The volunteer department is so poorly run by inept and unprofessional staff, that they should be…read moreembarrassed. It's like dealing with a bunch of teenagers who do not want to be held accountable and not want to own up to their mistakes. They do not stand by advertised requirements and will arbitrarily dismiss volunteers when they have exceeded their quota but only after volunteers (and families) have committed time and good faith to the event. There is a serious lack of transparency with capturing hours and someone really needs to conduct a thorough audit of their system. Save yourselves the grief and trouble and volunteer with another organization that is worthier and willing to treat volunteers with respect and not like disposable garbage.

We were a vender for an event there! Great place. Very clean bathrooms. Only complaint was ac was…read morenot working well and it was extremely hot and humid.

This recreation center is named after the neighborhood volunteer group who conceived and…read moreconstructed the facility in June 2000: Astoria Residents Reclaiming Our World (A.R.R.O.W.). Situated next to a community garden, ARROW is a recreation center that offers innovative cultural and educational programs for children. The Center Manager for ARROW describes the facility as "small but extremely vibrant." For parents with infants and toddlers, ARROW provides classes that meet three times for an eight week program. Following the guidelines mandated by the New York State Department of Health, there is space for 20 participants in each class. However, these classes are rarely over-enrolled and there is always room to register. Created for children 18 months to two years, the Gymboree program is an energetic movement class. The Tiny Tots class, for the two to four year old age group, offers a more academic curriculum of singing and dancing, learning the alphabet, counting numbers, and arts and crafts. Like the after school programs at the other recreation centers throughout New York City, the structured after school program at ARROW gives children from six to thirteen years of age a safe and encouraging place in which to grow intellectually, physically, and emotionally. All city after school programs must conform to the School-Age Child Care Regulations of New York State, which ensures that there is one staff member to every three students. ARROW's after school students meet Monday through Friday from 3:00 to 6:00 pm. The center does not provide transportation for the after school program but can connect parents with private operators who can bus children into the facility. ARROW's after school curriculum runs the gamut of interesting activities ranging from homework help to learning art forms from other cultures. To get exercise, kids can receive instruction in playing basketball, kickball, volleyball, and soccer. All New York City recreation centers participate in sports tournaments within the boroughs and citywide. ARROW also has a separate room with eleven PC's and three iMacs where children can do their homework and enhance their computer skills. A Latin American artist living in Queens visits ARROW to give art classes to after school kids. Another cross-cultural class offered is capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, games, music, and dance. A local percussionist and composer, comes to the center to teach guitar and percussion instruments. At the end of this six week course, students give performances and create DVD's of their own music. The teen program at the center convenes afternoons and evenings where participants can receive instruction in basketball, capoeira, guitar, and computer and video editing. ARROW hosts many free events to the public throughout the year such as a Halloween Haunted House, an Thanksgiving feast, and a Cinco de Mayo celebration.

Cosy little park with an adjacent community center. They have a well-equipped computer lab (where I…read morevolunteer) and offer computer classes for seniors. Nice to give back. Nice to give back.

The employees & volunteers at the senior center are amazing. Kimberly, Joyce & Amena have gone…read moreabove & beyond helping us navigate senior services for my father. They are responsive & kind. They have made my life so much less stressfully.

The staff is very unprofessional and do not return phone calls. I inquired about their services and…read morenever received a response. their leadership is far below average and is unable to provide the direction the organization requires. If you attempt to gain employment there, it is best to go elsewhere. Do not recommend at all.

I visited the Indo-Caribbean Alliance center yesterday for my friend's event Five Boro Story…read moreProject. The center is behind the Singh Roti shop. I saw the sign from the sidewalk and walked down the alley to the center's entrance and climbed down its steps. As I entered, I felt like I was walking to a great secret space in New York City. And I did. :-) I found the space to be great for this event and the many programs they do. The space seems to be like 600-700 square feet. There's a large main room, a few office spaces, and a restroom. The space was super clean, and everything seemed new, even the doors and paint (the strange things that a New Yorker notices). During the event, I met the board members and some of the staff. I found them to be approachable and super friendly. They told me about their various programs. They offer tutoring and SAT help, community advocacy.

