Common Cents Mission: Common Cents, creator of the Penny Harvest, nurtures a new generation of caring and capable young people between the ages of four and 24 by enabling them to strengthen their communities through philanthropy and service-learning.

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What's New at Common Cents and the Penny Harvest
2011 Penny Pick-up, Check back every day to see the pennies add up!

Kick-off the Gather Pennies phase! Visit the Coaches Page for tips and tools.

Mid-Harvest Estimate due Thursday, November 10. Click here to submit.

March 29 2011
Penny Harvest coach defies the impossible with her colleagues. Brooklyn P.H. coach guns for #1 Run for Change! team.

March 28 2011
A Drop in the Ocean:
A Conversation to Prove the Power of One NYC Middle school: why bother caring?

Check out the issue of Time Magazine for Kids featuring the Penny Harvest (pdf)!


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Penny Harvest NYC / Metro NY


Home > Penny Harvest > Location > NYC / Metro NY > About Us > News
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NEWS



Rebound Harvest for P.S. 46

January 1, 2012
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Co-Coaching Leads to Greatness - The Russell Sage Five Pasta Banquet

December 1, 2011
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Leading in Service: Introducing our new Penny Harvest staff

September 1, 2011
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First Annual Penny Harvest Run for Change a success!

May 2, 2011
On Saturday, April 30th, the first annual Penny Harvest Run for Change! kicked off with a day along Hudson River Park of honoring youth service as New York City students, teachers and supporters of Common Cents turned up in what has, in only twenty years, become the largest child philanthropy program in the country which emphasizes service-learning through school communities. Since 1991, Penny Harvest students have contributed $8.6 million to improve their neighborhoods in areas of health, environment, human rights, disaster relief, children and the elderly.
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Common Cents works with Definition 6 to launch Penny Harvest campaign in New York

April 12, 2011
Common Cents, an educational organization specializing in hands-on learning announced today that it has launched a Times Square billboard to decry the school drop-out rate and link the fight to save our schools with its Penny Harvest program. The entire design work for the ad was created pro-bono by Definition 6, a unified marketing agency.
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19th Annual Penny Harvest Kicks-off

October 25, 2010
Starting this week, students at a thousand schools nationwide - nearly 500,000 students total - began scouring their homes and neighborhoods for idle pennies as part of the 19th Annual Penny Harvest. From now until Thanksgiving, Penny Harvesters will go door-to-door with their families asking neighbors to help them better their communities by donating spare change.
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Common Cents announces 2009/2010 Schools of Excellence

July 1, 2010
Penny Harvest schools in New York City work hard every year to bring philanthropy and service to their schools and communities. Some schools go above and beyond this duty— their actions and innovations lead to fresh ideas, lesson plans, and harvesting and teaching strategies, many of which may later become standard Penny Harvest practice, adopted into our core curriculum. These leaders are Penny Harvest Schools of Excellence.
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Common Cents celebrates a magical evening of storytelling

May 18, 2010
Five talented storytellers took the stage last night at an event to benefit Common Cents and its popular service-learning program the Penny Harvest. Almost 300 friends and benefactors of Common Cents filled the cozy restaurant, City Winery, which was specially decorated for the occasion, to listen to the stories, sip wine, and participate in a silent auction.
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National Penny Harvest Roundtable for Haiti winners announced

May 12, 2010
Last week Penny Harvest students voted to donate $27,518, raised by more than 150 Penny Harvest schools across the country, to four organizations providing disaster relief in Haiti. The students participated in a National Penny Harvest Roundtable, which allowed them to democratically decide how to distribute the money amongst each organization.
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Common Cents receives grant from State Farm Youth Advisory Board

February 25, 2010
On Monday, February 22nd, State Farm’s Youth Advisory Board presented $64,064 to Common Cents in support of the Penny Harvest Program. The check presentation ceremony took place at State Farm’s New York City Office.
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Penny Harvesters are already responding to the crisis in Haiti

January 29, 2010
Since the earthquake in Haiti two weeks ago, Common Cents has been flooded with phone calls and e-mails from concerned Penny Harvest coaches wondering how their schools can help the recovery efforts in Haiti. As Penny Harvest schools enter the second phase of the program, students have begun forming Philanthropy Roundtables at their schools. The Roundtables are a distinctive feature of the Penny Harvest which give children the power and the freedom to decide how to spend their harvest funds. A key issue for our students in the coming weeks will be exploring different ways to take action and help the people in Haiti.
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Penny Harvest Coaches gear up for Roundtable Season

January 24, 2010
Last December, Claire Streit, a Penny Harvest Coach at PS 85 in The Bronx, visited a food pantry with a group of her students. The particular group of students she brought to the pantry for a service project were notoriously difficult and had a reputation for being trouble rousers in the classroom. However, the moment they entered the pantry, Claire began to see a transformation in each of her kids. The students witnessed firsthand the need within their own community, and the dignity that the staff treated clients with as they served them hot meals. “They were being empowered to help, to do something real,” Claire said. “I just sat in the back of the room and cried, I could see my kids growing up in front me.”
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Celebrating the Generosity of our Youngsters

