Rocking the Boat, Inc.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Youth Development Program
The core after-school and summer Boatbuilding, Environmental, and Sailing Youth Development Programs serve up to 48 high school age young people in each of three semesters. Boatbuilders construct full-scale traditional wooden boats from scratch or help repair older boats in the fleet. Environmental students use that fleet of student-built wooden boats to practice a range of maritime skills and perform environmental restoration and monitoring work on and around the Bronx River. Sailing students learn the all the basics of the sport. A licensed social worker (LMSW), the Youth Development Social Worker, supports students through academic and emotional challenges and runs regular discussion groups and interactive workshops focused on issues such as safe sex, healthy relationships, the college application process, stress management, and nutrition. Students’ experience is enriched each semester through day-, weekend-, and week-long trips within and beyond New York City.
Job Skills Program
The Job Skills Program gives up to 36 experienced students from the Youth Development Programs each semester the opportunity to further advance their skills in boatbuilding, environmental science, or sailing and prepare, more generally, for future professional and academic pursuits. Boatbuilding Apprentices maintain and restore Rocking the Boat’s fleet and build boats for paying clients. Environmental Apprentices carry out a full slate of ecology projects in conjunction with Rocking the Boat’s professional scientific partners and run the Community Rowing Program, introducing the general public to the Bronx River and both its social and natural histories. Sailing Apprentices run a learn-to-sail camp for local middle schoolers. An LMSW, the Job Skills Social Worker, supports Apprentices throughout their time in the program, helping them negotiate the variety of family, financial, and emotional challenges that are a part of their daily lives, as well as providing direct support with college and financial aid applications, resume and cover letter writing, and interview preparation. In addition, a Post-Secondary Opportunities Advisor is on staff to plan visits to local colleges—including a week-long trip over the winter—and college fairs, accompanies Apprentices to meetings with college financial aid officers and union pre-apprenticeship programs, and arranges meetings with professionals in specific fields of interest. Annual trips to such venues as the WoodenBoat Show in Mystic, CT and Frost Valley YMCA in the western Catskills expose Apprentices to new, but related environments and allow them to demonstrate their knowledge and further build their confidence.
On-Water Group Programs
The On-Water Group Programs extend Rocking the Boat’s work to a broader audience of high school and middle school students as well as adults. Youth participants get out on the Bronx River during the school day and use it as their classroom while co-workers have unique teambuilding experiences. Common programmatic themes include estuarine ecology, forest ecology, and the history of the Bronx River. For all On-Water Group Programs, particular effort is put into creating unique learning experiences and customizing content to suit each group’s focus and meet their specific goals.
Community Rowing
Rocking the Boat offers free rowing on the Bronx River from Hunts Point Riverside Park on Saturday afternoons from May through September and at special events. Led by Environmental Job Skills Apprentices, the program introduces approximately 2,000 local community members to the Bronx River each season, educating them about its history and ecology as well as ongoing environmental restoration efforts taking place both on and around its waters.
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Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Rocking the Boat helps young people from one of New York City's most impoverished neighborhoods develop key social/emotional and technical skills through hands-on educational initiatives, all of which involve building and using boats.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Rocking the Boat's core Youth Development Program engages 200 youth per year in a series of highly unusual yet incredibly powerful activities that last throughout their high school careers and into college. Participants enter as freshmen and sophomores and choose from one of three programs: Boatbuilding, Environmental Science, or Sailing. They then move from being students—who dedicate their time at Rocking the Boat to becoming familiar with the basic principles of their medium of choice—to paid apprentices, and once they graduate from high school, to members of the alumni community who are eligible for Rocking the Boat-sponsored college scholarships and to work for the organization as part-time Program Assistants while attending school or earning a professional certification.
From the time they join Rocking the Boat all participants receive wrap-around social services provided by a team of licensed social workers who offer continuous social and emotional support, and, beginning in 2016, from a full-time Post-Secondary Opportunity Advisor, whose role will be dedicated to helping participants prepare for future academic and professional pursuits. In addition to the high schoolers who benefit from intensive services through Rocking the Boat's afterschool and summer programs, the organization extends its reach to a much broader audience through a series of Public Programs, which include On-Water Classroom and Summer Camp Programs for students of all ages, as well as teambuilding programs, ecology tours, and volunteer opportunities for adults, and a free Community Rowing Program that is run out of Hunts Point Riverside Park on Saturday and Sunday afternoons throughout the summer.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Rocking the Boat, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 01/27/2016
Carla Murphy
New York Fire Department
Carla Murphy
New York Fire Department
Richard Thayer
Frosty Montgomery
Brown Harris Stevens
Jennifer Galvin
Reel Blue
Antonio Ramos
TIAA-CREF
Dustin Goodwin
Icahn Enterprises
Robert Clemens
Shawmut Design and Construction
Rolando Infante
Consolidated Edison Company of New York
Jassen Trenkow
Barclays
Thomas Carpenter
Peter Wright
Wright Asset Management
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes