Last December, Claire Streit, a Penny Harvest Coach at PS 85 in The Bronx, visited a food pantry with a group of her students.  The particular group of students she brought to the pantry for a service project were notoriously difficult and had a reputation for being trouble rousers in the classroom. However, the moment they entered the pantry, Claire began to see a transformation in each of her kids. The students witnessed firsthand the need within their own community, and the dignity that the staff treated clients with as they served them hot meals.  “They were being empowered to help, to do something real,” Claire said. “I just sat in the back of the room and cried, I could see my kids growing up in front me.”

Claire and hundreds of other teachers came together in January for Common Cents’ annual Roundtable professional development training sessions. The sessions focused on equipping Pennny Harvest Coaches all over the city with the tools to run successful Philanthropy Roundtables at their schools. Friday, January 15^th marked the end of the first week of successful trainings for first year coaches from Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Bronx and Staten Island.

Throughout the week, first year coaches had an opportunity to meet and discuss their experiences and stories with other first year coaches in their borough. One in particular was a story about a 30lbs sack of pennies that was spilled and out came a $100 bill. One of the 5^th grade students who was helping count and sort coins exclaimed, “Hey, that’s not kosher!” Wondering where it came from, the teachers investigated where it could have come from since the $100 bill mysteriously appeared in the bag without a name attached to it. It turned out that a 2^nd grade had decided to give away birthday money she had gotten from her grandpa as a contribution to the harvest. 

Our education manager, Monique Achu, along with program director, Adam Seidel, and program associate, Grace Rifino, facilitated these city-wide trainings last week with the help of the NYC Civic Corps Vistas/ Common Cents Fellows.

Each training day was held at a different facility spanning each of the five boroughs. The new approach for our 2010 Roundtable trainings was to provide coaches an opportunity to attend separate and distinct workshops based on their level of experience with the program. The trainings, focused on what it means to be part of the Roundtable phase, were adapted for each session according to how long the attending coaches had participated in the Penny Harvest. 

This sharing experience provided insight and tips from fellow Penny Harvest coaches who may have experienced the same challenges in getting the whole school involved in the Penny Harvest. We provide the trainings to enable coaches to understand the process before any issues arise; thus empowering them to tackle these obstacles when the time comes during their Roundtable phase.

We will be continuing with our professional development trainings in February for our experienced Penny Harvest coaches.

Penny Harvest Coaches: It is still not too late to RSVP for training in February. Coaches can do so by RSVPing here and selecting specific training in a particular issue area of interest. We created these to help answer the number of arising questions we have each year from schools who seek specific training in their issue area.

 Tuesday, February 2: NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE will take an in-depth look into creating service opportunities for students and maximizing grantee partnerships.

Wednesday, February 3: GROWING LEADERS & INVOLVING THE SCHOOL will examine how to increase leadership skills during the roundtable and how to involve the entire school in philanthropy and service.

Thursday, February 4: NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE will take an in-depth look into creating service opportunities for students and maximizing grantee partnerships.

Friday, February 5: GROWING LEADERS & INVOLVING THE SCHOOL will examine how to increase leadership skills during the roundtable and how to involve the entire school in philanthropy and service. (FULL – closed for RSVP)