RISE-NY Workforce Enrichment: School Year Startup
Building Strong Foundations for Student and Family Success
The start of the school year is a critical window. How families and schools connect in those first weeks often determines the tone for the rest of the year. That’s why TruBLEND Learning, through RISE-NY Workforce Enrichment, launched School Year Startup at NYC Department of Education IS61 — a program designed to welcome families, strengthen the home–school connection, and align parents and staff around one shared mission: student success.
This year’s program wasn’t a single event — it was a carefully sequenced set of experiences that built on each other to create trust, clarity, and connection.
The program includes:
- Welcome Orientation for 6th Graders: New families were greeted with open arms, easing first-day worries and setting a positive tone for the transition to middle school.
- Parent Needs Analysis Survey: Parents shared their most pressing needs and concerns, ensuring that programming reflected real voices and real challenges.
- Leading with Purpose Session: School colleagues came together to align goals, messaging, and processes — ensuring consistency and clarity when engaging with families.
- Outreach Campaign (Emails & Flyers): Families received timely updates and invitations, which boosted attendance and awareness of school events.
- Parent Orientation Toolkit: A one-stop resource that gave parents the most important information at their fingertips, making it easier to stay engaged throughout the year.
- Bridges to the Future Session: A 3.5-hour in-person session where parents gathered for key updates, then broke out into small groups led by guidance counselors. Here, families not only learned vital grade-specific guidance, but also formed direct, personal connections with the very staff who support their children daily.
The impact is immediate and powerful.
Parents walked away feeling seen, informed, and supported. Counselors gained trust by sitting face-to-face with families, listening closely, and sharing how they can help students thrive. Parents expressed how valuable it was to make that human connection — one that often doesn’t happen until much later in the year.
What School Year Startup achieved was more than logistics. It created a community of partnership where schools, families, and students began the year on the same page, working together for growth.
For school leaders, the lesson is clear: investing in a strong start creates ripple effects that last all year long. A structured, thoughtful approach to family engagement builds trust, reduces friction, and gives students the confidence that both their home and school worlds are aligned in their success.
School Year Startup isn’t just a program — it’s a blueprint for how schools can begin each year with intention, unity, and hope.
With technology advancing so fast, integrating it effectively into the curriculum is essential yet challenging. Technology should not just be an add-on but a powerful tool to enhance learning experiences.
To tackle this challenge, educators should focus on identifying appropriate technological tools that align with learning objectives. Providing professional development for teachers to use these tools effectively is also crucial.