Skip to content
Council Discourse

NYC Council meetings, chaptered and linked by time.

Created by Uzair Qadir

Inspired by Vikram Oberoi's City Meetings

Q&A

Stevens and Harris discuss family engagement and literacy components

New York City Council · Jun 23, 2026 · starts 1:03:16 · 2 min 17 sec

Stevens asks about parenting workshops and literacy components for parents. Threcia Harris describes partnerships with NYCHA for community baby showers, library card drives, book distributions, and author events. Asherall adds co-locators provide family engagement programming.

Wanda Asherall

Our providers, family, adult and family engagement is a core piece of the community centers.

Wanda Asherall

And so our programs provide, you know, workshops for families.

Wanda Asherall

They do kind of like mommy and me workshops sometimes.

Wanda Asherall

They've done...

Wanda Asherall

I don't want to call it a sip and paint, but like, you know.

Althea V. Stevens

I know you give out apple cider, right?

Wanda Asherall

Yeah, apple cider.

Wanda Asherall

Apple cider, thank you so much.

Wanda Asherall

And painting.

Wanda Asherall

So we've seen some of that.

Wanda Asherall

We've also offered to some of our programs opportunities for them to receive additional resources, like a co-locator to come in and do a family engagement component.

Wanda Asherall

And I'm going to pass it on over to my colleague, Ms.

Wanda Asherall

Harris, who can share some more insight.

Threcia Harris

Well, also we partner with, in the cornerstones at least, NITRA-REES family engagement programs to bring the community baby showers, to bring some of the morning services, although we open in the afternoon.

Threcia Harris

You may see a few where needed parenting workshops in the mornings.

Threcia Harris

And beacons on Saturdays also engage families in that way.

Althea V. Stevens

Is there any component of it where there's a literacy aspect to it, where parents are encouraged to read with their children?

Threcia Harris

I'm not going to say it's a requirement, but we've seen it.

Threcia Harris

The reading programs, libraries will come in.

Threcia Harris

There is that partnership with New York Public Library to get your library card or to do some of the bringing in characters and doing that kind of family engagement.

Wanda Asherall

And also the book.

Threcia Harris

Oh, yeah.

Threcia Harris

With NYCHA, we have also done a BRE book.

Threcia Harris

Rich environments and there's thousands of books given across the NITRA development.

Threcia Harris

We also partner with

Threcia Harris

cornerstones and compass programs to make sure young people have that.

Threcia Harris

There's an author event where the author is literally signing books and young people are coming in with their parents or without, and they leave with books.

Threcia Harris

So literacy has been infused in different ways through different partners.

Althea V. Stevens

Okay.

Althea V. Stevens

Is there a chair?

Althea V. Stevens

Knock myself out?

Althea V. Stevens

Okay, thank you.