Your School, Your Choice!
Supporting immigrant families in navigating NYC's high school enrollment process.
Choosing a public high school in New York City is an overwhelming process. It’s hard for any new student to make a decision about which of the more than 600 schools is the right one for them. But for recently arrived immigrant students and their families, there are even more barriers to enrolling in school.
Resources to help with this process are hard to find and rarely available in languages other than English. Many students don’t know they have the right to ask for help in their language, and that there are schools and programs that specialize in supporting immigrant students. They might end up in a school that offers little help to someone struggling with a new language and culture, putting them at risk of dropping out of high school.
To help immigrant students and their families in NYC find the right school, Flanbwayan Haitian Literacy Project collaborated with CUP and designer Njoki Gitahi to create Your School, Your Choice!, a multilingual, step-by-by guide to the enrollment process. This guide helps students and their families understand their rights, their different school options, and how to enroll in the high school of their choice. The colorful foldout poster is in English, Haitian Creole, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic—helping students from all over the world adapt to life in their new country.
Your School, Your Choice! launched at an immigrant student-led event at Flanbwayan’s offices. Flanbwayan is distributing thousands of copies at their local Family Welcome Center, in their neighborhood of East Flatbush, and around NYC through their network of partner organizations.
Check Out the Project
The cover and a spread from Your School, Your Choice
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Project Collaborators
Community Partner
Flanbwayan
Darnell Benoit
Nancie Adolphe
Designers
Njoki Gitahi
Special Thanks
Sanabria Alcindor, Victoria Boulin, Mary landy Dorival, Christine Gapar, Angie Delinois, Loren Flaherty, Gamael Fontin, Carla Fontus, Ingrid Haftel, Ralph Joseph, Luigi Nelson, Ralph Peguy, Marvens Romelus, Shernidane Romelus, Mitharly Severe, Juliana Theolin, Doujina Zephir, and Staelle Zephir.
Product Details
8″ × 11″ color pamphlet; unfolds to 32″ × 22″ poster
Funding Support
Support for this project was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
General support for CUP’s programs is provided in part by the David Rockefeller Fund, Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, New York Foundation, Surdna Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.