In 2008, Partnership with Children’s Centennial Fund Campaign was announced at the organization’s fifth annual wine tasting event, A Taste of the Good Life. Celebrating one hundred years of opening hearts and inspiring minds, Partnership with Children marked its Centennial year with a series of events and activities, most notably a campaign to raise $3 million, which will be used to secure the future for over 10,000 students annually.

Founded in 1908 by a group of women including Mrs. William K Vanderbilt and Mrs. Henry O Havemeyer, Big Sisters was dedicated to improving the lives of underprivileged girls and young women. Its first activities included one-on-one mentoring, a home where girls sent by the Children’s Court could escape the streets of New York, and the distribution of clothing, gifts and food. Over the years, the agency started focusing on preventive work with a focus on minority children and first entered the New York City public school system during the 1970’s. Over the past thirty years, Big Sisters, which changed its name to Partnership with Children in 1993, has been providing individual counseling and full classroom groups in New York City’s most challenging schools.

Today, Partnership with Children delivers its Open Heart – Open Mind program to 26 inner-city schools reaching over 12,000 children annually. Its Life Steps program provides counseling and leadership development opportunities to120 adolescents and their families each year. The Center for Capacity Building, which was launched in 2005, trains teachers and administrators who do not have the Open Heart – Open Mind program in their schools on the best practices of the program.

With The Centennial Fund, Partnership with Children can now reach more than 10,000 students annually through the Open Heart – Open Mind program, increase the presence of the Center for Capacity Building to 100 schools, reinforce the organization’s infrastructure and provide professional development training to its social work staff.

With your help, the Centennial Fund can secure the future for thousands of children. Click HERE to donate now!