2008-2009 Funded Projects
The City University of New York Black Male Initiative
Summary of Funded Projects, 2008-2009
With a fourth consecutive grant from the New York City Council, The City University of New York (CUNY) has established projects to support the enrollment and retention of students from underrepresented groups in all five boroughs of New York City and at all nearly all CUNY senior, comprehensive and community colleges including the CUNY Graduate Center and the CUNY Law School. Funds from the New York City Council also support two (2) targeted GED programs. All programs and activities of The CUNY Black Male Initiative are open to all academically eligible students, faculty and staff without regard to race, gender, national origin or other characteristic. Though CUNY BMI projects target African American males and other underrepresented groups, it is expected that the entire University will benefit from what is learned from efforts with this target population.
College/Contact |
Project Description |
Borough of Manhattan Community College
Michael Gillespie, |
The overall project goals for the Urban Male Leadership Academy (UMLA) at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) for 2008-2009 are a continuation of the program's emphases since its inception during the 2005-2006 academic year. They are 1) to increase retention and graduation rates of underserved students, particularly African American and Latino males at BMCC; 2) to ensure that underserved students graduate from BMCC with the academic and vocational skills to be successful in future schooling and the workplace; 3) to work collaboratively with identified high schools and community-based organizations to recruit and sustain the number of underserved students in the pipeline to higher education; 4) to increase the transfer rate to baccalaureate programs among underserved students; and 5) to increase the number of underserved students, particularly African American and Latino males, who major in elementary or mathematics and/or science education and pursue careers in teaching in New York City public schools. Women students are actively encouraged to participate in all programs and activities sponsored by the CUNY BMI-funded UMLA. Several BMCC students participate in the CUNY BMI Teachers as Leaders Project. |
Bronx Community College
George Sanchez, VP of Academic Affairs |
The goals and objectives of the Black Male Initiative Project at Bronx Community College, the Men-to-Men Project, are to continue: (1) implementing the program's mentoring component developed during the 2006-2007 academic year; (2) renovating the identified campus space for the BCC BMI Mentoring Program; and (3) encouraging BCC students, particularly African American males, to access the serves of the Academic Success Center. BMI at BCC for the 2008-2009 year will also encourage and support BCC students, particularly African American males, majoring in Education and Teaching to pursue careers as New York City public school teachers. |
Brooklyn College
Noel S. Anderson, Professor, |
The CUNY BMI funded project at Brooklyn College is entitled E.R.I.S. (Empowering, Recruiting, Investing and Supporting): A Campus Community Approach to Academic Access and Personal Success of Underrepresented Groups. Two major goals of E.R.I.S. are to: (1) increase the first-time, full-time bachelor degree seeking black male freshmen by 10% and (2) maintain the first and second year retention rates for E.R.I.S. scholars that exceeds by 10% the retention rate of first-year students at Brooklyn College generally. Project activities and resources include: (1) E.R.I.S Reading Room and Reference Library; (2) the Peer Mentorship Program; (3) the E.R.I.S. Profile for Success training and counseling; (4) Tutoring in Writing; (5) Social Services Safety Net counseling under the direction of an experienced social worker; (6) the www.ERISProgram.org website; (7) the E.R.I.S. Lending Library Program; (8) promoting Opportunities for Academic and Career Success such as Research Internships, Summer Study Abroad, pipeline programs to graduate and professional schools; (9) an E.R.I.S. Speakers Series; (10) E.R.I.S. diversity recruitment activities; (10) a teacher awareness and development program dedicated to encouraging BC students to pursue careers as New York City public school teachers; and (11) E.R.I.S. Research and Curriculum Development encouraged by Africana Studies and Political Science faculty and institutional researchers. |
City College of New York
E. Maudette Brownlee |
The primary goals of the Black Male Leadership and Mentorship Project at The City College (BMLMP) are to: (1) strengthen underrepresented students' sense of community and connection to the institution by expanding their network of peers who share common academic goals; (2) expand this group of students' knowledge and awareness of the varied career opportunities that are available to them; (3) increase their exposure to successful, mainstream role models; (4) strengthen their positive sense of self by helping them to improve their social competency and leadership skills; and (5) connect project participants to mentors who will encourage them to stay in college until they graduate. Further, this project will continue to offer college students different types of learning experiences within the context of supportive relations in order to strengthen students' commitment to college and motivation to succeed.
