Helping city teens find their calling

Helping city teens find their calling | | qchron.com

Astoria dad founded Projekt NYC to connect youth with opportunities

by Kristen Guglielmo, Editor

Ted Psahos never planned to start a nonprofit.

The Astoria native was just a father trying to help his two sons find internships and volunteer work when he realized how hard it was for young people to access meaningful opportunities in their own communities.

“It was like I was getting another education,” Psahos told the Chronicle of that search. “I was trying to scrape any opportunities I could possibly find. There’s no resources. There’s no one that could guide me.”

That frustration eventually became Projekt NYC, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Astoria that empowers middle and high school students across New York City through community service, creative expression and civic engagement.

Founded in 2023, the organization has quickly grown into a hub for students seeking ways to get involved — whether through volunteering, writing, arts or internships.

Born and raised in Astoria, Psahos attended St. Demetrios and Brooklyn Tech and later earned a master’s degree in public administration. He spent years working in his family’s real estate business before turning his attention to youth opportunities.

Now, he wants Projekt NYC to be “the go-to place” for students looking to make a difference and build their futures.

“I came up with the idea of Projekt NYC to provide meaningful opportunities for students across the city, particularly in Queens,” he said.

The goal, he added, is to create experiences “that would enrich them, that would move the needle forward for them, that would get them civically engaged, that would provide opportunities for them to give something of themselves, to learn about volunteering — stuff like that.”

Projekt NYC does so through a wide range of programs: neighborhood cleanups, a teen advisory council, youth-led contests, literacy and creative writing initiatives, and partnerships that place students in civic and cultural spaces. Psahos said the breadth of offerings is deliberate.

“Some people say we’re so broad in the offerings that we provide, and that’s intentional because we didn’t want to be narrow,” he said. “You don’t know where they’re going to find their sweet spot. You don’t know which thing they’re going to be attracted to.”

One student might show up for a park cleanup with the Astoria Park Alliance, for example, while another participates in a citywide poetry contest.

Funding the work has been a grind, Psahos said, built from the ground up through small-business sponsorships, private donations and grants.

“When we started, we had like, 10 bucks in the account,” he said. Early on, volunteers set up a table at a car show in Astoria Park and Psahos walked to nearby garages and repair shops asking the owners to sponsor T-shirts for the kids.

Larger partners have followed, including big-box retailers and foundations that support specific initiatives.

For more info on Projekt NYC, one may visit projektnyc.org.

Despite a common belief that teens are glued to their phones and disinterested in public life, Psahos said his experience shows the opposite.

“I’m finding that there’s a lot to the contrary of that — a lot of kids, a lot of students, want to get involved civically. They want to do stuff. They want to contribute to their neighborhoods. They want to work in politicians’ offices.”

For now, Projekt NYC charges no fees and pays no salaries. Psahos, who also serves as president of the NYPD’s 114th Precinct Community Council, describes the work as exhausting but deeply moving, especially when he sees what students create through writing and art.

“It’s just a great thing for the kids, and it’s a great thing for the students and the youth of Queens in particular, and in the city at large,” Psahos said. “And I’m just overwhelmed and happy.”