In New York the summer of children often begins before holidays: in the courtyards of the schools, in the parks of the district, on the basketball courts, in the recreation centers and in the programs organized by the local associations. It is quite ordinary part of life in the city, but not always easy to put together for families. Opportunities are often free or cost little, but finding them can mean search between different sites, flyers, modules, unregistered pages and information scattered among city agencies.
For this reason the Municipality launched Summer in N.Y.C., a platform designed to collect in one place the summer activities available in the five boroughs. The site allows you to search for programs for children and adolescents filtering by age, postal code, distance and interests: sports, art, music, photography, STEM labs, recreational activities, summer work opportunities and other district programs. The idea is to avoid that access to these activities depends only on the time, knowledge or ability of parents to orientate themselves within the city’s administrative machine.
The platform also includes more practical information, such as places where free summer meals will be distributed, public events to follow the World Cup and some initiatives organized during the season. It is also a way to make more visible services that exist already, but that often reach fewer people than they could. In a big city like New York, even knowing what happens a few blocks from home can make a difference.
The launch of the site is part of a larger plan on summer safety, a theme that in New York often comes back when schools and many boys spend more time outside the house. The administration wants to increase evening activities, mentoring programs, recreational spaces and opportunities for meeting with adults and neighborhood organizations.
The most interesting part, however, is not so technological. A site alone does not solve the problem of summer for working families, nor replaces fields, educators, gyms, libraries and community centers. However, it can make access to this less casual. For many New Yorkers the summer will continue to be made of metro, parks, camps, friends and neighborhoods crossed with more freedom than usual. The novelty is that, at least on paper, it will be a little easier to understand where to go.
L’articolo A platform of the Municipality to understand what to do to their children the summer comes from IlNewyorkese.