The following is based on my opinion and experience of the CITG Community House Nursery School…read moretouting themselves as a progressive school. Pros: Small Class size - Student/Teacher Ratio is high. Four teachers to about 22 kids per class. Although, I am not clear on what licenses/permits each have. After School programs and camps - I have heard good things about them and the fact that they have them is a plus for many families. Large Classrooms - large classrooms with lots of light, many books, toys, and learning/ activity centers. Great Location - Located in Forest Hills Gardens. The school also has ample outdoor play space. Excellent Enrichment - The *PA WAS fantastic at fundraising, helping to support substantial enrichment opportunities (e.g., visiting nutritionist, visiting Noguchi Museum staff, winter/end of the year show, yearbook, etc.). Great Community - My experiences with the families has been extremely positive. The Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, and neighboring communities are replete with a diverse group of pretty friendly families who are very involved in their children's education. Cons: Non-progressive curriculum - If you are looking for a "progressive" curriculum that is "positive discipline" focused, then, in my opinion, you will not find much of that here. It is a problematic issue if they tout themselves as "progressive" school, which they did at the open house we attended. The school is play-based, in part, but with a lot of "structure" and "discipline" weaved in. There was a lot of prescribed art (not process based) and, overall, it's not child-centered enough. They like to say that they "borrow a little from here and a little from there" but, at its heart, it remains traditional. Punitive discipline- As in old traditional schools, they make the nursery kids line up and wait for their teachers before having them walk quietly into their respective classrooms. Kids are also separated based on gender, depending on the activity. Nursery school kids who were "disruptive" or "crying too much" or "emotionally distraught" were regularly taken out of the classroom, so as not to disturb the "learning" of the other kids. If you want to continue to tout yourself as progressive, then take a page out the DOE's mandate. Its two very helpful Early Childhood Learning Benchmarks effectively state that the learning in a nursery-school and pre-school should solely be focused on normalizing and validating kids' feelings and emotions, setting gentle limits to help kids develop a positive sense of self so that they can learn to manage their behavior positively when they are developmentally ready to. To enact a one-size-fits-all punitive approach has long been established as useless and harmful. Once we realized that our child was being regularly punished, we were only then told about their punitive behavioral management approach, which involved giving the nursery kids a "choice" to either comply or to sit alone in either a red or blue chair (deceptively called "cozy corner"). This "choice" would be given to the kids when they were unable to "get a hold of themselves," were disruptive by talking or calling out during say circle time or when they otherwise needed to "calm down." Such unreasonable expectations virtually guarantee, if not sets them up for, failure. What 3 year old do you know that can sit still or stay quiet on command? These approaches single the kid(s) out in front of all of their peers. It's a dunce cap 2.0. Such approaches can inadvertently teach kids nothing but shame and that they are "bad." It's false choice which essentially amounts to a "time out," is counter to progressive education, and it undermines nursery school kids' nascent sense of self-esteem. Leadership issues - Leadership needs to be reconsidered, and the school must give families a voice. *Dismantled PA: Unbeknownst to many, at the end of the year in which my child attended, the school just dismantled the PA. By most accounts I got wind of, parents were shocked and had zero say in that decision. Confusing Admissions Process - In my experience, admission requirments were poorly and inconsistently communicated. They do not have the same age cut-offs the DOE. Plus, you must submit a waitlist card for each program the year before to be on the waitlist to get in. Cost: I think it's expensive!

I don't personally go to the center for any programs that they offer. I was a monitor there that…read moreworked with Chinese Community Center. But I can tell you that everyone that works here are very nice and friendly!! The staffs are very helpful and they will always greet you with a smile when you come in. I don't know what it is - but you can just feel and see the friendlyness and can see that they aren't being fake or anything. The programs there seems great! The seniors seems very active and engaged in the activities offered at this center. There are many programs offered, from arts, ping pong, learning chinese or English, and so forth. They even have an after school program for younger students.

This is really a great place!!…read more Being a community center, there's no food to talk about :(, but they honestly have so many programs that are worthy of writing pages about! You have educational programs, youth programs, ping pong lessons, ping pong camps, ping pong tournaments, senior services, I feel as if this place does a lot more than its little size was intended for! It's overall a great place, people of all ages (Chinese or not), are always welcome and accepted. Old and young, there's something for everyone at the Chinese community center of flushing. (As a minor side note, it isn't the cleanest place, but with the plethora of what they have to offer, it in no way hinders the experience.)