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Futures and Options Inc. (FAO) began in 1995 as the Varied Internship
Partners Program, a pilot project of the Alliance for Downtown New York,
a non-profit agency managing the Lower Manhattan Business Improvement
District. Incorporated as a 50l(c)3 organization since 2000, Futures
and Options connects New York City's underserved high school students to
careers. Since its inception, FAO has coordinated 2,500 internships at
300 businesses and not-for-profit organizations in New York City. Over
90 percent of our students complete their internships successfully,
graduate from high school and pursue higher education after their high
school graduation.
FAO partners include over 100 corporations, 50 high schools, the New
York City YES Commission and the Department of Education, The Municipal
Forum of New York, not-for-profit agencies, private foundations and
individual contributors. We all share a commitment to the education of
urban youth, a recognition that education must be visibly connected to
their future, and an awareness that the prosperity of our city is
directly proportional to the strength of its work force. FAO is also
currently working with the Career Internship Network (CIN), a group of
New York City nonprofits fostering the cause of internships for high
school age students, in an effort to increase the public understanding
of the value of internships.
The Public Forum Institute, in its study, Perspectives on Progress: The
School-to-Work National Customer Dialogues, shows that direct and
supervised experience in a real work environment is an extremely
effective tool to make needed connections between school and the
workplace. An internship adds to students' theoretical and empirical
knowledge of careers and the work world, provides job-readiness
training, and facilitates the acquisition of interpersonal skills.
Workplace experience, especially when related to school curricula,
motivates young people to pursue higher education.
FAO has been cited as a model program by the U.S. Department of Labor,
Office of Youth Services, because it provides "an environment for youth
that is positive, respects their input, connects them to friends,
family, community, school, employment and caring adults." Toward the
objective of sharing these successful methods with others, the
School-to-Work Alliance funded networking workshops by FAO for school
and community personnel. Similarly, The After School Corporation (TASC)
hired FAO to provide training and technical assistance for their new
internship program.
FAO staff consists of an Executive Director, two Program Coordinators
and an Administrative Assistant, as well as three to five part-time
educational consultants and a part-time financial advisor. Patricia
Machir, FAO's Executive Director, has thirty years of experience in the
field of education and youth development, with over ten years in
leadership positions at not-for-profit organizations. Dr. Barbara
Christen, the founder of FAO, is a member of the Board of Directors.
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