​Most kids look to their parents, or other relatives, for guidance as they meander down life’s highway – I know I did.  After all, who more than they have your best interests at heart?  But sometimes we find ourselves lost in a place that they’re just not familiar with, that’s beyond their life experience - especially as it relates to college and career choices.  Then they are, sadly, no help at all. 
 
It’s not that they don’t care; it’s that they don’t know.
 
In my case I was the first in my family to go to college, so when it came to making life-impacting choices I was virtually on my own.  Yes, mine were loving parents who worked hard and sacrificed to provide me with a better life, but this was brand new territory for them.   And I found that the further along I got in my education, the more important the choices became, the more complicated the factors that needed to be considered, and the more impactful a right or wrong decision would be on my future.
 
But I did what I thought I had to do.  I buried my head in my college texts and worked hard.  I buried my head in my law books and worked even harder.  I buried my head in long and tedious review tomes and worked harder still – and passed the bar.  I breathed a deep sigh of relief, allowed myself a brief, self-congratulatory pat on the back, looked up with anticipation, and found myself…nowhere.
 
I did everything I was supposed to – and did it pretty well – but the world didn’t seem to be beating a path to my door.  I wasn’t being showered with job offers.  I had no idea how to find my paths forward – let alone choose the right one.  And then fate led me to the door of John A. Fusco, and I finally had what I never realized I so desperately needed: a mentor.
 
Here was someone who knew the ropes; who knew what to seek out and what to avoid.  Here was someone who could teach me when and how to use a shortcut and when not to, when to read each and every word and when I could just flip to the final chapter.  Having already navigated law and politics with enviable success he paid it forward, eventually helping me to succeed him in the New York City Council and to this day, at age 79, he still offers me sage advice and counsel.
 
When it comes to mentors you should do one of two things: go see one or go be one.  If you’re a young man or woman in high school, your college choices just might be the equivalent of a career choice; you can’t really afford not to get advice from someone who’s been there.  Want to know what’s ahead of you?  Find someone who’s already walked that path.
 
A good mentor will help you break out of your comfort zone, and push you into new experiences.  He or she will do an honest evaluation of your personal strengths and weaknesses, and perhaps clarify what the real world is all about – it may be markedly different from that which you imagine.
 
And if you are already an accomplished individual – young or old – consider doing what I mentioned earlier: pay it forward.  Make yourself available; be willing to take a young person under wing and impart your hard-earned knowledge, share your years of experience.  Reward yourself in a way that money simply cannot buy; sleep with the knowledge that you have made a difference in the life of a young man or woman they will remember and appreciate every single day.
 
You won’t regret it, and they won’t forget it.

The following blog post was written by Jennifer Sammartino, Director of Communications & External Affairs.
 
My daughter was born in the summer of 2013. While that seems like yesterday to me, according to the DOE, that means it’s time to think about – and apply for - UPK.
 
I’m grateful – as I know all city parents are – to have UPK as an option for my child. But it forces me to think about how old my baby is getting and that she’s not a baby anymore.
 
The application process and the concept is also a little jarring, and I don’t mean to complain. When I was a child, my mother literally brought me to the school nearest to our house, signed me up, and off I went. 
 
I love the fact that we have choice as parents. The reality for me is that we will not use our zoned school because of our personal preferences. Therefore, my husband and I are pursuing other schools for her. 
 
So after much research, we decided to apply to three UPK programs plus the program at the school she currently attends, a private Montessori school. I am incredibly happy with her current school. The great thing is that now, as a three-year-old, she attends three full days and spends two weekdays with family. This is my attempt to balance wanting to give her a solid foundation, a leg up on her education, and allow her to be my baby just a little bit longer.
 
But UPK is five days. Five days for a four-year-old. Please don’t misunderstand – this is not a complaint – this is the unwillingness of a mom of an only child to let her go off into the world. I’m the one that’s not ready yet. 
 
Not only am I not ready for my toddler to attend school five days a week, I’m not ready for her to go off to a large public school. As I await the acceptance/wait list letters that are due to come in April from the DOE, and greet the decisions I’ll need to make about where she will go come September with equal parts anxiety and excitement, I’ll squeeze my little one and beg her to stay my baby a little longer. 

The following blog post was written by Chris DeCicco, Counselor to the Borough President.
 
I'm not a doctor.
 
I don't play one on TV.
 
What I am, though, is a person who has been fortunate enough to sit through many meetings on a variety of health topics - all featuring prominent Staten Island physicians.  
 
From heart disease to lung cancer to breast cancer, I have heard the experts discuss one of the most difficult conundrums vis-à-vis the health of Staten Islanders. Relatively speaking we are an affluent borough with a high percentage covered by  health insurance, yet we have some pretty bad health markers. Usually, more affluent communities have better numbers than less affluent communities. Staten Island is an exception to this rule. I won’t spend time discussing why this is the case, I’ll leave the technical stuff to my Health and Wellness Director,  Dr. Ginny Mantello, and others actively engaged in solving this issue.  
 
In sitting through these meetings, though, some common themes have emerged no matter what the topic of discussion is.  I will call them “five tips I have gleaned from Staten Island physicians."   
 
