PROMISE Program Columbia





PROMISE PROJECT is proud to support the PROMISE Program at Columbia, a program within the division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, in affiliation with New York Presbyterian Hospital.  The PROMISE Program provides an educational path for underserved children who struggle with learning disabilities, evaluating their learning difficulties and getting them the support they need.

The PROMISE Program at Columbia has been created to be the most comprehensive program in New York City helping impoverished children with learning disabilities get the support they need to learn.

PROMISE started serving children from Harlem, Washington Heights and the Bronx in July 2011. Columbia University Medical Center's affiliation with New York-Presbyterian Hospital allows us to care for the entire child - not only his or her difficulties with learning, but with all of the emotional and behavioral consequences that learning disabilities entail.

"Our partnership with PROMISE PROJECT will change forever the understanding and treatment of learning disabilities. It will lift up the lives of children and families in our impoverished neighborhoods - lives that have been devastated by the inability to read and write and to succeed academically," says Dr. Bradley Peterson, Chief of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

As part of PROMISE PROJECT, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center will lead studies aimed at developing low-cost prevention and intervention programs that can be replicated across the country.

"This is just the beginning. There are many children who are struggling and need this help to learn. We are seeking more strategic partners and contributions to make an impact in this area," says Dana Buchman, Chair of PROMISE PROJECT.

PROMISE PROJECT believes that the PROMISE Program at CUMC will become the preeminent center for learning disabilities of disadvantaged children.  Our support of this program reflects our mission to help children from low income families in New York City and to reach as many kids as possible who need these vital life-changing services.