Giving Compass, an organization that provides resources and guidance to individuals looking to make a greater impact with their giving, featured The Possibility Project on their website. Below is an excerpt from the article.

“Drama Serves As Inspiration

President Paul Griffin, an actor by training, founded the organization 23 years ago when he was living in Washington, D.C., and disheartened by the situation he saw around him.

“At the time, kids were dying at an incredibly high rate [from crime] and nobody was doing anything about it,” he says. “I thought, well, if this problem’s going to get solved, young people will have to take the lead.”

The operation moved up Interstate-95 to NYC and now includes four programs, two open to all young people, one for those in foster care and one for those in the criminal justice system. Recruitment, says Griffin, is done through “hundreds of partnerships” with various city agencies   and community organizations. And also word of mouth.

That’s how Maria Jimenez came upon the project. Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Washington Heights, Jimenez was interested in acting and heard about TPP through a friend when she was in her sophomore year of high school. “I thought it was just a program about singing, acting and dancing, but soon realized that it was something more than that,” she says. “It was life changing”…” Click here to read more.

Thank you to everyone who watched, liked, and shared our videos—your hard work made it happen!! More than 700 nonprofit organizations participated in the challenge—to generates much social media “buzz” as possible for their videos. Our first video was 13th most popular out of more than 900 videos, and we finished in 17th place overall—which is AMAZING!

From there, of the top 40 “buzz-getters,” 25 winners were chosen by a panel of judges based on the inspiration of the organization’s story, the community impact of their work, and the creativity of the videos they submitted. We are absolutely thrilled to be one of the winners and count the Starbucks Foundation among our supporters!

Most of all, we are truly grateful for and humbled by the power of our community’s support for our young people and our mission. We couldn’t have done this without you!

A special thanks to our alumni who were interviewed for the video, as well as Amber van Moessner on our Young Professionals Committee for filming and Joseph Matoske for editing.

We are excited to announce that we are expanding our youth justice work by partnering with Friends of Island Academy to provide arts and social change workshops for young men on Rikers Island, NYC’s main jail, in 2017-18.

Every Monday and Friday afternoon, Artistic Directors Niquana Clark and Marion Lopez travel to Rikers Island to provide classes for youth detained there. Together they engage in performing arts skill-building, analyze the work of successful artists, create work from their own experiences and imaginations, and practice the art of theatrical expression. The sessions are designed not only teach the performing arts and social change, but also provide an enjoyable and productive experience for youth during their inevitably stressful time on Rikers Island. In summer 2018, we will create and present a theatrical production that comes from the experiences and perspectives of the young men in the program.

We are honored to be working with youth involved in the NYC justice system and collaborating with them to create a more just and peaceful world. We look forward to keeping you updated about our progress!

The 2017-2018 Youth Justice Cast is proud to present On the Ropes, an original musical drama written and performed by a diverse group of New York City teenagers engaged in the justice system.

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The 2016 Foster Care Cast is proud to present Every Last Word, an original musical drama written and performed by a diverse group of New York City teenagers in foster care.

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In October, Elizabeth “Beth” Strobel was named Chair of The Possibility Project’s Board of Directors. We have been lucky to have Beth as a supporter for many years. When she moved back to New York City, we were thrilled to welcome her to our board. In her new role as Chair, she will be responsible for ensuring the organization’s cohesion and productivity toward our goals and objectives as we continue to grow. We asked Beth to reflect on her experience with The Possibility Project…

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The Possibility Project recently received the final report on our Foster Care research project, and the findings demonstrate the important impact we are making for our foster care youth. The study examines the long-term effect of TPP on the interpersonal, emotional, and identity challenges that foster care teenagers face and on their efforts to become successful adults. It explored the life experiences of our youth after they left TPP, as well as compared the effects of the Foster Care Program against the impact of our Saturday and After-School Programs.

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The 2015-16 Youth Justice Program, our newest initiative, premiered its first original musical, entitled “A Chance Of…,” on March 23-26, 2016 at the West Side Y’s Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater. The show, written by the cast from the stories of their lives, drew a parallel to the realities and need for reform in the justice system with the need to address climate change and global warming. The cast not only explored their experiences of injustice as court-involved youth, but also their ideas for change. It was a powerful, moving performance and an incredible way to end a successful first year of the program.

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Our film KNOW HOW—written and acted by youth in our Foster Care Program—won an award for its collaboration with Participant Media for Branded Campaign for a TV Special Programming at the Cynopsis Media Social Good Awards on April 7, 2016.

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Come support the life-changing work of The Possibility Project by joining the Young Professionals Committee on Thursday, May 5th at the Button office rooftop. Tickets include an open bar, appetizers, and a fun night connecting with other New Yorkers who care about the future of our city and the young people in it.  Space is limited – buy your tickets now!

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