The 52nd Street Project Joins GivingTuesday to Raise Money for its Youth Mentorship Program 'Smart Partners'

The 52nd Street Project - a community-based organization that supports the underserved young people of the Hell's Kitchen (Clinton) neighborhood through access to arts education with year-round theater programming and long-term mentorship opportunities - is participating in the global generosity movement GivingTuesday, taking place on December 1, 2020. Funds raised on this day of giving will contribute to the Project's mentorship program Smart Partners.

GivingTuesday was launched in 2012 as a simple idea: to create a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past nine years, this idea has grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.

The Project aims to provide holistic support to the young people of Hell's Kitchen through performance arts programming and mentor-based education programs. As a way to foster youth development, the Smart Partners program pairs young people with adult volunteer mentors to meet weekly during the school year. Prior to the onset of the novel Coronavirus pandemic, these pairs of "Smartners" were free to engage in one-on-one activities, such as exploring the city, baking, crafting, or visiting restaurants and museums, and more all subsidized by the Project. The Smart Partners program remains a shining example of what the Project does best: providing long-term mentorship relationships, allowing each kid to explore ever-growing interests while receiving individualized attention from an adult mentor.

When the Project closed its physical doors at the onset of COVID, it quickly adapted its in-person programming to a virtual platform as a way to continue engagement with its current Project members and greater community of volunteers. Smart Partners pairs have continued to meet, finding creative ways to stay connected during times of social distance. Smartners have been meeting virtually to craft, play games, watch movies together to review for the Project's publication Fivey, among other activities. The friendships between the Project members and their mentors is one of many resources the Project offers during a young person's journey with the organization, and continues to be a form of support, offering a sense of normalcy during a year that has been anything but normal. The funds raised during GivingTuesday will support the continuation of this mentorship program.