NEW HEIGHTS YOUTH INC

Through a variety of afterschool, weekend and summer programs, New Heights will engage hundreds of young people annually, the majority of whom will come from less advantageous socioeconomic backgrounds and live in underserved communities throughout New York City. Over 85 percent of our current participants identify as African-American, Hispanic/Latino(a) or multi-racial, and many will be the first in their families to graduate from college.

Our signature program, College Bound, combines intensive educational support with basketball, using the latter specifically as a “hook” to engage young people in a comprehensive network of academic and college preparatory services. Each year, College Bound will enroll approximately 350 youth and young adults and seek to achieve the following outcomes:

- 100% of participants will meet requirements for promotion to the next grade
- 90% of participants will improve in three or more social-emotional learning capacities
- 100% of eighth graders will be accepted to a college preparatory high school
- 100% of juniors and seniors will visit a minimum of two colleges
- 100% of seniors will be accepted into at least one college
- 100% of seniors will graduate high school
- 95% of graduates will matriculate into higher education
- 100% college persistence from year one to year two
- 75% of college students will graduate

As a data-driven organization, New Heights uses Roll Call to record program enrollment and participant engagement in workshops, coaching and tutoring sessions. We also use Algorhythm's Hello Insight tool to track social-emotional learning metrics and outcomes. In addition, New Heights utilizes a customized data collection and tracking system in Salesforce to maintain all program data and to analyze metrics and outcomes.

College Bound combines intensive educational support with basketball, using the latter specifically as a “hook” to engage young people in a comprehensive network of academic and college preparatory services. We pair our participants with coaches and educators who are trained in positive youth development, and who help them excel on the court, in the classroom and in their communities.

New Heights targets the College Bound program to underserved youth in grades 4-12, and advertises our services to schools across New York City with a focus on those in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. To ensure that our program reaches those for whom it is intended, we collect a variety of demographic data upon enrollment from participants’ parents/guardians to help indicate socioeconomic status of the household, including home location/zip code, household income (and number of family members in household), benefits/assistance (Food Stamps, SSDI, Free/Reduced Lunch Eligibility etc.), highest level of parents’ education and first-generation college student status, among others.

During the school year, programming takes place after school and on the weekends, with each student-athlete participating in group basketball and academic sessions 2-3 times per week (approximately 2.5 hours per session). For five weeks during the summer, programming extends to full days for our Summer Academy for middle school students, which includes high school transition programming for rising 9th graders.

In addition, we provide a variety of individual, mentorship-style activities to support our youth on their journeys through adolescence, including tutoring, SAT/test prep, social emotional and leadership development, financial literacy, college advisement, campus visits, career exploration and other resources that are frequently out of reach for students who struggle economically. Our program model is based on long-term retention, with participants often joining in elementary or middle school and remaining with us through high school and college.

New Heights is now taking on significant growth as we scale these services and introduce new programs in a new, permanent home facility in Brooklyn with classrooms, courts and administrative offices. In the first year in our new home, New Heights served over 1,000 youth – more than three times the number served during the previous year. Our vision is to ultimately reach thousands of additional youth and families annually through a range of quality academic and athletic programs.

The foundation for New Heights began in 2001 when a public school teacher and coach in New York City began to offer students the opportunity to play basketball in the gym after school and on weekends, but only if they first completed their homework. He quickly recognized the motivating power of basketball, and realized that it could be an excellent tool to engage struggling students in academic activities. With this in mind, a pilot program that combined basketball with tutoring and college application assistance was formed under the Children’s Aid Society from 2001 - 2004. In 2005, the pilot program became New Heights, an independent nonprofit organization. Since that time, we have grown to 15 full-time and 42 part-time staff and over 50 volunteers.

Throughout our nearly 20-year history, New Heights has used innovative, sports-based strategies to level the playing field and create opportunities for underserved youth. Our programming has been highly effective at engaging them in positive relationships, building their self-esteem and self-confidence, and improving their school performance. We were one of the first organizations in New York City to use basketball to promote college and career
readiness for underserved boys and girls, and we continue to be a leader in this field today. While other programs have replicated our model and followed in our footsteps, few offer a set of services as holistic as ours or demonstrate a track record as successful. For this reason, young people and their families consistently seek our support and services both on and off the court.

Our strategy of positive coaching and intensive educational support has guided hundreds of girls and boys to and through high school and college, and has produced a strong track record. Since our inception in 2005, our College Bound program has demonstrated 100% high school graduation, 98% college matriculation and over 75% college graduation rates. We have also secured over $65 million in scholarships and financial aid for our students. Beyond the numbers, our youth show increases in self-esteem and self-confidence that prepare them for leadership roles throughout their lives.

New Heights is now taking on significant growth as we scale these services and introduce new programs in a new, permanent home facility in Brooklyn. After years of preparation and planning, New Heights is proud to report that we transitioned our offices and all programming to our new headquarters at the Major R. Owens Health and Wellness Community Center in October 2021. With multiple classrooms, study spaces, a technology lounge, three full-sized basketball courts and administrative offices, our new home brings together our academic, athletic and social emotional learning services under one roof to create greater efficiencies for our student-athletes and collaboration between our coaches, tutors, staff and volunteers.


In the first year in our new home, New Heights served over 1,000 youth – more than three times the number served during the previous year. Our vision is to ultimately reach thousands of additional youth and families annually through a range of quality academic and athletic programs.