{"id":6667,"date":"2020-11-03T17:48:04","date_gmt":"2020-11-03T17:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/?p=6667"},"modified":"2020-11-03T17:49:23","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T17:49:23","slug":"opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: \u2018Learning to Work\u2019 Program Cuts Threaten the Futures of Students Like Me"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I always loved school, and I was always a good student. I always pictured myself going to college, and I knew that it would take work, motivation and focus to get there. But when I got kicked out of my Catholic high school at age 15, this future was on the line.<\/p>\n<p>South Brooklyn Community High School\u2013an alternative transfer school for students who have fallen off track\u2013helped me revive these dreams. That\u2019s why, with the city planning to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/new-york\/education\/ny-budget-cuts-transfer-community-schools-20201030-qvks4pgkwzc2ncha5gyrpbefpm-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cut $10 million<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>from the Learning to Work program<\/a>, which is essential to schools like South Brooklyn, I need you to know my story and the stories of so many students like me.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, a recent report published by The Public Science Project at the CUNY Graduate Center confirms that transfer schools help thousands of students like me across New York City. While students face different kinds of obstacles in their previous schools, from mental health to family obligations or just a lack of support, they found trusting relationships and a new sense of purpose at their transfer schools.<\/p>\n<p>I got kicked out of my first high school after getting into a fight\u2013the first fight I\u2019d ever been in. It\u2019s not a moment I\u2019m proud of, but the school\u2019s response was even worse. The conflict was ignored, and I felt blamed. No one had my back. Since they didn\u2019t care, I didn\u2019t care. For three months, I didn\u2019t show up. Maybe I knew I was provoking the nuns at my school when I came back with newly dyed bright green hair and a fresh face piercing, but I never thought they would kick me out. When they did, I was scared. Would I earn a high school diploma? How would I get from expulsion to college?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/citylimits.org\/2020\/11\/02\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I always loved school, and I was always a good student. I always pictured myself going to college, and I knew that it would take work, motivation and focus to get there. But when I got kicked out of my Catholic high school at age 15, this future was on the line. South Brooklyn Community [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[569,232,1],"tags":[318,624,544,315],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Opinion: \u2018Learning to Work\u2019 Program Cuts Threaten the Futures of Students Like Me -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opinion: \u2018Learning to Work\u2019 Program Cuts Threaten the Futures of Students Like Me -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I always loved school, and I was always a good student. I always pictured myself going to college, and I knew that it would take work, motivation and focus to get there. But when I got kicked out of my Catholic high school at age 15, this future was on the line. South Brooklyn Community [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Shepherd Services\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GoodShepherdServicesNYC\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-03T17:48:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-03T17:49:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/mccray-771x515-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"771\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"515\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tricia Blanchard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@goodshepherdnyc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@goodshepherdnyc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tricia Blanchard\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tricia Blanchard\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/#\/schema\/person\/2953e09a34e1e42f49bfdc260149599b\"},\"headline\":\"Opinion: \u2018Learning to Work\u2019 Program Cuts Threaten the Futures of Students Like Me\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-03T17:48:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-03T17:49:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/\"},\"wordCount\":319,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/mccray-771x515-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Learning to Work\",\"LTW\",\"SBCHS\",\"South Brooklyn Community High School\"],\"articleSection\":[\"news\",\"press\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/\",\"name\":\"Opinion: \u2018Learning to Work\u2019 Program Cuts Threaten the Futures of Students Like Me -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/mccray-771x515-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-03T17:48:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-03T17:49:23+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/opinion-learning-to-work-program-cuts-threaten-the-futures-of-students-like-me\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/mccray-771x515-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/goodshepherds.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/mccray-771x515-1.jpg\",\"width\":771,\"height\":515,\"caption\":\"First Lady Chirlane McCray visit and tour South Brooklyn Community High School\u0092s Learning to Work Program to see and hear more about their efforts to support youth transitioning to secondary education or employment in Brooklyn, New York. 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