It’s a beautiful mid-summer evening. Photographer Victor Rodriquez and I have been invited to join a group called New City Kids for a two-hour City Sail. This free school teaches kids how to sail on the Hudson River, everything from tacking to reefing a mainsail in a thunderstorm. Fortunately, on this Thursday afternoon, no storms are in the forecast. Like everything in the New City Kids program, these sailing classes are also life lessons. In this case, young sailors learn communications skills that will be useful in college and in the workforce.
New City Kids is a nonprofit in town whose mission is to promote academic, leadership, musical, and spiritual development. The organization, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, works with kids in first grade through college. Its mantra—that kids are valuable—has led to unprecedented success.
We start at the New City Kids center at 240 Fairmont Ave. The place is bustling with summer campers playing out front. Inside, City Sail kids are learning sailing techniques, the parts of a boat, and knot-tying. New City Kids alumnus Bryan Julot is teaching knot-tying. A sophomore in college, he’s been sailing with the group since the summer of eighth grade.
“I was intrigued,” he recalls. “It was a new experience,” not only for him but for lots of Jersey City kids. He’s majoring in business management and sociology at New Jersey City University, two disciplines that should prepare him well for the future. He wants to start his own nonprofit sailing program.
Setting Sail
After this 45-minute indoor tutorial, it’s down to Liberty Harbor Marina. Development Director Gabriel Stiritz is our host. Sitting on D dock, he remarks that this might be the most beautiful day of the entire summer. It is utterly clear with no humidity.
“The water is beautiful on a sunny day with lots of wind and New York City on the horizon,” Julot says. For him sailing’s most valuable lesson is patience. “It takes a lot of time to learn,” he says. “The first couple of times you don’t get it.”
Michael, age 16, waits on the dock for the sail to begin. “It’s a great experience,” he says, “and a great opportunity because it is not expensive for kids.”
Giselle, 13, says it’s fun to be with friends and to make friends.
Ahmad, who has been in the program for five years, wants other kids “to follow in his footsteps,” learning how to sail and working toward their life goals.
Mirna, who’s in her fifth year with the program, echoes what most participants feel: Without this program, these kids would never, ever experience a sport that would be too costly for most of them to participate in.
Tony Hincliff, cofounder of City Sail and pastor of Redeemer Hoboken church, is skipper of the Freedom 133, where students are gathering for their all-hands-on-deck sailing lesson. Other students will be boarding a smaller Colgate 26, donated by the Offshore Sailing School. “This is not just a boat ride,” Stiritz says. “We believe in putting action behind our words.”
Our photographer, Victor Rodriguez, followed them in a speeding Zodiac. Enjoy his beautiful pictures of New City Kids sailing on the Hudson.
Teens Teach
Sailing is just one of the many learning experiences offered by New City. The Teen Life Internship is a year-long, paid, part-time, in-depth leadership development program. The teens tutor, lead music classes or other activities, or manage other teens. Each participant takes job training, life skills, and college prep. They visit working professionals and get one-on-one coaching.
All the teens in the program have entered college in the last five years, and 90 percent have finished or are still enrolled—this in a city where 33 percent drop out of high school and 51 percent do not attend college.
New City uses cutting-edge techniques to get results. Teens help younger kids, who are part of a team. They might chant a rap to help with a geography lesson. Most important, trained staff is on hand to deal with personal problems or adversity at home, or to intervene in a crisis.
College Bound
In the college readiness program, kids participate in academic tutoring, SAT prep, and parent-student workshops, and they take college tours. Alumni come back to share their experiences of applying to, attending, and graduating from college.
The New City After School Center invites kids in grades one through eight to take part in an academic and arts enrichment program, which blends English, math, and geography with performing, arts, music, and other cultural offerings.
A spiritual component comes in the form of the X-Change youth ministry, led by teens in the X-Crew. Poetry and sketches, which may tell stories of disappointment and pain, are exchanged for messages of healing and hope.
Summer camp also focuses on spiritual development in addition to traditional day-camp activities. Bible-quizzing games might be followed by dance, chants, and raps to aid self expression, and field trips that include hiking and swimming and visits to zoos and parks.
“It’s not just talk,” Stiritz emphasizes, and City Sail is proof. He says, “We value kids.”—JCM