Joy Pittman from the city's Youth Bureau is a leader of the Reconnecting Families Summit.
By Nancy Peckenham
Will stronger families make a difference in creating more productive members of society in the city of Newburgh? That’s the hope of more than a dozen adults who are joining forces to put on the Reconnecting Families Summit in April where parents and children will be offered workshops and activities designed to bring them closer together.
Joy Pittman, Youth Services Coordinator for the City of Newburgh Youth Bureau, is spearheading the summit with the close collaboration of social workers from the Newburgh Enlarged City School District and SUNY Orange. The group announced the summit at a press conference Monday morning.
Referring to her own childhood in a single-parent household, Pittman talked about how her family life had structure that kept her focused on her future. “We need to put that structure back in families’ lives,” she said. That means working with parents to encourage them to be more involved in their children’s lives and, in some cases to help parents overcome their own fears, she said.
Irene Scott-Bethea recounted the saying that it takes a village to raise a child.
Irene Scott-Bethea, a school social worker, talked about how the whole community helped to raise her when she was child, “If we reach out with love,” she said, “we can’t miss our target.”
Acting city manager Richard Herbek also spoke, focusing on the benefits of collaboration to make a difference in the city while acknowledging that the city “devastated” the budget of the recreation department. “We hope we can put that back together and do even more in the future,” he said.
Ms. Pittman of the recreation department downplayed the loss of resources, saying you can never put a price tag on someone. “With a passion, comes a dream, comes a reality,” she said.
Members of the committee that is organizing the Reconnecting Families Summit.
The April 9th Reconnecting Families Summit will be held at the new Kaplan Hall at SUNY Orange’s Newburgh campus from 9 am to 3rd pm. Admission is free and the public is invited.
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