The Penny Harvest, an educational program created by the not-for-profit Common Cents, engages students in Youth Philanthropy – fundraising, grant-making and service – with the goal of developing their generosity and moral character as well as their understanding of democratic participation.
Nationally, over half a million children participate in the Penny Harvest and have raised over 5 million dollars since the program’s inception. Students use the funds to provide monetary grants to non-profits and carry-out Neighborhood Service projects.[1] Many of the causes and charities these children support through the Penny Harvest include sexual abuse, LGBT rights, issues surrounding homelessness, animal cruelty, and immigration rights, and charities such as American Red Cross, Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the American Cancer Society.
The Penny Harvest is a service-learning and character education program that strives to continue US President Bill Clinton’s vision of expanding opportunities for Americans to serve their communities.[2] The program endeavors to bridge the theoretical leap from community service to total service-learning, where service is integrated into the classroom through instruction. “School-based philanthropy initiatives, like the Penny Harvest, are now catching on nation wide.”[3]
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The Penny Harvest began in 1991 with a question from then 4-year old Nora Gross – “That man is cold. Why can’t we take him home?” She was referring to a homeless man she saw while walking on NYC’s Broadway with her father Teddy Gross, founder of Common Cents and the Penny Harvest.[4]
That one question was the catalyst for what was to become the Penny Harvest program. Gross began “harvesting” in his building, “asking neighbors if they had any pennies, and how they would feel about giving them to the homeless.”[5]
”Each year in New York City, 2 million dollars’ worth of pennies are wasted. People dump them into jars….”[6] Others of them “disappear into drawers, behind car seats, into trash heaps and into penny oblivion.”[7] The Penny Harvest program ventures to capitalize on these annually discarded pennies.
The year long Penny Harvest is divided into four phases.[8]
Each October and November, children between the ages of four and 14 connect with their parents, friends, neighbors and local businesses as they go door to door in search of pennies. Neighbors of all types and generations talk and share with the ultimate goal of coalescing as a stronger community.[9]
The program attempts to engage New York City schools to involve the entire student body. Through activities like penny rallies and “Wheel of Caring” assemblies, students, teachers, parents and staff join forces for one common goal: beating the “25 Sack Challenge”[10] Each school strives to fill 25 sacks of pennies weighing 750 pounds (340 kg).
To encourage participation, student leaders make PA announcements, create and decorate bulletin boards, rally individual classes and lead assemblies. “Teachers also use [the program] to connect real-life issues with subjects like math, English and social Studies.”[11]
The Philanthropy Roundtable, distinctive to the Penny Harvest program, enables the students to ultimately decide how to spend the harvest funds. In brief, young people form Philanthropy Roundtables, study community problems, and try to determine which organizations best alleviate those problems. They then make cash grants, with the pennies they collected earlier, to those organizations.[12]
Students conceive and plan their own Neighborhood Service projects. They partner with experienced neighborhood groups to learn more about complex community problems and how to solve them.
In a study of the impact of the Penny Harvest program conducted by Dr. Chris Weiss, the Director of Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences at Columbia University, teachers involved in the program expressed that students who participate gain self-confidence and the self-awareness that they can make a difference. The teachers saw participating students sharpen their teamwork, communication and leadership skills and increase their effort academically. Importantly, teachers said they see students carry these positive impacts over time. In addition, teachers reported the program connects their schools to people and resources in the surrounding community and helps to get parents involved.
In 2006 Chancellor Joel I. Klein of the New York City Department of Education told principals that he recommended they bring the Penny Harvest to their schools “as part of a comprehensive strategy to improve the culture in your school. Consider the Penny Harvest as the key to service-learning and community involvement in your school.”[13]
“The Penny Harvest takes place early in the year and helps foster school spirit, a positive atmosphere, improved community relations and favorable publicity,” said Principal Robert Guzzio of PS 14 in the Bronx. “The program develops a commitment to community, self worth and a caring attitude among students.”[14]
Many youngsters find themselves taking part in group activities and even transforming into leaders for the first time as they get caught up in the thrill of the harvest. Diane Gonzalez, a teacher at PS 94, said “Everyone participated. Even students with speech problems were speaking and interacting, giving presentations and making phone calls!”[15]
One parent said, “It was without a doubt the best thing my son did all year ... out of all of the classes and school assignments, he got the most out of the Penny Harvest.”[16]