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Homepage Uncategorized Helping kids post-COVID-19: A Q&A with Partnership With Children's new CEO Wesner Pierre
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Helping kids post-COVID-19: A Q&A with Partnership With Children’s new CEO Wesner Pierre

The exec looks back at his own childhood and can relate to the challenges New York City’s youth face moving forward from the pandemic.

 

By MEGAN MCGIBNEY
September 25, 2023

Wesner Pierre, as CEO of Partnership with Children, in just two years has experienced some of the toughest challenges of working with children living in post-pandemic New York City. Even though that is partially because the pandemic put children all over the city through turmoils that haven’t been around in decades, Pierre could also nod at his own experience growing up in New York during a time of crisis.

A native of South Jamaica, Queens, Pierre’s childhood in the 1980s saw the ravages of the crack epidemic. He and his three siblings were raised by a single mother, who eventually succumbed to the drug as well as mental health challenges. When his grandmother began taking care of the four children, Pierre started looking for other adult supporters in the community centers and afterschool programs he went to. So began his journey towards working with youth development in the nonprofit sector.

After working as an adjunct professor in literacy and nonprofits focused on youth development, such as Harlem Children’s Zone, Pierre landed at Partnership with Children in February 2022. The nonprofit, one of the oldest in New York City, is celebrating its 115th anniversary, this year.

The timing for Pierre to become the partnership’s CEO comes at a crucial time. With more attention being paid to mental health, and 8,700 New York children having lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-10, the list of things to do is long. At the same time, tackling of chronic absenteeism throughout city schools is another mission Pierre and the partnership are committed to. The partnership serves more than 13,000 city children compared to more than 10,000 pre-pandemic.

When he sat down with New York Nonprofit Media, Pierre expressed a determined enthusiasm for helping New York’s youth in a post-pandemic world. He knows his story is similar to the children his organization works with, which is why he decided to be its latest CEO.

How is your story reflective of New York youths today?
I came from a difficult neighborhood during a difficult time in our city’s history, where I really had to lean into caring adults. Interestingly enough, we now are in a really difficult time, in the history of New York City, having come off the heels of the pandemic. When I was a young kid,  I needed support, and we didn’t have the resources back then. There weren’t any licensed clinical social workers supporting these communities. These afterschool programs, the awareness around the challenges of mental health, and the effects that they have on young people and families was not where it is today. If there’s one thing that the pandemic has done, it has shone a spotlight on the need for mental health support. What we’re finding in our schools is how our young people are carrying this, and there’s a thing called toxic stress; that is when you have prolonged stress in your life. We’re finding that young folks are carrying this and that means that a young person is not going to be able to be effective in a classroom, focus in a classroom or build healthy relationships with their peers. We’re finding that these challenges are definitely on the rise. I feel like my upbringing mirrors, in many ways, the challenges that our young people are seeing today, and that’s what drew me to the work and that’s what excites me about the work every day.

The school year has started. What will  you and your team be doing?
Back to school is a special time for us. We have been doing a number of back-to-school events, celebration backpacking, we respond to food insecurity. We’re also looking, as we come into buildings, the importance of supporting our teachers. Our teachers are letting us know at record numbers that they need help, they’re burnt out. Also in our communities, there are high increases of violence. There’s a 300% increase in the number of guns that will be found in school, from the pre-pandemic levels to now, which is causing a very stressful environment. We want to make sure that we’re supporting our teachers as well, through being an unofficial sounding board. If we can come in and support [a] young person, that really changes the face of that classroom and…that classroom can be a successful space. I think what grounds us in all of this are two things. Number one, we recognize that there’s still a problem. Number two, we recognize that at the heart of that problem is toxic stress, and we need to tackle that.

How does the partnership address chronic absenteeism?
We do that in a variety of ways: individual sessions, group sessions. We have some of our social workers in the classroom. We place our licensed clinical social workers, with that young person to understand what is the root cause of their challenges. We want to address that [and] allow them to unpack that. So if that’s the barrier, our job is to remove that barrier.  [We locate these children] through teacher referrals. Some of them through parental referrals.

What should people know about chronic absenteeism?
I want folks to know that chronic absenteeism is the byproduct of personal and systemic issues that our young people are dealing with and grappling with. If we don’t acknowledge that, and address those issues, chronic absenteeism is here to stay. Young folks are not magically going to start coming back into the classroom without us addressing what has caused them to leave the classroom in the first place. What we’re advocating for is, let’s recognize the moment, let’s change the way we address our kids and support our kids. Today, is the same as it was last year or even the year before. But yet we’re approaching this problem in the same ways in which we’ve approached it historically. I would argue that the approach is flawed.

