Paws 🐾 Will Bring Comfort to Long Island City Students

Zone 126 is thrilled to announce that the Blue Buffalo Foundation has provided us with a generous gift of $50,000 to support the launch and implementation of a Comfort Dog Program at Long Island City High School.

For centuries, dogs have always been known as “man’s best friend.” However, over the course of the last few years, seeing a dog roam the halls, and pop their snout into classrooms, has become a regular occurrence across many New York City public schools. While schools are places students, learn, play and grow, some often feel disconnected and out of place. Research has shown that Comfort Dogs help students build self-esteem, emotional regulation, a sense of responsibility, support cognitive development and calm anxiety to name a few. The new saying around the Zone is that dogs are everyone’s best friend at Long Island City High School.

Over the course of the next few weeks, our team will be getting trained on how to work with a Comfort Dog, how to support the integration of a new addition to our Zone 126 Community Schools team and the school. Stay tuned for updates on our newest staff member who will be joining us at Long Island City High School.

🐾 Paws Up! 🐾