Street Academy of Albany

Street Academy was originally formed in 1970 by a partnership between the Albany Chapter of the Urban League and an order of nuns from Kenwood Academy of the Sacred Heart in 1970. Kenwood Academy, a novitate for over 100 years, doesn't exist any more - the school merged with an Episcopalian educational institution, and the grounds on which the original convent sat is now the Doane Stuart School.

Under the leadership of Sister Maryellen Harmon, the nuns formed the "Street Academy," based on a similarly-named school in New York City - essentially a "storefront university", an "alternative education center" for troubled youth. When Street Academy opened in the fall of 1970, it was located in the rectory of St. John's Church on 157 Franklin Street in Albany (today now known as St. John's - St. Ann's Church). Midway through the school year, however, the program expanded to the point where the Street Academy moved to the Teen Center in Albany's South End. Read an interview with the founder of Street Academy, Sister Maryellen Harmon, by clicking this link.