Community Conversations  for Kids

Community Conversations for Kids gives upper elementary and middle school students the opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion of a short reading in or out of school. A teacher or facilitator introduces thought-provoking questions and encourages kids to reflect on issues raised by the reading and discuss how they impact our lives and communities.

Each Community Conversation is based on a short text that is read at the beginning of the discussion. A teacher or facilitator introduces thought-provoking questions and encourages participants to reflect and discuss the issues raised by the reading and how they impact our lives and communities.

For each Conversation, the New York Council for the Humanities will provide a short text that emphasizes the importance of service in our communities. The Council also provides a set of age-appropriate discussion questions, along with tips for facilitating this kind of conversation. These materials are intended for children between fourth and sixth grade.

For more information, please see our Common Questions.

9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance

Download the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance Community Conversations for Kids toolkit

Please visit our Common Questions page to find answers to frequently asked questions. The Community Conversations Admin page provides tools to help you prepare and host a Conversation, including flyer templates, program logos, an implementation checklist, a participant evaluation, and a parent letter to send home with students. The Council encourages you to register your Community Conversation at www.911day.org.

Stipend Requirements

Schools and non-profit organizations hosting Community Conversations for Kids can receive a $50 stipend or gift certificate in addition to two copies of September Roses (see below).

If you would like to receive a stipend to help defray the cost of hosting a Community Conversation, you must:

• Be a school or not-for-profit organization in New York State.
• Submit your event date and time to the Council via our Event Submission Form at least three weeks before your event. (You will need to fill this form even if you previously registered for the included the date of your event on the registration form.)
• Submit a host site evaluation within two weeks of your event date (available August 10 on the Community Conversations Admin page).

Stipends can be used to publicize your event, make copies of the text, or to offset the facilitator’s time.

You will receive the stipend within four weeks of submitting the host site evaluation.

September Roses

In conjunction with the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance and the Community Conversations for Kids program, the Council is reissuing the book September Roses by Jeanette Winter. Previously out of print, September Roses tells the story of two African women who travel to New York City for a flower show and arrive on September 11, 2001. Strangers to the city, the women are shown kindness by a stranger, and later repay that kindness by creating a memorial to the fallen towers with their flowers.

Rather than focusing on destruction or sadness, September Roses highlights the ways people from diverse backgrounds came together to help each other in the aftermath of the day's events.

See an excerpt of September Roses here.

Every school or non-profit organization that registers a Community Conversations for Kids event is eligible to receive two copies of September Roses free of charge. Extra copies are available from the Council here.