University Teachers College
Top Ten Internship in the US 2011
Princeton Review
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of high school seniors who graduate from high school on time
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents, Ethnic and racial groups, Low-income people, Working poor, Immigrants
Related Program
Breakthrough New York High School Program
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
100% of Breakthrough high school students graduate from HS on time.
Number of scholars who graduate from four year colleges and university within six years
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents, Ethnic and racial groups, Low-income people, Working poor, Immigrants
Related Program
Breakthrough New York College Success Program
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
For FY22: 96% of Breakthrough college seniors are on track to graduate college on time.
Number of high school graduates who are persisting in college
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Breakthrough New York College Success Program
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
98% of college students persisting in college
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Breakthrough New York empowers students from low-income backgrounds to graduate from college and access the career of their choosing. We aspire for 100% of our students to graduate from selective high schools and enroll in four-year colleges, and for at least 90% to graduate from college on time. Beyond college, we aim that at least 75% of Breakthrough alumni make at least a middle-class salary in the career of their choice by age 30.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Breakthrough New York is a tuition-free, ten-year program that supports students from low-income backgrounds from 7th grade through college graduation.
The Breakthrough model is grounded in three core areas of programming, spanning our middle school, high school, and college cohorts:
1. Academic and social enrichment: We prepare students to succeed in rigorous educational settings by providing summer and after-school programming.
2. High school and college access: We coach students and their families into applying to high-quality high schools and colleges across the public, private, and parochial spectrum.
3. Near-peer mentorship: We train young people to teach and mentor students at every stage of our ten-year program, providing social-emotional guidance in addition to academic and professional support.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Breakthrough New York has twenty years of success in expanding educational opportunities for students from marginalized and under-resourced communities. We launched in 1999 as a program focused on reversing the "summer slide" for middle school students. Since then, we continue to evolve our program to meet our students' needs, including expanding our program to ten years and operating cohorts in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. We have an excellent team with strong retention and a highly engaged board, providing us with the leadership, capacity, and motivation to create excellent programming for our students.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
For FY2022:
- 97% of Breakthrough college seniors on track to graduate college on time
- 96% of Breakthrough high school students going to college preparatory high schools for the 2022-23 school year
- 98% of Breakthrough high school seniors enrolling in four-year college for Fall 2022
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
BREAKTHROUGH NEW YORK
Board of directorsas of 01/24/2024
Mr. David Sherman
BentallGreenOak
Term: 2022 - 2024
Mona Shah
Nora Elish
The Dalton School
Maria G. Hackley
Citigroup
Sarah Rappoport
Teaneck Board of Education
Laura Sloate
Neuberger Berman
Kimberly Johns
Goldman Sachs
Daniel Botoff
RBC Capital Markets
Laura Drumm
RBC Capital Markets
William Clark
JP Morgan Chase
Peter Croncota
Kipp Infinity Middle School
Gautam Ranji
Jennifer Coyle
Gerald Cooper
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 06/08/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
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