Harlem Dowling pupils win comic project

Harlem Dowling pupils win comic project
Photo by Hubert Williams

Pupils from Harlem Dowling’s after school program at PS 161 received top honors from The Comic Book Project at Columbia University Teacher’s College.

Over the last few years their entries have won the covenant cover page in the citywide competition. This year their entry was chosen as the only project to represent the art-based literacy program.

In celebration of this milestone, Harlem Dowling students were one of three afterschool programs selected to be featured in Development Without Limits’ TEAM: PROJECT showcase. The event, which is supported by NYC Department of Youth and Community Resources Exchange, took place at The New York Times Building in Time Square and featured winning projects from The Community–Word Project and Urban Arts Partnership.

Under the supervision of Harlem Dowling’s site coordinator Jenny Fernandez, with art and computer graphic direction from Wilson Fete, the students’ collectively developed characters and wrote a script to address the assigned topic of history goes comic.

Using computer technology, the students submitted a creative story incorporating Princess Victoria, Albert Einstein and a time travel machine. Their project, which included well developed characters and a creative written plot, was the only publication selected for print and distribution.

The Comic Book Project, which is produced in partnership with the After School Corporation (TASC), was created in 1998 to enhance the quality, availability, and sustainability of after-school programs. It encourages children to make a connection between what they write and what they draw while putting them in the role of creator, rather than merely receivers of information.

Harlem Dowling is a leading multi-service child and family centered agency. The non-profit agency, which celebrates its 175th anniversary this year, is dedicated to serving children and families in crisis and distress.

For nearly two centuries, Harlem Dowling has provided assistance to children, their families and the community by offering home foster care, adoption, therapeutic placement, supportive housing for youth aging out of foster care and other support services. Related services include family preservation, HIV/AIDS services, family support services and after school programs for children and their families in Central Harlem, Washington Heights, Southeast Queens and Far Rockaway.