The UFT distributed 1,600 backpacks, as well as school supplies and food, to families on Staten Island during the union’s fifth annual Back-to-School BBQ. The union collaborated with District 31 and more than 35 community organizations to host the event in the schoolyard of PS 18 in West Brighton.

Parents, caretakers, educators and community members gathered at the UFT’s Staten Island borough office on Nov. 8 for the UFT Staten Island parent committee’s annual conference. Attendees took the day to bond with other caregivers and gained valuable information and resources during workshops on topics like keeping students safe online and parent-teacher association governance.

More than 1,000 UFT members turned out in a powerful display of union pride as they marched up Fifth Avenue on Sept. 6 for New York City’s annual Labor Parade. Members paraded in solidarity with thousands of other unionists across the city, on foot, by float or atop a double-decker bus.