Several City College students participate in the CUNY BMI Teachers as Leaders Project. |
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City College of New York Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education Jerrold Erves, Associate Director of Admissions 212 650-7706 jgerves@med.cuny.edu |
The Medical Career Success Program proposes to enhance the academic performance and retention of students in the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education and also in the pre-med program of The City College of New York. The program is divided into career enhancement efforts and support services programs. Career enhancement will include monthly Skills Development Workshops, facilitation of professional networking opportunities and exposure to medical professionals. |
The College of Staten Island
Debra Evans-Greene
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The College Success Initiative: Learning by Teaching Both high school and college students participate in this mathematics, science and English language arts tutorial program involving Curtis and Port Richmond high school students and CSI BMI college student mentors/tutors. The project has three (3) primary goals and two (2) secondary goals. Among the primary goals are: (1) promoting academic success; (2) diversity recruitment or increasing enrollment of students from underrepresented populations through pipeline to college programs; and diversifying the teaching profession by recruiting underrepresented students, particularly African American males. As for its secondary goals, the BMI funded project at CSI seeks to create a supportive academic learning community to support students from populations that are severely underrepresented in higher education and to strengthen CSI's Office of Minority Access Programs. Several students from the BMI Project at CSI also participate the CUNY BMI Teachers as Leaders project. |
CUNY Black Male Initiative – Central Ramik J. Williams |
With the generous support of the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation and The Schott Foundation for Public Education, CUNY BMI has created the Teachers as Leaders Project which offers CUNY students: (1) full scholarships; (2) New York State Teacher Certification Examination (NYSTCE) workshops; (3) career development and public policy workshops; (4) clinical education experiences and (5) mentorship from current and former New York City public school teachers. TALP scholarships are renewable depending on continued funding as well as the scholarship recipient's level of participation and progress in the program.
During the spring 2008 semester, twenty-four (24) students, nineteen (19) men and five (5) women, were admitted into the first cohort of the Teachers as Leaders Scholars Program. Eleven (11) students, six (6) men and five (5) women, were admitted into the second cohort during the fall 2008 semester. CUNY BMI will admit a cohort of CUNY students into the Teacher as Leaders Scholars Program each semester.
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CUNY Graduate School and University CenterM. Chantale Damas, Ph.D.Deputy Executive Officer Office of Educational Opportunity and Diversity Programs (OEODP) CUNY Graduate Center Phone: 212-817-7545 Fax: 212-817-1630 CDamas@GC.CUNY.EDU |
The Graduate Center aims to increase the enrollment and academic success of students from underrepresented groups. The CUNY BMI funded project at the Graduate Center administered by the Office of Educational Opportunity and Diversity Programs (OEODP) is open to all students, faculty and administrators but focuses on black males who are among the most severely in the nation's graduate schools and in the professoriate. Through OEODP, the Graduate Center will continue to implement its BMI funded project that has academic and recruitment components. |
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CUNY Law School Mary Lu Bilek, Associate Dean and Professor of Law 718 340-4519 bilek@mail.law.cuny.edu |
The CUNY School of Law Pipeline to Justice Program is designed to give a second chance at law school admission and preparation for academic success in law school to college graduates from groups traditionally underrepresented in the legal profession. The program is designed to: (1) raise their LSAT scores; (2) improve critical reading, analytic thinking, and professional-level writing skills; (3) provide general student counseling; and (4) provide consistent, individualized academic counseling, structured cohort support, and mentoring throughout the three years of law school to those who succeed in the program and are admitted to law school. |
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CUNY Office of Academic Affairs Adult Literacy Mentoring Program Leslee Oppenheim, Director of Language and Literacy Programs 212 794-5437 Gayle Cooper-Shpirt Staff/Curriculum Development /BMI Project Coordinator (646) 344-7323 gayle.cooper@mail.cuny.edu Frannie Rosenson Director, Brooklyn College Adult (718) 951-4117 FrannieR@brooklyn.cuny.edu Paul Wasserman ALC Director, Lehman College (718) 960-8808 Paul.Wassserman@lehman.cuny.edu |
Two campus-based adult literacy programs, at Brooklyn College and Lehman College, will develop new structures and processes designed to reach out to, and support students, with college potential in CUNY GED programs, in order to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups, in particular black males, who complete their course of study at these programs, receive their GED diplomas, and continue their education at CUNY. The project, built around a mentoring structure at each of the programs, will serve as a pilot that can be extended to other CUNY literacy/GED programs in the future. Additionally, this year, the project is focusing on developing a curriculum and transitional courses designed to assist students who pass the GED with college entrance examinations. |
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CUNY Office of Academic Affairs Creative Arts Team (CAT) Linda Zimmerman, Executive Director 212 652-2830 Lynda.zimmerman@mail.cuny.edu Keith Johnston, Program Director 212 652-2835 Keith.johnston@mail.cuny.edu |
