History & Vision

The foundation for New Heights began in 2001 when a public school teacher and coach in New York City began to offer students the opportunity to play basketball in the gym after school and on weekends, but only if they first completed their homework. He quickly recognized the motivating power of basketball, and realized that it could be an excellent tool to engage struggling students in academic activities. With this in mind, a pilot program that combined basketball with tutoring and college application assistance for students from Washington Heights, the Bronx and Harlem was formed under the Children’s Aid Society from 2001 - 2004. In 2005, the pilot program became New Heights, an independent nonprofit organization serving the larger New York City community.

Throughout our history, in response to the increased demand for our services, we have expanded our full-time and part-time staff, while placing an increased emphasis on education and the strength of our volunteer base and organizational partnerships. However, one of our biggest strategic goals since day one was to find a home facility that would allow us to scale our services to reach additional youth and families, and to deepen our impact on their lives.

In 2021, we achieved this goal and transitioned our offices and all program sites to a new, centralized headquarters in Brooklyn at the Major R. Owens Health and Wellness Community Center. With three full-sized basketball courts, multiple classrooms, study spaces, a technology lounge and administrative offices, our new home brings together our academic, athletic and social emotional learning resources under one roof and fosters greater collaboration between our coaches, tutors, staff and volunteers.

New Heights is now expanding our signature College Bound program and introducing new services targeted to local youth and families. As we look to the future, New Heights will continue to strengthen our engagement with the community so that we may widen our reach and deepen our impact not only in Brooklyn but throughout New York City.