A portion of the summit's proceeds will benefit Yonkers Partners in Education (YPIE)

 Yonkers Partners in Education (YPIE) was launched in 2007 as an independent nonprofit education fund to work in partnership with the schools to provide educational programs for Yonkers’ 25,000 public school students, 73% of whom live in poverty. The vision of Mayor Phil Amicone and the local business community, YPIE is grounded in the beliefs that education is the best vehicle to overcome poverty and that our children deserve educational opportunities that enable them to live successful and meaningful lives. YPIE’s efforts are focused broadly on family literacy and college access. In its first two years of operation, YPIE is already making an impact.

• YonkersReads! has put 9,000 books in every K-3rd grade classroom so that children, who may not have books at home, have a new book to take home every week.

• Family Story Power, delivered over a six week session for 2nd and 3rd grade students and their parent/caregiver, has enabled hard-to-reach, Spanish speaking families to experience the joy of reading and learning together.

• Three YPIE College Centers have been opened in Roosevelt, Riverside and Lincoln High Schools. Staffed by YPIE College Advisors, students in these schools are receiving the same one-on-one advice, campus visit experiences and other resources available to students in Westchester’s more affluent school districts.

• YPIE SAT Prep has provided more than 500 full scholarships for Yonkers’ students to take a twelve-week SAT prep course, administered by Kaplan Test Prep. The first students in the program increased their scores by an average of 150 points.

• With the launch this year of the city-wide, monthly student newspaper Yonkers Student Grapevine: From Our Point of View, YPIE is providing leadership opportunities to the paper’s high school student reporters - helping them build writing, interviewing and other journalism skills.

To learn more about YPIE’s programs and services or to get involved in the organization, visit www.ypie.org