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Regular readers of this newsletter might be wondering, “What happened to November?” It’s a fair question since the “ninth” month (ninth to the Romans at least) came and went with no news from your favorite community college. I thought about blaming the Postal Service -- they don’t seem to be much in favor these days -- but since this is an e-newsletter some of you would have called that unfair. No, we just had a lot going on around Thanksgiving, and before we noticed, it was December, so we decided to make a special November/December Holiday Edition. Here you go.
Happy Holidays!
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On November 29, New York City Council Member Julie Won joined me to announce the launch of 3,000 Heroes, the college’s new campaign to expand our training of frontline healthcare workers for New York City. Council Member Won presented a check for $5 million to support the upgrading and expansion of our workforce training facilities. The $5 million includes an allocation of $3 million from Council Member Won and $2 million from City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. This historic investment will enable LaGuardia to graduate 3,000 Nurses, LPNs (Licensed Practical Nurses), EMTs, Paramedics, Community Health Workers, Mental Health Peers, and other frontline healthcare professionals over the next five years – our 3,000 Heroes. | |
CUNY Unites to Fight Antisemitism | On Monday evening, December 19, I joined CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez, other campus presidents, and CUNY students for Shine a Light on Antisemitism: Times Square Menorah Lighting, an event organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and UJA Federation New York. Governor Kathy Hochul and other elected officials greeted us and thanked us for coming together to speak out against rising antisemitism and to celebrate Hanukkah. Some of you may recall that JCRC hosted me and other CUNY leaders in Israel last spring. The organization is a helpful partner to CUNY in our efforts to combat antisemitism. | |
Help for LaGuardia’s Homeless Students | |
Speak to LaGuardia Cares director, Rhonda Mouton, this time of year and she will tell you what she’s doing to help LaGuardia students sleeping in their cars. Or in the shelter system. Or on the floor of a friend’s apartment. It’s hard to believe, but, according to a 2019 report by Temple University, about 14 percent of CUNY’s students are homeless. Too many of our LaGuardia students are trying to earn their degrees without a place to live.
Rhonda’s solutions include emergency grants for rent or utilities, help from Airbnb to identify affordable rooms in private homes across Queens, and our new venture with Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter. NCS just opened a residence for homeless CUNY students in Long Island City. As you’ll see in this article, students from Medgar Evers College will get the first block of rooms, but Ann Shalof, executive director of NCS, has promised us rooms for LaGuardia students just a short walk from here.
Last week, I announced the creation of LaGuardia Housing Solutions, a new fund of the LaGuardia Foundation dedicated to helping our homeless students. Contributions will be used by Rhonda to help students access the programs of our new housing partners. For example, with your support Rhonda will purchase Airbnb gift cards for students that need a warm room with a bed, a dresser, and hopefully a desk or place to study.
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Boosting Enrollment by Giving Away Free Samples of LaGuardia | |
Back in the summer, in search of solutions for our post-Covid enrollment woes, I asked Shannon Lund, Director of Admissions, for suggestions. “Let’s give away free samples,” he suggested. “Tell me more,” I said. “Look,” he went on, “So many recent high school grads are ambivalent about college. They’re not sure it’s worth it. They’re questioning the value of getting a degree, and they’re worried about going into debt. For many of them, high school during Covid was terrible, so they’re discouraged about school. We should let them get a taste of LaGuardia for free. Hopefully, that will boost their enthusiasm and get them to enroll.”
This fall, we turned Shannon’s idea into a grant proposal that we sent to the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation. The Heckscher Foundation for Children joined forces with Petrie and together they are generously funding our new College & Career Connect initiative. CCC will serve 80 public high school graduates (Classes of ’20, ’21, and ’22) who are not currently enrolled in college. They’ll get a chance to take free classes at LaGuardia during one of our two six-week mini-semesters. Under the leadership of Ellen Quish, director of First Year Programming & Student Success, our CCC team will showcase the range of support services we offer—from tutors and peer mentors to financial assistance. On top of that Ellen will provide the CCC students with MetroCards and stipends. The credits they earn in their free sample classes can be applied toward their LaGuardia associate degrees. What more could they want? Shannon will be ready to enroll them as soon as the program ends.
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Student Profile: Juan Medina | Juan Medina was born in the U.S. and raised in Ecuador. A few years ago, Juan, now 22 years old, came to New York City to learn English and pursue his dream of becoming a video producer. He settled in Elmhurst, Queens and enrolled in the CUNY Language Immersion Program (CLIP) at LaGuardia to improve his English language skills. After several semesters at CLIP, he enrolled at LaGuardia as a New Media Technology major. Today, he juggles his full-time class schedule with three part-time jobs where he’s gaining valuable professional experience and covering his expenses. Over the past few years, he’s been doing freelance work producing and editing music videos and promotion videos for artists and athletes. In November he was hired as a multimedia content creator for LaGuardia’s Street Team, a group of students who work with staff of the Division of Communications and External Affairs. After graduating from LaGuardia, Juan plans to pursue a bachelor’s and start his own production business. | |
The Year in Review: The President’s List of the 23 Biggest Days at LaGuardia in 2023 | For my closing sessions talk last week (LaGuardia’s end-of-semester event) I shared my 2023 Big Days list – 37 dates from January through December on which exciting things happened here at the college. Program launches, big grants, commencement, significant retirements, special events, awards, ribbon cuttings, new hires – you get it: 37 Big Days over this busy and exciting year during which we returned to campus and restored those special attributes of LaGuardia that our students missed during the pandemic. Test your LaGuardia memory here. | |
Foundation Board Member Convenes Panel of Human Rights Attorneys | LaGuardia Foundation director and human rights attorney Sara Darehshori visited campus recently to host a forum on career opportunities for students interested in human rights. Students from the President’s Society (led by Karen Dubinsky) and Criminal Justice Club (led by Professor Jill Kehoe) heard from Carrie H. Cohen, partner at Morrison Foerster; Jaime Fellner, former senior advisor, Human Rights Watch US Program; Laura Pitter, deputy director, Human Rights Watch US Program; and Aisling Reidy, senior legal advisor at Human Rights Watch. Sara and her guests described their work on Rwanda War Crimes, Bosnian War Crimes, Guantanamo Bay, sexual harassment in the military, and the missing people of Colombia. The standing-room-only crowd was inspired by our guests’ accomplishments. They say the world has too many lawyers. Not like this group. Here’s hoping some of our LaGuardia students will follow their lead. | | |
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In case you missed the Boston Globe of November 30, we’re pleased to share a profile they ran on LaGuardia alum Evelyn De La Rosa (’22, Electrical Engineering), who is finishing her first semester at M.I.T. Evelyn is studying electrical engineering and computer science. The article explores how the “Transfer Scholars Network” showed Evelyn that transferring to a prestigious school like the M.I.T. was well within her reach. LaGuardia is one of ten community colleges nationwide that are part of the Transfer Scholars Network, which connects standout community college students with admissions officials at selective colleges.
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