A significant part of LANDMARK WEST's work is youth education! Our in-school program, Keeping the Past for the Future (KPF), is designed to foster within our neighborhood's young people a strong sense of engagement, ownership, and responsibility toward their community through learning about the built environment and its history. According to P.S.87 second grade teacher Theresa Furman, her students "now look at the city with new eyes...The children have gained in their understanding and enjoyment of their home, New York City."

Debi Germann teaches a class at P.S.191.

Through multiple classroom visits and neighborhood walks, we guide students on an exploration of living history, using buildings and streets to spark curiosity about the past and present life of the neighborhood. If children learn from an early age to care about their community, to understand and appreciate architecture and local history, they will be better equipped as adults to make responsible decisions about its preservation.  

KPF is partially funded (approximately 35%) by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the NYC Department of Education, through funds allocated by Council Member Gale Brewer. The remainder comes from people like you - please contribute today! 

Through its disciplinary and hands-on activities, KPF supports literacy, mathematical ability, analytic thinking, problem-solving and critical thinking. LW! offers multi-visit programs tailored to each grade, and each one meets New York State Standards for Learning as well as the New York City mandated curriculum while emphasizing the important role of historic preservation in sustaining the quality of life of our community for present and future generations. We are always thinking of new ways to teach preservation, including a new program about the inherent "greenness" of historic structures. See below for program descriptions!  

Fourth grade students from P.S.87.