Rocking the Boat

Infobox Non-profit
Non-profit_name = Rocking the Boat
Non-profit_
Non-profit_type = Youth Development
founded_date = 1998
founder = Adam Green
location = Bronx, New York, USA
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Non-profit_slogan = Kids don't just build boats at Rocking the Boat, boats build kids.
homepage = http://www.rockingtheboat.org
dissolved =
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Rocking the Boat uses traditional wooden boatbuilding and on-water education to allow high school age youth to develop into empowered and responsible adults. Through these mediums, Rocking the Boat empowers South Bronx students to deal with everyday realities that are often not addressed at home or in school. Four levels of community and youth development programs operate during the fall and spring academic semesters and over the summer. Together, the programs directly serve over 2,000 students and community members drawn from a range of New York City public high schools and neighborhoods, the majority being in the South Bronx.

History

Adam Green began Rocking the Boat in 1996 as a volunteer boatbuilding project at the East Harlem Maritime School, a junior high school. The head teacher, Paul Pennoyer, whom Adam had met while working aboard the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, said he'd had a dream to build a boat with his students and asked if Adam would be willing to give it a try. After eight months of work, Paul, Adam, and the students launched The Dolphin, an 8-foot dingy in the pool at the basement of the school.

After graduating from college the following year, Adam was recommended by Paul to run a project with a high school after school program based out of Hostos Community College. Adam and 16 students built a 14-foot Whitehall rowing boat from scratch over the course of seven months. The project was a great success, though a wall had to be broken down to liberate the boat, and received both New York Times and CNN news coverage.

In the summer of 1998, having taken a year to develop more effective programming ideas and find a new home for his program, Adam brought Rocking the Boat to the community of New Settlement Apartments in the southwest Bronx. New Settlement offered to act as a fiscal sponsor and provided a workshop space in the basement of one of their buildings. Five grants were secured, raising $55,000 for the first year of operation. This included a fellowship Adam received from the Echoing Green Foundation.

Two years later, in the Fall of 2000, Rocking the Boat moved from their basement shop to a storefront on a busy block in the neighborhood. This more visible location launched the program to a much greater degree of popularity in the eyes of both the community and funding sources. Adam and Rocking the Boat received a $50,000 Union Square Award for their grassroots community work.

In June 2001, Rocking the Boat, incorporated as its own independent non-profit organization and in April 2002, it officially separated from New Settlement Apartments. Now, as Rocking the Boat approaches its 10th anniversary year, the organization has developed into a fully sustainable organization with 14 full time and 10 part time staff, operating boatbuilding, environmental education, job skills, on-water classroom, and public rowing programs for over 2,000 youth and community members each year.

External links

[http://www.rockingtheboat.org Rocking the Boat]
[http://www.rockingtheboat.org/archive Rocking the Boat photo and video archive]
[http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2007/03/20/2007-03-20_teens_getting_shipshape_.html Teens getting shipshape]
[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06E1DD1F3CF932A2575BC0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink For Bronx Students, the Art of Boat Building]
[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E2D8133DF935A35757C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink Staying Afloat]