Community

Giving Back To The Affordable Housing Community & Beyond With A-List

August 12, 2020
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Metropolitan Realty Group, the premier developer and property manager of affordable housing in the NYC area, began its partnership with A-List in 2013. When the partnership began, A-List provided SAT prep courses to a number of MRG residents in East Harlem.

In addition to securing A-List services for our young residents, today MRG partners with A-List to support schools and non-profits in the areas we serve:

  • Riverside Hawks - a youth basketball program founded by Riverside Church in Morningside Heights
  • Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation - a community development corporation, the first ever established in the US, to alleviate poverty and improve economic outcomes for underserved communities in Brooklyn
  • I Have a Dream Foundation: Ravenswood - provides services for youth, including tutoring, mentoring, arts, drama, and athletics, living in Ravenswood Houses, an affordable housing development, in Long Island City
  • Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School - a high school of about 500 students with minority enrolment of 100%, and 84% of students are economically disadvantaged
  • Bronx Guild High School - a high school of about 550 students with minority enrolment of 98%, and 87% of students are economically disadvantaged

A-List provides SAT/ACT tutoring with the goal of improving college access and readiness. To achieve this goal, A-List coordinates with families, schools, school districts, and nonprofits to develop solutions tailored to the specific situation of each student.

At Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, A-List began its program in the summer of 2015, providing classes in the fall, spring and summer to Fannie Lou juniors and seniors. Each participating student received at least 24 hours of intensive SAT instruction. Fannie Lou students averaged SAT score improvements of 86 points compared to a national average improvement of 37 points. Jeff Paladino, principal of Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, said the following :

" Engaging and effective SAT prep is a difficult thing to both secure and afford. Mr. Jaffee’s commitment to providing our school with the expertise of A-List Education has made a dramatic impact. We are able to provide our students with SAT prep that is provided during the school day and is connected to our philosophy of education. "
Jeff Paladino - Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School

In 2014, A-List began its partnership with Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. Students in the program averaged SAT score improvements of 80 points. Hundreds of students have participated since the program began.

Our work with A-List, which has affected the lives of countless families in and connected to our communities, is just one example of MRG’s deep and investment in the communities in which we operate. Every day, we look past the doormat and aim to be so much more than every other developer and property manager. Securing safe and comfortable affordable housing is necessary to secure the foundations of our communities, but giving back meaningfully is how we build vibrant communities with the tools to help them blossom.

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