We’ve assisted hundreds of young people with your support this year. Today, we’d like you to meet Emily. Emily first came to AAFSC’s youth program with her two younger sisters almost ten years ago. Their family was looking for a place where the children could study together, access mentorship, and feel connected to their peers. What they discovered was a community that cared about their growth inside and outside the classroom.
She joined conversations about expressing her needs clearly, listening with empathy, and what it means to grow into adulthood with confidence. She met young women from many cultural backgrounds and felt inspired by their stories. And she started seeing art as a pathway to identity and belonging.
Now, as a college student in a five-year architecture program, she studies how design can help people feel safe, rooted, and included. She is especially passionate about exploring how architecture can reflect multiple cultural identities. Emily serves as president of her university’s chapter of a national architecture organization and she credits AAFSC for helping her hone leadership confidence.
During stressful periods at school, Emily still returns to AAFSC. She enjoys having a place where she and her sisters can continue learning, offering encouragement to others, and staying grounded in a community that knows them well. For her, AAFSC is a point of stability where connection makes the future feel bright.
New York, Step Up! Your donation sustains a community that stands steady in a challenging moment, where young people grow into leaders, artists, advocates, and architects of their own futures. A place where young women learn to lead their own lives with confidence. And a place where creativity and culture are valued. Stand with the young people who walk through our doors with dreams and determination, and who find, at AAFSC, the support they need to keep moving forward.