Success by Degrees, the BMI funded project implemented by the CUNY Creative Arts Team (CUNY CAT), will provide students with the opportunity to examine, through an active learning model, issues related to academic and workplace success. Under the guidance of CAT's professional actor/teachers, CUNY students, particularly BMI participants, will engage in a range of strategies and techniques - dramatic vignettes, role-play, tableaux, music, movement, rap, and drama games and exercises - as they explore and practice the habits and habits of mind they need for success in school and in life. |
CUNY Office of Academic Affairs- GEAR UP/MGI
Ciji Portis |
In the fall of 2007, CUNY Office of Academic Affairs received in funding from the CUNY Black Male Initiative to pilot the Young Men's Leadership Institute (YMLI) at South Bronx Preparatory, a CUNY Middle Grades Initiative/GEAR UP (MGI/GU) partner school. Based on the success of the pilot program, CUNY MGI/GEAR UP, a college/school consortium project housed in the University's Office of Academic Affairs Collaborative Programs unit, will expand YMLI to two additional partner colleges and two secondary schools. The structured mentoring program for 9th-grade Black, Latino, and under-represented male students will be implemented at South Bronx Preparatory (Lehman College), East Side Community High School (Hunter College), and Queens Gateway to the Health Sciences (Queens College). A comparable program, Young Women's Leadership Institute (YWLI), was piloted for female students last year and will be included in the expansion. |
Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College
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The Youth Leadership Model has four goals to: (1) improve retention of Hostos Community College students and increase their graduation rates (with a special attention paid to the graduation rates of male students of color); (2) strengthen academic skills of students at Hostos (with a special attention paid to the academic performance of male students of color); (3) increase the enrollment of males in College Now and provide early intervention for 9th and 10th grade males enrolled in participating high schools and (4) and maintain high retention rates for 6th, 7th and 8th grade students enrolled at the Hostos Lincoln Academy (the Hostos campus school) to ensure that they move into high school and graduate with college-bound aspirations. The BMI funded project at Hostos Community College also operates two mentorship programs, Brothers on a New Direction (BOND) which targets male students and Helping Other People Excel (HOPE), which focuses on young women. |
Hunter College
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Brothers for Excellence, the Hunter College Black Male Initiative for Recruitment, Retention and Success, aims to offer historically underrepresented students and black males in particular, a personalized educational experience in which they receive varied forms of support: academic, financial and emotional. The project offers students academic advisement, mentorship, community-building service experiences, and workshops conducted by the CUNY Creative Arts Team. Additionally, the project sponsors a number of outreach and diversity recruitment activities. Several Hunter College students participate in the CUNY BMI Teachers as Leaders Project.
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John Jay College of Criminal Justice
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Connections for Success, the BMI funded project at John Jay College, will enhance existing college support programs to specifically target and meet the needs of underrepresented groups. A network of "first responders" from faculty, staff and counselors will work with at risk students, and a career development component will be incorporated. The goal is to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who successfully complete a degree program at the college. |
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John Jay College of Criminal Justice |
The Ron H. Brown Pre-Law Program is a collaborative program of The Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development of the St. John's University School of Law, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Department of Latin American and Latina/o Studies/CUNY, Medgar Evers College/CUNY, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and York College/CUNY. It is designed to help increase the representation of underrepresented groups in legal education by providing eligible John Jay students with an intensive summer program in the study of law at St. John's University School of Law. CUNY BMI supports the John Jay College component of the Ron H. Brown program; however, students from Medgar Evers College and York College are also eligible to participate in this intensive pre-law program that features, among other benefits, LSAT preparation. |
Kingsborough Community CollegeRoderick Wilson, Director Liberty Partnership Program 718-368-5767 Rwilson@Kingsborough.edu Harry Franklin Office of the Dean of Instructional Services (718) 368-5864 harry.franklin@kbcc.cuny.edu |
The Kingsborough Student Leadership Initiative, the CUNY BMI funded project at KBCC, grew out of an inaugural project begun in the summer of 2006. The overall goal of the project has remained consistent since its inception to: (1) increase the enrollment of male students representing underserved and underrepresented groups utilizing various enrollment resources, including, but not limited to, local high schools, community based organizations, churches, GED programs, and the Kingsborough Office of Enrollment Management; and (2) assist students enrolled in the initiative in accessing the support services offered at the college, including counseling, academic advisement, supplemental instruction, and mentoring. In addition to the aforementioned goals, the project offers to each student a mentoring component that provides a source of information, informal advisement and role modeling for students. The project has developed a network of mentors from among Kingsborough faculty and administrators who have established supportive relationships with BMI students. Peer mentors, including BMI alumni, have provided an important source of additional assistance to project enrollees. |
Fiorello H. LaGuardia Community College