December 1, 2009
At the beginning of December trucks will be rumbling through New York City carrying an unlikely load— hundreds of thousands of pounds of pennies. Last year the Penny Harvest collected about 700,000 dollars, primarily in copper (or zinc—pennies haven’t been primarily composed of copper since 1982). Though it only took about a month for students to collect the coins, and will take two weeks for Common Cents to pick them all up, it will take the bank four months to count and sort all the coins.
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Common Cents Hosts Penny Harvest Conference for Teachers

October 20, 2009
This October was the first time in several years Common Cents held a city-wide Penny Harvest professional development session. Common Cents periodically holds these sessions to bring together educators from across the city. The conference brought together new and experienced coaches from New York’s 5 boroughs to sit together and learn about the program, discuss Penny Harvest plans for the upcoming year, and share stories and lessons from their schools.
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Teach a child to fish: Reflections from a Fellow's desk

September 30, 2009
A few weeks ago Micah Gibbens and I, newly minted Common Cents Fellows, were invited to Queens Village for I.S. 109’s Orientation Fair, a back to school kick-off featuring several community organizations from a dentist’s office to a local music and arts studio. I haven’t been to many Orientation Fairs, but this one must have been special because there was a live D.J.; a violin performance by a group of four year olds; and even a New York State Senator, Frank Padavan, who raffled out door prizes. This was only our second time representing Common Cents in public, and we thought of it as a challenge— an opportunity to promote Common Cents’ mission, to offer valuable information, and to generally present ourselves in an official capacity as the Penny Harvest “experts” we had just become.
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Celebrating Service: Introducing our new NYC Service Corps/ Fellows

August 25, 2009
Common Cents is the new home to Marianne Cabe, Micah Gibbens, Layla Malavet, Magdalena Polec and Arvin Temkar, members of the first New York City Civic Corps, a service program launched in April of this year by Mayor Bloomberg. NYC Civic Corps members are placed in various local organizations for the duration of the 2009/2010 school year to help spread the message of New York City volunteerism in local communities.
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Common Cents One of five non-profits to align with NYC schools to teach civic engagement

April 20, 2009
Common Cents was named as one of the five educational partners of NYC Service, an initiative announced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to further his pledge that New York City would lead the way in answering President Obama’s call for the nation to embrace a new era of service.
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Common Cents Challenges Schools to Support Their Local Food Pantry

March 13, 2009
Children of the Penny Harvest are stepping up to do their part to support the 600 food pantries in New York City. In just one week, 80 food pantries have been adopted by Penny Harvest schools, donating $11,962.50 in emergency funds have been given by children to feed the hungry!
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Annual Leader Pin Volunteer event a success!

March 12, 2009
On Saturday, March 7th, over 200 volunteers gathered at Trinity Church and assembled over 35,000 Penny Harvest Leader Pins! That is enough pins for students in over 1,100 schools.
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Teaching Adults to say “Thank You”

March 2, 2009
On February 24th, 25th and 26th Common Cents held its fourth annual workshop for Penny Harvest Grantee Organizations. The goal of these workshops was to to help non-profits - who usually only receive donations from adults – create meaningful relationships with the young grant-makers of the Penny Harvest.
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Common Cents Receives Grant from State Farm’s Youth Advisory Board

February 24, 2009
On Monday, February 23rd, Youth Advisory Board Laura Mantell presented a $100,000 check to Executive Director, Teddy Gross, in support of Common Cents’ service-learning initiatives. The ceremony, which also featured the other NYC-based recipient, Children for Children, took place at PS 1 Alfred E. Smith School, a Penny Harvesting elementary school in Manhattan.
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The Day My Pennies Came ALIVE!

February 20, 2009
Isabella, a student PS 229 Dyker School in Brooklyn writes about why the Penny Harvest is so important.
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Common Cents Bowl-A-Thon a huge success!

February 16, 2009
On February 10th, over 100 supporters of Common Cents gathered at Bowlmor Lanes in New York City for Bowlin’ for Change! The Third Annual Bowl-A-Thon to benefit Common Cents. To date, the event has raised over $22,000 (which is enough to cover the costs of running the program in 44 schools!).
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Statement on Service by Teddy Gross

February 15, 2009
A statement from Teddy Gross, Executive Director of Common Cents, Responding to Mayor Bloomberg's Challenge to Involve all New Yorkers in Service.
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PS 199 students visit Penny Harvest office

December 13, 2008
Two dozen third grade students from PS 199 stopped by the Penny Harvest office on a cold December morning to present Common Cents with a framed collage of their colorful reflections on what the Penny Harvest means to them.
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