Nick Blatchford laid the foundation for New Heights in 2001 when, as a public school teacher and basketball coach in New York City, he began to offer students the opportunity to play basketball in the school gym on the weekend. He quickly realized that basketball represented an excellent way to engage students who were struggling in school.

Recognizing the power of basketball as a hook, Blatchford formed a pilot version of New Heights under the umbrella of the Children’s Aid Society. From 2001 until 2004, this pilot program provided hundreds of students from Washington Heights, the Bronx, and Harlem with an opportunity to play basketball and receive extensive academic support and assistance with the high school and college application processes.

Thanks to the pilot’s programmatic success and Blatchford’s careful planning, New Heights became an independent non-profit in 2005 and has been serving the New York City community since then. In recent years, New Heights has experienced a dramatic period of growth and change: In an attempt to serve a larger swath of the New York region, New Heights relocated to Harlem in 2009 and expanded our programs to serve students in central Brooklyn.

In 2010 and 2011, New Heights graduated a total of 61 high school seniors (34 in the class of 2010 and 27 in the Class of 2011 respectively).  In September 2010, the organization also welcomed a new Executive Director.  Ted Smith succeeded New Heights founder Nick Blatchford as Executive Director, having been the Associate Executive Director and involved in New Heights since the organization’s inception as an independent non-profit in 2005.  In response to the increase in demand for our programs, we have almost doubled the size of our full-time staff, while placing an increased emphasis on the strength of our volunteer base and organizational partnerships.