Education Programs

Tools for healthy living and resources to leave homelessness behind

Our health educators lead workshops and lessons for students of all ages in healthy living and life skills, while giving tips on how to find and prepare healthy food in our teaching kitchen. Our reading programs promote literacy to remove another barrier to escaping homelessness. In the summer, our immersive health education camps for preteens and teens build confidence and resilience in classrooms and the outdoors, offering a way forward to a future of possibility and hope.

Programs

Health Education

When the question is health, we have the answer

From the first years of our organization to the present, health education has been a central pillar of our “more than healthcare” model. On our boats of the past to our clinics today, mothers have learned basic health and hygiene for themselves and their children. In our waiting room, workshops, or in one-on-one sessions with counselors, our patients now learn about a wide range of topics in categories such as life skills, social services, healthy living, social-emotional learning, and parenting. We also take these educational services on the road to shelters and schools through our partnership with the New York City Office of Community Schools, offering customized curricula for K-5, middle, and high school students, adults 18+, parents, and teachers.

The Health Education Classrooms

The heart of our waiting room

The Floating Hospital’s classroom is the hub of our waiting room, where children and parents can stop by for workshops or ask questions individually, with educators and counselors available throughout the day to help set goals for their health. Health educators plan different themes for each month, typically tied to existing themes and holidays associated with it — February’s themes include heart health and Black History Month. The adjacent early education area also acts as a mini classroom for our youngest patients.

Teaching Kitchen

Learning that tastes good

There is always something cooking in our Chef Maria Loi Loukoumi Make a Difference Teaching Kitchen. Its central location in the main floor classroom makes it a hive of activity throughout the day. Kids stop in for healthy snacks or meals, families try exotic fruits and vegetables, moms come by for cooking demonstrations and to sample the finished product, and workshops take place regularly.

Our Summer Experiences

An adventure in self-discovery

Since 2018, Camp Rise Up has been taking teens experiencing homelessness to the Hudson Valley for a week of health education balanced with outdoor activities. The program is designed to teach campers confidence and resiliency, so they can stay in school and eventually gain employment. In progressive three-year tracks, classes cover topics such as an introduction to life skills and sexual health in year one, social and emotional learning in the second year, and leadership and professional development in the final year, which also prepares them to return as paid counselors in training. In following years, campers have pursued full counselor positions, internships, and even employment, and many camp graduates have also gone on to college. Two weeklong day camps in the city have recently been added for younger kids (Journey) and those who speak only Spanish (SOAR), each designed as preparation for sleep-away camp the following year.

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