When Heidy Mendez isn’t designing curricula, chaperoning field trips, or leading activities at Prospect Afterschool, she loves to go on road trips and spend time with her family. “Family time is one of my biggest priorities,” said Mendez. “I have a sister who’s away in school and a lot of cousins who are teenagers
"Our Family Services Department is the nucleus of what we do. When a family comes into shelter, that is that first department that they really work with. Our overall goal is to have this experience of homelessness be their only or last experience of homelessness." On World's Children's Day, Annamaria Santoro,
Celina Rodriguez has been Director of Family Services at Prospect Family Residence since 2017 and was recently promoted to Assistant Administrator of Prospect Family Residence. In the lead up to the 2020-2021 school year, Rodriguez and her staff have been providing educational guidance, in addition to housing, employment, and social services, to families with
With her more than 26 years of experience working at HFH, Payroll Manager Desiree Sanabria has had ample opportunity to note changes in everything from payroll management software to the location of HFH’s physical office space. “When we were moving from 50 to 36, I found what I used to call my “bible,”
As Assistant Manager of Recreation at Saratoga, Breanna Battle manages programming that allows participants to explore their passions through a diverse selection of activities, from kids soccer practice to adult computer class. Battle and her staff at recreation cultivate this variety intentionally, so that families feel empowered to get involved, regardless of where their
The first session of HFH Summer Camps 2019 begins on June 28, but camper recruitment efforts are already underway for the summer, when hundreds of New York City kids will enjoy a free sleepaway camp experience. Paola Rodriguez, Camp Registrar for HFH Summer Camps, is responsible for coordinating the team of Camp Recruiters
As a teenager, Celina Rodriguez, Director of Family Services at Prospect Family Residence, experienced living in a homeless shelter with her single mother and four siblings. Now, she channels that experience into coordinating comprehensive support for homeless families seeking to secure permanent housing and financial stability. “It helps me to communicate with people
When Vivian Vera, Senior Accountant in the Homes for the Homeless (HFH) Finance office, applied for college, her grandfather suggested that she study accounting. “My mom was the only one who supported us, so my grandfather was like a father in my life.” She took his advice, and the rest is history. Born
Javier Marin, a maintenance worker at Saratoga, has been working hard since the age of 14. His outstanding work ethic continues to attract notice at Homes for the Homeless (HFH). Marin has lived in Queens for 18 years. Born and raised in Colombia, he moved to the United States in his early 30s.
“I always had some aspiration to give back to my community,” explained Georgeann Gigi, known by most of her coworkers as Gigi. In her role as operations associate for HFH Summer Camps, Gigi is doing just that– helping kids around her hometown of New York City have access to a real summer camp
