The latest from the Met ... STEM Dance ... Urban Resource Institute

Dance Magazine shined the limelight on STEM From Dance. The New York City-based nonprofit teaches teen girls of color how to prepare for science-based careers through dance. A feeling of community plays an important role in giving teens the confidence to pursue careers in fields long-dominated by men. The girls also do the choreography and much of the stage management and costumes. But the name of the nonprofit can be taken literally, Dance reports.

It’s all taught by Yamilee Toussaint, an MIT graduate who founded the nonprofit.

“Movement is also used to teach certain STEM concepts, drawing on the students' penchant for kinesthetic learning. For instance, the concept of loops in coding: ‘It's a sort of code that's repeated over and over again, and a similar concept in dance is a canon,’ says Toussaint. So, when teaching loops, they'll have students practice a canon, repeating a set of movements across the group.”

The East Harlem Community Health Committee issued a statement blasting the Trump Administration’s forced separations of migrant children at the southern border – adding another voice to the chorus emphasizing how the policy has affected children’s mental health.

“The intense trauma and long term psychological impact of this forced separation cannot be overstated and builds upon the pre-existing baseline of significant trauma experienced by the children and their families as a result of the situation in their home countries from which they are seeking refuge and as a result of a long, dangerous and frequently violent migration to our border.

A controversial admissions policy did not keep the Metropolitan Museum of Art from seeing a record number of visitors in the past year. More than 7.35 million people visited the three locations of the Met – the flagship museum on Fifth Avenue, as well as The Met Cloisters, and The Met Breuer – despite the implementation of paid admissions for non-New York residents in the spring, The NonProfit Times reports.

“Paid admission represented about 14 percent of overall revenue and in the past 13 years, the number of visitors who paid full admission declined by 73 percent, according to the museum,” the online news outlet writes.

Here is Dan Weiss, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, explaining on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show in January why the nonprofit implemented the new policy. It is an existential threat to the museum and the art world, according to New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz.

Urban Resource Institute and Center Against Domestic Violence are merging. They will operate under the name of the Institute, creating by fall 2018 what will be the largest provider of domestic violence shelter services nationwide – serving about 1,000 survivors and family – according to a July 2 press release.

“URI assumed management responsibilities of CADV on July 1st, 2017 with Nathaniel Fields as CEO, and has since completed a diligence and policy standardization process leading up to the official merger date of July 1,” the press release states.

There is a new member of the board of directors at Girls Who Code, a national nonprofit that works to close the gender gap in technology. Phil Shaw brings to the board 25 years of experience overseeing the day-to-day operations of TransPerfect, a New York City company that provides translation and other services.

“As we look to expand our reach to even more girls, Shaw’s expertise in translation and cultural nuances will be invaluable,” founder Reshma Saujani said in a July 9 press release.

And from City & State’s July 10, 2018 First Read newsletter ...

To Assemblywoman Diana Richardson, state Sen. Jesse Hamilton is a “not that bright” “Republican” who pays “blood money.” To Hamilton, Richardson is “controlled by the white-led Working Families Party” and is “selling out the black community for crumbs.”

The war of words between the two Central Brooklyn Democrats began Friday when Richardson praised Hamilton’s primary challenger, Zellnor Myrie, on Instagram (she insists it was not yet an endorsement). That night, an account called Woke Brooklyn sent an email accusing Richardson of “selling out” by not getting the Black History Education bill passed in the Assembly. Hamilton and Richardson both sponsored the bill, and appeared together backing it as recently as February.

Richardson claimed Hamilton was behind the Woke Brooklyn email, and on Sunday she posted a nearly 18-minute Facebook Live video attacking Hamilton, a former member of the Independent Democratic Conference, for its alliance with state Senate Republicans.

“It’s very important that everyone is well-aware of the dirty politics and just how disingenuous Jesse Hamilton is as a person overall,” Richardson told City & State. Hamilton couldn’t immediately be reached. Richardson had been mentioned as a possible challenger to Hamilton, who earned many enemies on the political left when he joined the IDC, but chose to run for re-election instead.

Send your press releases, photos, and word of your latest happenings to reporter Zach Williams at zwilliams@nynmedia.com.