We take full advantage of being located in New York City, and have cultivated partnerships with a variety of organizations. Students not only learn from these partnerships, but also put their knowledge to use for the greater good, using Town’s ethical motto of “Self, Others, and Surroundings” to guide their work. They work on projects that meet real and specific needs of the communities they learn about in school, allowing them to use academic skills and knowledge in real life situations.
Arts & Culture
The New York Historical Society
Students visit the NYHS and their educator-researchers visit us, complementing our curriculum with theirs and enriching our social studies and history program.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
We created a Global Arts Partnership with the Met, so that Town students can deepen their appreciation of the arts and culture, through ongoing museum visits, connecting directly to their course of study.
Ailey II/Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Our Lower and Upper School Town Grooves dance students study with outstanding choreography-instructors on a notable piece and then see the instructors perform it at City Center.
Civic Engagement and Community Action
Grassroots Grocery
As part of their Civic Engagement program, Upper School students prepare food to help fill community fridges provided by Grassroots Grocery, a local nonprofit that works with volunteers to expand dignified access to healthy food to neighbors in need. In addition, Town parents, students, faculty, and staff have volunteered to unload, pack, and deliver produce at Hunts Point Produce Market in the South Bronx.
Urban Outreach Center
Another partner in the Upper School Civic Engagement program is the Urban Outreach Center, a food pantry that provides “justice centered hospitality” to New Yorkers experiencing food insecurity. Students have volunteered at the food pantry, as well as collected toiletries and clothing for low income neighbors.
City Meals on Wheels
Through Civic Engagement, students partner with City Meals at the Stanley Isaacs Center to hand deliver meals to vulnerable neighbors, such as homebound seniors. Students also make cards and drawings to show care for City Meals clients.
Billion Oyster Project
Sixth Graders participate in the Billion Oyster Project (BOP), an activity that brings together Civic Engagement, the Science curriculum, and sustainability work. Multiple times a year, students visit our cage of oysters to measure their quantity and growth as well as test the water quality and identify other organisms living amongst the oysters. This data is shared with BOP to determine if a permanent oyster reef could survive in this area.
New York City Department of Environmental Protection
Fifth grade students go on a field trip to Newtown Creek to learn about the water treatment process. Sixth and Eighth grade students participate in a workshop with the DEP about sound and noise pollution.
Project Cicero
Town collects new and gently used books to donate to Project Cicero, which helps to build the classroom and school libraries of under-resourced New York City Public Schools.
Ronald McDonald House
Each spring, the Town community comes together to collect items for the Ronald McDonald House Parent Pantry. RMDH is Town’s neighbor on the Upper East Side, and supports families who come from around the country and the world to stay with them while their children are receiving treatment at NYC hospitals for pediatric cancer and other medically complex illnesses.