Oasis Kids meeting with Council member Rosie Mendez

Mission Statement:

The Oasis Community Corporation is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 2001.  Our mission is to support children in their social, emotional, and academic development by providing them with enriching, community-based after-school programs.

Our goal is to help children become more confident, more responsible, and more involved in the world around them. Oasis’ after-school programs provide homework help, sports and recreation activities, visual and performing arts, and academic enrichment activities such as literacy and computer robotics.

Oasis currently collaborates with public schools, parents, and various public and private philanthropic agencies to create our outstanding after-school programs.  Our programs are now serving nearly 1,700 children and families in New York City.

Here at Oasis, we believe that a high ratio of adults to children is a key component of after-school programming.  We are extremely commited to extensive professional development and program evaluation. Students in our programs develop extraordinarily meaningful relationships with the professionals who serve them. We believe that in order to DO well, children need to FEEL well. We work hard to ensure that each student leaves our programs each day with a sense of pride and accomplishment.

A word from the Executive Director:

On behalf of the entire Oasis Community Corporation (Oasis) family, I would like to thank all of the children and families who attended our 16 after-school programs in four boroughs across New York City during the 2008-09 school year.  In addition, I would also want to thank all of the Oasis board members, foundations, government officials and agencies, and individual donors who donated precious resources in order for Oasis to make it through this tough economic crisis and perilous funding environment this past year.

During the 2008-09 school year, Oasis served approximately 1,600 students from low-income and working families in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.  The organization grew by 60% from the prior year, but we adjusted and still flourished.  I hope that you and your child had a wonderful experience with us this past year and you can see positive signs of their continued growth and development both academically and socially.  Moreover, Oasis well trained and experienced staff members provided nurturing, loving, and appropriate support to each child that came through our doors.  But we are not satisfied and we will continue to provide our valuable staff members with the latest professional development trainings in the after-school field to ensure they continue to grow and develop as youth development specialists.

Oasis is diligently preparing for the upcoming 2009-10 academic school year, and there is a lot of great news to share with you about next year. First, I am proud to announce that Oasis will be providing enriching, community-based after-school services at the following New York City public schools next year: P.S. 110 (Manhattan), Girls Prep (Manhattan), and the Brooklyn School of Inquiry (Brooklyn).  I promise that all of these students and families at these new locations will receive the most enriching, professional after-school services in the City of New York.   Our staff is working during this summer break to provide these new parents with all of the pertinent fiscal and programmatic information possible to ensure a smooth opening in the fall of 2009. 

Due to this current economic crisis and rising unemployment of some of our parents, Oasis decided to lower its fees at certain parent-fee based after-school sites to ensure that more students and families get an opportunity to experience our enriching, community-based after-school services.  This organization understands that some of our low-income and working families are struggling to make ends meet and we wanted to do our part to ensure that our families do not lose needed child care services from 3 pm until 6 pm every day after school.  Our parents are working hard to keep their jobs in this treacherous job market and the last thing they need to worry about is child care. 

In addition, Oasis is also offering new, innovative specialty activities like the following:  archery, comic book creation, science, scrap book creation, drumming, gymnastics, sculpture, fashion, Lego-Building, cooking, and pottery courses.  I am committed to differentiating Oasis from any other after-school provider in the City of New York, and I believe that these new, innovative activities will do just that. 

Oasis recently added Mr. Gregory Floyd (President of Teamsters Local 237) and Mr. Nicholas Wood (Head of Derivative Sales Group at Susquehanna International Group) to its outstanding board of directors.  Mr. Floyd is the president of the largest local chapter of the 1.4 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and he represents the following group of 25,000 diverse public employees in New York City and Long Island:  NYC Housing Authority employees, CUNY Peace Officers, NYC School Safety Officers, NYC Attorneys, NYC Emergency Service Workers, and NYC Taxi and Limousine Inspectors.  Furthermore, he also serves as vice president of the New York State AFL-CIO, trustee to the NYC Employee Retirement System (one of the largest public pension funds in the US), and the New York City Central Labor Council. 

Mr. Wood is the Head of Derivative Sales Group at Susquehanna, which is a leader on Wall Street in international sales, research, and marketing of derivatives.  Susquehanna is active in financial markets on five continents.  Prior to serving in his current position, he was the Managing Director and Co-Head of the US Equity Derivative Sales desk at Citigroup (Smith Barney).  In addition, Mr. Wood also serves on the board of directors for Project Rebirth, which is a project that is filming the rebuilding of the World Trade Center.  Oasis is honored to have such distinguished, accomplished, and respected men in New York City agree to join its board and work towards the noble goal of making Oasis Community Corporation the very best after-school provider in NYC. 

Next year, Mr. Charles Miles will assume the Chairmanship of the Board at Oasis, and Mr. Adam Weiss, current chair, will help co-chair during a six-month transition period.  Oasis thanks Mr. Miles for agreeing to take on this important leadership role.  We also thank and salute Adam Weiss, Natalie Cuchel, Victoria Bassetti and Bob Musiker for being loyal, active, and engaged board members.  Oasis senior management team looks forward to working with all of the board members to ensure this organization is fiscally and programmatically viable for years to come.   

Unfortunately due to the cyclical end of several 21st Century Community Learning Center grants, Oasis will not operate after-school programs at the following schools:  P.S. 335 (Brooklyn), P.S. 184 (Brooklyn), and P.S. 21 (Brooklyn).  All three of these schools are no longer listed as “schools in need of improvement” according to the No Child Left Behind statute and the schools’ officials all agreed that Oasis’ after-school programs contributed to the positive academic transformations of these students.  We want to thank all of those wonderful students, families, and administration officials at all these schools we served the past few years for helping establish Oasis in the heart of Brooklyn as one of the premiere after-school service provider in the borough.  Oasis will truly miss working in those wonderful communities, but we will respond to the next “Request for Proposals” from the NY State Department of Education for new 21st Century Community Learning Center programs in the spring of 2010. 

Fortunately, Oasis received the following discretionary awards for the 2010 fiscal year from our elected officials on the state and local levels to mitigate the above-mentioned losses:  1. State Sen. John Sampson (D-BK) $7,500; 2.  State Sen. Eric Adams (D-BK) $10,000; 3. State Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Man.) $10,000; 4. State Sen. Daniel Squadron (D-Man.) $2,500; 5.  State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery (D-BK) $10,000; 6. Assemblyman Micah Kellner (D-Man.) $2,500; 7. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Man) $5000; 8. Councilmember Erik Dilan (D-BK) $10,000; 9. Councilmember Rosie Mendez (D-Man.) $3,500; and 10. Councilmember Oliver Koppell (D-BX) $5,000.  The Oasis family thanks each of these wonderful public servants for responding to the organization’s fiscal needs and programmatic requests by providing a combined total of $66,000, and we look forward to having all of them visit the after-school programs in their respective districts this upcoming school year. 

When I first arrived at Oasis almost three years ago, I promised that this organization would take the necessary steps in order to become the very best after-school provider in the City of New York, and I hope that all of the above-mentioned activities give our stakeholders confidence and assurance that we are rapidly heading towards that noble goal.  We look forward to having all of the students and families back next year and continuing our great relationships with all of our other external stakeholders in the private and public sectors.  Have a great summer vacation and be safe!

Sincerely Yours,