School social worker Maureen Eigenfeld has made art the cornerstone of her therapeutic work with students at the Bronx Writing Academy, a United Community School in Concourse Village.

More than 10,500 meals have been delivered from school cafeterias to neighborhood food pantries through a new UFT member-initiated School Meals 2 Pantries program on the Upper West Side.

"We know the pandemic did not affect all of us equally," said teacher Jamel Holmes, and he does what he can to ameliorate that at the East Bronx Academy for the Future. An Excellence in Education Award winner, Holmes delivers care packages to the families of former and current students, everything from food to hygiene products to laundry detergent to books. 

The UFT's community schools initiative, which now serves more than 20,000 students in 32 schools, launched on June 20, 2012, when it received financial support from the union and the City Council to begin with six schools that September.

Art teacher Yolanda Lyn considers art a means to emotional well-being. Teaching remotely has challenged her to create lessons that will help all her students at PS 194 in Harlem continue to feel connected to their classmates and to the world.

When middle school buildings reopened in March, the staff at IS 238/the Susan B. Anthony Academy in Hollis, Queens, wanted to make sure students were OK — not just academically, but emotionally, too.