Earnestine Russell,

Program Founder & Executive Director

“Our children are working hard to gain a foothold in school and in life. In a neighborhood where nearly two out of every three families live below the poverty level, life’s challenges make it hard to come to school ready to learn. With extra help and more opportunities to grow, their prospects can be totally turned around. That is our job. That is our mission. That is why we are here.”

Earnestine Russell  

About Us

 

“One day nearly two decades ago, a neighborhood teenager confided to me that he could make $1,000 a week selling drugs and that he didn't require a high school diploma to do that. He challenged, "Why should I work for a minimum wage when I can make good money selling drugs?" It was then that I realized the depth of the crisis facing my community in the Northeast Bronx. Rather than capitulate, I decided to mobilize the neighborhood.”

                                  Earnestine Russell, Executive Director

       The organization that would eventually became known throughout the Bronx as the Baychester Youth Council was founded in response to the challenge issued by this young man. Today, he is employed as a professional with a Fortune 500 company and is a productive member of our community. His is one of the hundreds of success stories that have been written in the years since 1986 when our founder, Earnestine Russell, first began to build a neighborhood youth program from a single room in a local school and a small office in the New York City housing program where she lived.

        Today, BYC has grown to become one of the most successful programs in the Bronx, focusing solely on the needs of young people between the ages of 5 and 19. Our mission is to work in collaboration with local schools, councils, civil service providers, healthcare facilities, and neighborhood parents and volunteers to provide the academic, behavioral, occupational, and health service resources and referrals that young people need to become healthy, successful adults. Despite the fact that our 21st Century After-School Learning Center didn’t begin full operation until after Christmas, we worked hard together with the staff and administration of PS 112 to prepare our 3rd graders for a new, mandatory examination to determine whether or not their English Language Arts and mathematic skills were strong enough to promote them to the 4th grade. All of our 3rd grade students, including those attending our Comprehensive Services program at JHS 142, passed the exam—an outcome that makes us all justly proud. Congratulations on your promotion to 4th grade and on the progress you have made to get there, kids!

             

 

 

Baychester Youth Council, Inc.