Help East Side Community High School Win $500,00 from Kohl's

ESCH's principal Mark Federman with students in front of the tent he's been sleeping in to raise awareness about the competition

Right now, East Side Community High School, a NYC Public 6-12th grade school in the East Village serving primarily African American and Latino students from low-income families, is the only urban public school contender nationwide in the Kohl's Cares competition. Kohl's will award $500,000 to the top 20 schools with the most Facebook votes registered by Friday, September 3. Currently, almost all of the top 20 schools are private or religious based schools with significantly greater resources than East Side.

With LGBT faculty and students, East Side has worked to make the issues of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students visible in public schools in New York. Through the bravery of out students, parents and faculty and wonderful allies, they have worked to integrate an awareness of LGBTQ issues in their social, emotional and academic programming. They are reaching out to one of their strongest communities for support, the LGBTQ community. If you have a second, help East Side get into the top 20 by casting your vote now. Go to to learn about what makes East Side so exceptional and help them win the big bucks from Kohl's.

Previously > Need To Know: Ryan Star