Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) Program Administrator Tanya Colón was recently recognized by the United Way of Greater New Haven with a Game Changer Award at Reese Stadium for her leadership running the Design Thinking Workshop for the Yale Latino Networking Group. She has been coordinating this program in a volunteer capacity for 6th-8th graders in the New Haven Public Schools since 2016.
In partnership with Yale Pathways to Science, Colón has been working creatively over the last several years to expand outreach to students of Latin descent. Though the 2020 event could not be held in person due to the pandemic, Colón did not let this deter the continuation of the program. She used a variety of on-line tools to make the session as interactive as possible and she was instrumental in sending each participant an arts and crafts pack filled with the items they would need for the event at no cost. The supplies were also used for follow-up sessions.
“I received positive feedback from this year’s virtual session, and many of the students took advantage of extra STEM sessions that I was able to secure with Yale Design for America students on proceeding weekends,” said Colón. A total of 150 students have participated in the program to date, with a maximum of 30 each year to ensure individual attention to all students.
Colón has also been instrumental in leading back to school programs over the last five years. “Due to the pandemic, the 2020 back to school initiative was very different, but the need was still prevalent,” she commented. Colón partnered with the Columbus Family Academy PTO and Parents, Partners, and Peers program to launch a virtual drive to provide their students with backpacks filled with school supplies.
Masked and sanitized, we packaged over 200 tote bags with donated toiletry items from Yale staff and the New Haven Fire Department.
Tanya Colón
In 2021, she worked with community leaders to host an on-line Mother’s Day Toiletry Drive. “Masked and sanitized, we packaged over 200 tote bags with donated toiletry items from Yale staff and the New Haven Fire Department,” she recalled. They set out with their trunks full the Thursday before Mother’s Day and delivered them to area women’s shelters and community agencies. Colón also created “special” baskets that were hand delivered to some mothers in the community.
In addition to her remarkable community service efforts, Colón’s role at the YCSC involves coordinating the Child, Adolescent and Integrated Psychiatry Training Programs and Psychology Fellowship. She also serves on the YCSC Workplace Committee and the Network and Outreach Committee, both of which form connections within and from the YCSC community. She is coordinating another Mother's Day Toiletry Drive this year as well. View the flyer linked above for details or donate items directly from the Amazon wish list.