As I said earlier, I’m not a doctor and I don’t pretend to be one, but I have heard some really smart doctors engaged in important work share these tips in a variety of ways. I hope they can be helpful to you.

It may shock you to learn that on Staten Island, colorectal cancer ranks #2 in cancer deaths for men, and #3 for women. March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month – so there’s no better time to learn the facts about colon cancer and get tested. Here are five facts about prevention and detection of colon cancer:
​

1. Colon cancer is linked to certain lifestyle factors. Being overweight or obese and physically inactive increases the risk of colorectal cancer. Certain kinds of diets, including those high in red meat or processed meat can increase your risk. Smoking and binge drinking also increase your risks of getting colon cancer.
   
   
2. Your risk of getting colon cancer increases if you have a history of adenomatous polyps, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease. Your risk is also higher if your parent, sibling or child has a history of colorectal cancer or adenomatous polyps.
   
   
3. The risk of getting colon cancer grows as you age. Starting at age 50 (or younger if you have a family history of the disease), you should begin getting screened for the disease. African Americans have the highest rate of colon cancer and should begin getting screened at age 45.
   
   
4. Colon cancer is preventable through screenings. The gold standard for early detection of the polyps that cause colorectal cancer is a colonoscopy – but that is not the only screening. There are other, less invasive tests that can indicate whether or not a colonoscopy is necessary. Colon cancer may not cause symptoms, especially at first, which is why the best way to catch the disease at its earliest stages is through screenings. Many polyps can be removed before they develop into cancers.
   
   
5. Over the past few decades, the death rate from colon cancer has been dropping, which is likely due to increased screening, but the underlying risk for colon cancer is rising due to the increase in obesity rates, physical inactivity and other unhealthy lifestyle choices. Early detection makes it easier to treat the disease. Getting screened for colon cancer can save your life.

 
Learn more about colon cancer and the different types of screenings at: www.cancer.org/cancer/colon-rectal-cancer​

We don’t do a lot of self-back slapping here at Borough Hall.  We allow some - just to stay sane - but when you’re running a marathon and some city agencies do their best, week in and week out, to turn the “race” into an obstacle course, there really isn’t much time or energy for victory laps.  For the most part, I will save those for when I decide to leave the stage.  But there is a milestone I am approaching that I have decided to talk about publicly, having been convinced to do so after receiving a rather harsh email. 
 
A few weeks ago we were contacted by a public school teacher questioning why I was pursuing a charter school for dyslexic students, and wondering aloud if this was an attack by me on public education and unions.
 
I immediately wrote back: An attack on public education and unions?  By me?  Are you kidding?  Clearly you have not paid attention to my career, at all. 
 
As we finalize our submission of this year’s capital allocation requests, my erstwhile budget guru Marie LaFrancesca, who has been by my side every day since I was first elected to public office, apprised me that we were reaching a pretty impressive milestone.  It seems that with this year’s allocation to our local schools, we will top the $100 million mark in funding educational projects during our tenure in public office.
 
You don’t need to say it, because I’m well aware of it: this is taxpayer money and didn’t come from my personal bank account - I get it.  I always have.  That’s why I have always taken very seriously the privilege of allocating taxpayer dollars, and that is why I have tried to ensure your money was used in the best possible way, helping as many Staten Islanders as we could, while achieving the biggest impact possible.
 
I also hear the critics questioning how the Department of Education, with a budget of almost $30 billion, along with a capital plan in the billions, could convince local elected officials to spend precious resources on an education system that has an ever-expanding budget but who never seems to have enough money.   I share the frustration - but I am also left with only two choices.  I can either respond to principals, teachers and parents whose schools have specific needs, or ignore them and tell them to wait on the central DOE. 
 
With the resources at my disposal, I have chosen to address those needs I thought were critical to empowering educators to teach their students as effectively as possible.
 
Lastly, I hear the haters who say “All politicians get money to hand out, so no big deal.”  Let me take a moment for a laugh before I continue, because  I’ve found that laughter allows me to deal with some of the ignorance better than getting angry would.  
 
I would offer this: I was a Republican in a super minority within the City Council, so I willfully and painstakingly decided to build coalitions and bridges when others did not.  I nurtured those relationships until they were genuine friendships, and these relationships allowed me to bring home an outsized share of available funds back to our community.  I make no apologies for having served in an era when there was one solitary process in city government  that allowed me to ensure that Staten Island was finally treated BETTER than fairly.  Today, those in the Council have eviscerated the powers of the Speaker, made every Council Member “equal” in capital and discretionary allocations, and unfortunately over-democratized the body – but that doesn’t change what I was able to accomplish. 
 
I brought back a lot of money for Staten Island and that wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.  And I will take a momentary victory lap for having the values and sensibilities to know that money for technology and libraries was money well spent;  for realizing that every dollar we allocated to our schools was a dollar invested in the critical effort to mold a classroom full of students who were ready to excel on the next level; and for doing what I could to move them along the path to become responsible, accountable and productive Staten Islanders.  There will never be too many of those, I can assure you.
 
I have always believed you didn’t need to have a student in the public school system to root for good schools, or to recognize what it means to each of us personally that these schools excel in creating young adults who are ready for the next steps in life. 
 
Make no mistake:  $100 million of your money has helped to do just that.