On the occasion of her retirement we spoke to beloved Pleasantville Cottage Campus veteran Liticia McKnight about her career and the inspiration behind it. What led you to working with youth and to JCCA? I’ve been in the field pretty much my whole career. Right away I...
Campus
A Tree Grows in Pleasantville 2023 – Event Wrap-Up
Saturday’s A Tree Grows in Pleasantville party was an absolute blast. We smashed our previous fundraising record and had a great time doing it. After a few years without a Tree, the room was buzzing with energy as nearly 300 guests reconnected with each other and with...
Debunking Misconceptions Surrounding the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
By Danielle Capra, LCSW April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. The commercial sexual exploitation of children, or CSEC, is one form of child sexual abuse that is often misunderstood. CSEC refers to crimes where individuals buy, trade, or sell sexual acts with...
2023 Volunteer Appreciation Dinner
The cherry blossoms were blooming again on the Pleasantville campus and it could mean only one thing: it was time for JCCA’s annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner. The PCS dining hall had been outfitted with balloons, a tasty buffet, and at each seat was a booklet of...
Bingo Night Live!
On Sunday afternoon Pleasantville youth volunteers and residents streamed into a packed Edenwald rec building for JCCA’s first-ever Bingo Night Live. Emcees Sandi Rosenthal and Labe Eden called out the numbers as arms shot in the air and excited winners jumped from...
End of Summer BBQ with JPMorgan Chase Volunteers
In September 2022, the Campus hosted 40 JPMorgan Chase staff, including executives and high-level staffers, for a barbecue on the quad, joined by many campus residents and JCCA staff. The social atmosphere was easygoing, convivial, and warm. An impromptu game of flag...
New Partnership Bringing STEM Skills to Campus Students
A great new partnership is bringing hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills to young people living on our Pleasantville campus. One participant, Izaiah Everette, even has the potential to become a computer programmer due to his success in the...
Bringing Digital Marketing Skills To JCCA Youth
Youth on the Pleasantville campus are gaining marketable job skills thanks to a partnership with 4th Ave Market, the largest Black-owned online hair and beauty supply store. The course participants spend an hour and half each Wednesday learning digital marketing from...
Summer Fun with Volunteers and Donors
Summer is here and––with the help of some extraordinarily generous donors and volunteers––our Pleasantville residents are living it up. Before the pandemic, AFLAC reached out to us to ask if their employees could spend a day on campus. Though Covid delayed things a...
Pride Month Wrap-Up
With Pride Month drawing to a close, we’re taking a moment to look back on our many events and celebrations. This was almost certainly JCCA’s most active and engaged Pride yet, and we had a blast. We kicked things off with our 2nd Annual Campus Pride Parade. This new...