Case Study: Paint the Town
Ed Note: Paint the Town was an initiative sponsored by the Southern Baptist Association in…
read more
We Are Thrive
Who We Are
Restoring Arts Education, Sports and Mentoring to Public Schools
What We Do
Thrive Collective creates hope and opportunity through arts, sports, and mentoring in and around public schools. Our core programs – Murals, Music, Media, Mentors, and Sports – connect artists, youth workers, and volunteers with local schools as teaching artists, art directors, coaches, and mentors. Project based learning and accredited curriculum integrate life and art skills in four kinds of experiences: in-school electives, after school clubs, seasonal intensives, and weekend warriors. We incorporated in 2011 as a 501(c)(3) organization, and are a licensed New York City vendor with numerous agencies.
In 2024, Thrive’s core programs worked with 5,000 students in 65 schools, producing 140 murals totaling over 40,000 sq. ft. of public art; nearly 80 art festivals, ribbon cutting celebrations, assemblies, and basketball tournaments. In addition, we helped support and produce the Boone Avenue Walls (BX), BedStuy Walls (BK), and Peace in the Park (SI) mural festivals, and our 600th mural was commissioned by The Today Show to celebrate Hoda Kotb’s 60th birthday. Follow program updates and features on our Blog
Brief History. Thrive originated in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 1996 as a youth center in NYC Public Housing serving primarily Hispanic youth. For fifteen years, 85-90% of our students came from the public K-8 school across the street. In 2006, we began strategically bringing our services into the school building, and completed our first mural project at the school in 2007. Within 3 years, PS/MS 34 was an A-rated school; by 2011 we incorporated Thrive Collective and transitioned to a school-based program model. Our success in melding youth leadership development, mentoring, and arts and culture broadened our reach to include schools and neighborhoods citywide.
Muraling Mexico
Create a Brotherhood
- Programs
- Campaigns
- Resources
School Murals provides visual arts programming that creates a platform for students to cultivate a shared vision and develop the life skills to bring that vision to life in collaboration with others.
School Music provides music teacher residencies that blend performance-based theory and appreciation and culminates in age-appropriate recitals showcasing student achievement.
School Media empowers students to capture and tell great stories being lived in communities and schools every day by introducing the basics of film making, social media, and photography.
School Mentors provides purposeful adults for life and vocational mentoring that cultivates character and life skills, educational options, and professional relationships and networks.
Project 25
Project 25 is an annual, bicoastal student-led community service campaign. It began in San Diego in 2009 and came to NYC with SchoolPartners.NYC in 2015. Project 25 has helped fund thousands of students to creatively raise tens of thousands of dollars in service of others.
#WeServe
Loving schools well through service catalyzes trust and demonstrates that you’re serious about partnership. #WeServe organizes school-based service projects in three broad categories: Appreciation, Beautification, and Supplies.
Hope Week
Hope Week provides theme-based motivational assemblies for public middle and high school campuses year-round. Our dynamic communicators include veteran NYC youth workers and musicians who inspire student action, achievement, and sustainable change.
SchoolPartners.NYC
School Partners NYC celebrates and accelerates school partnerships that improve educational and life outcomes for students. We embrace partnerships as a vehicle for awareness, volunteerism, and wrap-around supports necessary for transformational change.
Our online platform includes a growing network of service providers committed to sharing best practices, ideas, and resources in support of New York City’s 1.1 million public school students and nearly 1,800 public schools. The SchoolPartners.NYC website offers a toolkit of resources and collaborative initiatives to start and strengthen partnerships citywide.
Training and Coaching
Thrive Collective provides regular training and coaching opportunities for community groups and practitioners looking to partner with schools. We facilitate strategic planning retreats, program design consultations, conference keynotes and seminars, and professional development workshops for educators, activists, and community leaders alike.
Our core leadership consists of practitioners, artists, and educators who, together, hold three doctorates and seven advanced degrees and have worked as adjunct and full-time professors at colleges and graduate schools in excess of thirty years combined.
Empowering Students and Schools to Thrive
Why We Do It
Thrive Collective partners with schools to make a real difference in student lives. The kind of difference that actually improves educational and life outcomes. Resourcing schools as authentic, trusted partners is a means to that fundamental, transformational end. Our goal, simply stated, is students and schools that thrive — without exception or condition.
Facilitate Partnerships
Lead with Art
Featured Projects
- SchoolPartners.NYC: The Platform for Thriving School Partnerships
Get Started on the Partnership Pathway
School Partners NYC celebrates and accelerates school partnerships that improve educational and life outcomes for students. We embrace partnerships as a vehicle for awareness, volunteerism, and wrap-around supports necessary for sustainable change.
We are a growing network of service providers convened by NY CityServe and committed to sharing best practices, ideas, and resources in support of New York City’s 1.1 million public school students and nearly 1,800 public schools. The SchoolPartners.NYC offers a toolkit of resources and collaborative initiatives to start and strengthen partnerships around the five boroughs.
Learn More - School Music: Made to be Played
Made to be Played
More School Music
Why do we tolerate a world where schools without music teachers co-exist within walking distance of congregations that employ full-time music directors? Is there a way to mobilize congregational music directors to enhance music education at those schools? YES! - School Murals: Thank You from PS 102
School Murals: Thank You from PS 102
Students from PS 102 say, “Thank you!” to all our School Murals schools, partners, students, artists, volunteers, and sponsors for our January to August 2015 season. Together, we produced ten murals totaling 5,900 square feet of public art, involving 1,100 students from thirteen schools, and 500 volunteers from thirty-five partners.
Special Thanks to all of our Sponsors. - #WeServe Schools: Appreciate. Beautify. Supply.
We Serve
#WeServe organizes school-based service projects in three broad categories: Appreciation, Beautification, and Supplies.
Learn More