Highbridge Voices

Highbridge Voices is an after-school music and academic program which seeks to inspire excellence in our students through the example of excellence in our programs and staff, working in collaboration with families and the community.

They have expanded both its scope and reach, and currently serves nearly 200 students between its academic year and summer programs. Highbridge Voices is represented by two choirs, the Concert Choir, made up of more than 70 students, ages 9 to 12, and the Chamber Choir, in which 50 students, ages 12 to 18, prepare a more challenging repertoire. Each week, students attend eight hours of choir rehearsal, individual voice lessons, and music history and theory classes, all in preparation for performing repertoire that varies from classical to contemporary. In addition, the academic program includes math and English language arts enrichment, a literacy initiative, Regents exam preparation, SAT preparation, individual tutoring, and college preparedness training. In total, students spend fifteen hours a week at Highbridge Voices, in addition to attending school.

About:

Highbridge Voices is now firmly established as a neighborhood institution. With an annual budget approaching $1 million dollars, the non-profit organization continues to receive support from HCDC, as well as foundations, government organizations, and generous individual donors. Over time, Highbridge Voices has expanded both its scope and reach, and currently serves nearly 200 students between its academic year and summer programs. Highbridge Voices is represented by two choirs, the Concert Choir, made up of more than 70 students, ages 9 to 12, and the Chamber Choir, in which 50 students, ages 12 to 18, prepare more challenging repertoire. 

Each week, students attend eight hours of choir rehearsal, individual voice lessons, and music history and theory classes, all in preparation for performing repertoire that varies from classical to contemporary. In addition, the academic program includes math and English language arts enrichment, a literacy initiative, Regents exam preparation, SAT preparation, individual tutoring, and college preparedness training. In total, students spend fifteen hours a week at Highbridge Voices, in addition to attending school.

History:

When Monsignor Sakano, Director of Housing for the Archdiocese of New York, Jorge L Batista, J.D., and their associates set out to initiate housing projects on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and Harlem in 1984, they could not have imagined how their vision would evolve and bloom. Eventually, their work took them to the South Bronx, a neighborhood ravaged by abandoned buildings, high crime rates, and under-performing public schools. In response, the Highbridge Community Development Corporation (HCDC) was born. Its main goal was to redevelop the area through affordable housing and support for at-risk families, many of whom had been living in shelters. For the community, HCDC represented a lifeline, an opportunity for families who had previously been forgotten or overlooked.