What do you hope for the partnership going forward?
That we lift that message that this work is necessary. It’s foundational and without it, you will continue to get the results that we’re getting, which is chronic absenteeism, and all the other challenges that we’re seeing on the rise. We want to stop, cut that flow, and stop that from continuing to go up. That’s my hope, that we’re able to be good messengers across the city, and lift up the good work that we’re doing. But importantly, lift up the need for this critical support for our young folks.

Read article on NYN Media here

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2025
  • PWC CEO, Wesner Pierre, Honored As One Of Crain’s New York Business Notable Black Leaders of 2024
  • PWC’s Senior Director of Equity Lola Martin Featured As One Of City & State New York’s 2024 Responsible 100
  • PWC CEO, Wesner Pierre, Recognized As A PoliticsNY & amNY Metro Nonprofit Power Player
  • Partnership with Children Students Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness
2024
  • Freedom Schools Students speak out against gun violence in Brownsville
  • CBS NEWS: Annual Inspiration Gala held in support of Partnership With Children
  • Bronx Times: Leaders discuss youth mental health, its causes and ‘real solutions’ during panel at Bronx Borough Hall
  • NYN First Read Opinion: Addressing mental health solutions for Bronx youth
  • North Arrow: Impact Mapping for PWC
  • Mayor Adams Announces New York City’s First-Ever Nonprofit Advisory Council
  • CBS NEWS: Councilwoman wants to expand laundry facilities in high-rate shelter student schools
  • PWC CEO Wesner Pierre Honored Among City Luminaries 2024 Manhattan Power List
  • CityLimits Opinion: Restoring our Children’s Future Through Ecosystems of Support
  • News 12 Brooklyn: PWC & Riverdale Avenue Middle School New Food Pantry & Parents Resource Center
  • PWC & Robin Hood Investment of “Next Generation” Community Schools
2023
  • ABC Here and Now: Supporting Youth Mental Health in Schools
  • Helping kids post-COVID-19: A Q&A with Partnership With Children’s new CEO Wesner Pierre
  • Partnership with Children Names Annie Cleary Chief Development Officer and Promotes Franklyn Pintado to Chief Financial Officer
  • Partnership with Children CEO speaks to News 12 State of Our Schools
  • Rockaway Collegiate Students Collect Food to Help Support the Community
  • School social workers are an essential support for children’s mental health: Read our Op-Ed
  • Our Holiday Wish: Deep, Necessary Investments in Children’s Mental Health
2022
  • FPWA 100th Year Anniversary!
  • Virtual Job Fair October 26, 2022
  • A Message From Our CEO, Wesner Pierre
  • Partnership with Children awarded the UHC Empowering Health grant!
  • Partnership with Children’s Theater Programs Featured in City Limits News!
  • Read PWC’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Newsletter, April/May 2022
  • Partnership with Children’s CEO, Wesner Pierre, was featured on News 12!
  • Partnership with Children featured on PIX11 News
  • Read PWC’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Newsletter, February/March 2022
  • 2022 Inspiration Gala!
  • Partnership with Children Names Wesner Pierre as CEO
  • Join Partnership with Children and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
2021
  • To Meet Children’s Mental Health Crisis, Support Our Social Workers: Read our op-ed
  • Partnership with Children Names Tom Booker, André Branch and Castleigh Johnson to its Board of Directors
  • Partnership with Children Names Angela Jefferson Chief Program Officer
  • Watch our Year In Reflection Town Hall and SEL Discussion: Social Emotional Learning with an Equity Lens
  • CAE’s Senior Program Director published in the New York Daily News
  • Partnership with Children featured on NBC News
  • Partnership with Children’s Inspiration Gala in NYN First Read
  • Meredith Sherman named Senior Program Director at The Center for Arts Education at Partnership with Children
  • Partnership with Children Welcomes Jessica Rawlins as Chief Development Officer
  • Our vision for re-opening schools: Read our op-ed
  • 2021 Inspiration Gala!
  • PWC Offers Crisis Counseling Support for New York City During COVID-19
  • Partnership with Children Welcomes Travis Rodgers as Chief Equity and Strategy Officer
2020
  • Watch our 2nd Virtual Town Hall: Advancing Equity for NYC Children during the COVID-19 Crisis and Beyond
  • PWC Town Hall: Advancing Equity for NYC Children during the COVID-19 Crisis and Beyond
  • Our Commitment
  • Watch our Virtual Town Hall- PWC on the Ground: COVID-19 and Children’s Mental Health
  • Partnership with Children will be a Recipient of the BET Relief Fund
  • PWC on the Ground: COVID-19 and Children’s Mental Health
  • COVID-19 Response: Meeting the New Needs of Students
  • Partnership with Children Joined by The Center for Arts Education to Broaden Social-Emotional Learning and Improve Schools
  • PWC CEO Joins City Officials at Press Conference Celebrating Community Schools
  • PWC CEO’s op-ed on the proven need for social workers in schools
  • PWC Chosen as a Holiday Feature on Bloomberg Businessweek
2019
  • PWC Featured in Enterprising Women
  • P.S. 67 Freedom School Summer Programming Featured on CBS New York
  • PWC Partnering with the Children’s Defense Fund on 3 Freedom Schools this Summer
  • PWC Welcomes Four New Board Members
2018
  • LaToya Williams-Belfort named one of The Network Journal’s “40 Under Forty”
  • Franklyn Pintado Recognized by NYN Media
  • PWC to partner with the Children’s Defense Fund and the Ford Foundation on 3 Freedom Schools this summer
  • Op-ed by PWC Executive Director highlights successful ‘Renewal’ school partnerships
  • Principal Kyesha Jackson shares her school’s successes in “PS 67: A Brooklyn School On The Rise”
2017
  • Maria Astudillo awarded NASW Image Award
  • Partnership with Children on Broadway!
  • PWC Staff Interviewed by Education Week About Community Schools
  • Coalition School for Social Change profiled in Chalkbeat
  • The Atlantic highlights our successful partnership with PS 67
  • Martin Van Buren H.S. Shows Academic Improvements
  • Jan 17: Omino Gardezi’s documentary, Lead the Parade, launches in honor of MLK Day.
2016
  • The Atlantic and Politico feature our work with homeless students
  • Positive school climates shown to narrow achievement gaps
  • National Leader on Restorative Justice Visits Our Program
  • Partnership with Children goes Back to School
  • Education Dive features our partnership with Riverdale Avenue Community School
  • Partnership with Children in The New York Times
  • CityLimits features one of our community schools, PS/IS 284
  • Slate features Partnership with Children and emerging science that informs our work in schools
  • “Ushering in a Process of Change: Introducing Restorative Practices at the Middle School Level”, Brooklyn Community Foundation
  • New talent featured in New York Business Journal
2015
  • New York Knicks star takes our students on a shopping spree for the holidays
  • “Help With School and Life in East Harlem”, The Wall Street Journal
  • “At a school in Brooklyn’s poorest neighborhood, literacy is up and disciplinary problems are down”, The Hechinger Report
  • “Crown Heights Middle School Getting Special Staffer to Lower Suspensions”, DNA Info
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  • Partnership with Children Raises $1.16 Million at Annual Spring Gala
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  • TD Five Boro Bike Tour
  • “Partnership with Children Elects Four to Board”
2014
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  • Partnership with Children Raises $800,000 at Spring Gala!
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  • Partnership with Children Elects Two New Board Members
2013
  • New York Times article focuses on a Partnership with Children student
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  • Closing the Achievement Gap During the Summer
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2012
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  • Partnership with Children featured on WNET!
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  • Partnership with Children Selected as Part of NYC Summer Quest
  • Margaret Crotty named new Executive Director
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  • Spring Gala Success!
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Tuesday, 14, Jan
PWC CEO, Wesner Pierre, Honored As One Of Crain’s New York Business Notable Black Leaders of 2024
Tuesday, 14, Jan
PWC’s Senior Director of Equity Lola Martin Featured As One Of City & State New York’s 2024 Responsible 100
Tuesday, 14, Jan
PWC CEO, Wesner Pierre, Recognized As A PoliticsNY & amNY Metro Nonprofit Power Player
Tuesday, 14, Jan
Partnership with Children Students Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness
Tuesday, 30, Jul
Freedom Schools Students speak out against gun violence in Brownsville
Monday, 17, Jun
CBS NEWS: Annual Inspiration Gala held in support of Partnership With Children

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