Make Your Mark

The North Side Learning Center is facing one of the most consequential moments in its history.

A few weeks ago, we lost our longtime Executive Director, Mark Cass, suddenly and unexpectedly. For more than a decade, Mark helped build the NSLC into one of Syracuse’s most trusted community institutions—a place where New American children, adults, and families pursue educational opportunities, language and literacy learning, workforce training, connections to essential services, and, above all, a community in which they can belong and thrive.

Mark’s loss is immeasurable. It has also left the NSLC in a moment of profound transition and urgent need. We are asking for your help.

The work of the NSLC has always been rooted in a simple but powerful vision: that every person who comes through our doors should have the relationships, opportunities, resources, and support they need to build a thriving life and the opportunity to help others do the same. Mark devoted his life to this vision, building relationships, cultivating leaders, and creating a community in which people care for and invest in one another.

Today, that community is coming together to carry the work forward.

Each year, the NSLC serves more than 250 learners a week, from early childhood through adulthood. At a time when refugee and New American families are navigating growing economic pressures and uncertainty, Mark’s sudden passing has also created immediate financial and organizational challenges. We are working to sustain our programs, support our staff and families, maintain our community hub, and build a strong foundation for the NSLC’s next chapter.

Your gift will help us keep the doors open, programs running, staff and families supported, and the community Mark helped build moving forward.

The extraordinary response since Mark’s passing reminds us of one of his greatest legacies: he built an organization around people rather than himself. The people he mentored, the families he supported, and the relationships he cultivated now need your support to carry this work forward.

Together, we can carry forward Mark’s legacy by creating a community where refugee and New American families are welcomed, supported, connected, and empowered to thrive—and where the people who find opportunity here become the people who create opportunity for others.