In northeast Brooklyn, 9th and 10th graders are interviewing garment workers, filming investigations in sweatshops, performing self-written monologues, and creating personalized bikes made from recycled materials. They are students at El Puente Academy of Peace and Justice, an alternative high school that integrates community based yearlong projects with a basic core curriculum. The curriculum focuses on the theme of human rights and emphasizes developing basic literacy, critical thinking skills and academic mastery.

The Academy shares its name and building space with El Puente, a community- based cultural organization that runs the school. El Puente (bridge in Spanish) provides access to the health and wellness clinic, career and guidance services, and a program to help residents learn to speak English that also share the school’s facilities. Local organizations provide the backbone of the projects and extra-curricular activities, which include pre-professional training in dance, drama, music, chorus, fine arts, media, and music production; sports; paid/volunteer internships, men's and women's groups; community development projects.

The Academy is one of New York City’s New Visions Public Schools. Eighty-five percent of El Puente’s $1.6 million funds comes from government sources and the other 15 percent comes from foundations. Funding for the Academy comes directly from the Division of High Schools of New York City Public Schools. Priority for enrollment is given first to residents of Northeast Brooklyn, then to the rest of Brooklyn, and finally to New York City residents.

Of the152 students in the academy, about 87.0 percent are Hispanic and 12 percent are Black and 87.7 percent are eligible for free lunch. The school’s attendance rate is 86 percent and 100 percent of the class of 2001 graduated in four years. Through its principles of creating community, love and caring, mastery, and peace and justice, the Academy inspires its students to excel in all facets of life.

Contact:

Luis Garden Acosta
Executive Director, El Puente Academy of Peace and Justice
211 South Fourth Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Phone: (718) 387-0404

On the Web: http://epspj.basishs.org
E-mail: elpuente@nycboe.net