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The Empowerment and Success Program for Underrepresented Students is modeled to support the retention of students from the perspective of persistence. The project will implement strategies for increasing the retention and course completion rate of underrepresented students by identifying student needs, providing peer-to-peer experiences, mentoring and tutorial/academic interventions. The project will continue to focus on the following objectives: (1) identifying students facing academic difficulty through a mid-semester review (Early Alert Program): (2) providing outreach and recommend appropriate intervention strategies and referrals: (3) focusing on supporting ethnic identification, socio-economic/financial issues and addressing educational/ cultural stereotypes; (4) cultivating peer to peer study groups; and (5) increasing student awareness of personal responsibility in their educational experience. |
Lehman College
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The Center for Urban Male Leadership (The Center) in its second full year of operation is designed to facilitate the successful transition of first-year and transfer students to Lehman College. The Center also provides support to continuing students by strengthening academic skills, personal development, and character enrichment. The Center is committed to developing the whole student both in and outside the classroom. The Center seeks to increase the retention and graduation rates of all students while fostering a meaningful college experience with specific emphasis on the experiences of historically underrepresented students including African American and Latino males. |
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Lehman College The College Initiative A University-wide program based at Lehman College Benay Rubenstein, Director of the College Initiative Lehman College, Division of Adult and Continuing Education (718) 960-1973 benayr@juno.com |
The College Initiative (CI) is a reentry education project for men and women retuning to the New York City area who want to begin or continue higher education upon release. At its every core, CI is dedicated to easing the transition from prison by welcoming prospective students to become part of a vibrant learning community. There is no other program in the New York City area open to all men and women who want to begin or continue higher education upon release whether or not they have had prior college experience. CI features a free twelve (12) week Bridge to College program to prepare students for the CUNY placement examinations. |
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Medgar Evers College |
Educational Ladders Initiative will continue to develop an educational pathway for students from underrepresented populations with academic deficits in order to prepare them to pass the GED and enroll in higher education. Project administrators will continue to empower students with the information needed to succeed through workshops, seminars and mentorship. A new goal for the 2008-2009 academic year will be mentorship. Tutoring sessions will be transformed into group mentorship sessions. Students will be grouped based on their readiness to pass the GED exam and their aptitude to become college bound. Former students who have successfully completed the program will provide the mentorship through encouragement and assistance with participants' transition to college. This strategy should help the college increase retention of these students; as well as, foster a positive self image within these individuals. Additionally, project administrators and instructors will continue to prepare students for the CUNY ACT Tests. |
New York City College of TechnologySonja Jackson Dean of Curriculum and Instruction (718) 260-5560 SJackson@CityTech.Cuny.Edu Reginald Blake (718) 254 - 8582 rblake@CityTech.Cuny.Edu New York City College of Technology Joan Schwartz JMSchwartz@CityTech.Cuny.Edu (718) 260-4910 |
The CUNY funded project is designed to increase the enrollment and success of African American males and other underrepresented groups in STEM disciplines. The New York College of Technology, or City Tech as it is commonly called, has chosen this focus because these disciplines are the institution's signature programs and because African Americans are notably underrepresented among baccalaureate and advanced degree recipients in these disciplines. Through a coordinated program of enhancements and support, City Tech, high school, and elementary school students interested in STEM will receive the support, encouragement, and enrichment they need. City Tech's BMI is also quite aware of the acute shortage of African American Males who pursue careers in K-12 education. The project, therefore, develops focused and structured activities that will enhance and encourage City Tech student participation in K-12 and GED teacher/mentor education, especially for STEM courses. Special emphasis is also placed on undergraduate mentoring via STEM research activities. |
Queens CollegeJune Bobb Assistant Provost (718) 997-5780 June.Bobb@qc.cuny.edu Thomas Gibson Assistant Director SEEK/Queens College (718) 997-3171 Penny Hammrich School of Education (718) 997-5220 Penny.hammrich@qc.cuny.edu |
Excellence, Equity and Inclusion: A Collaborative Approach to Ensuring Success for Black Males and Underrepresented Students - Working with academic departments, programs and support services dedicated to promoting excellence in undergraduate education and student success, this new project is designed to address issues of equity and inclusion and to mobilize the College community to put in place strategies and practices to address problems of enrollment and retention, and to create a climate of access. The Community Scholars Program at Queens College - An outreach program for high school students, particularly high school juniors at John Bowne High School, who are interested in pursuing careers as educators. Several Queens College students participate in the CUNY BMI Teachers as Leaders Project.
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Queensborough Community College
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Queensborough Community College (QCC) has received BMI funding since 2005 to increase the enrollment of and support services for African American Males and other underrepresented groups. This funding was used to create an initiative, QCC MALES, which has been extremely successful. Student participants have received mentoring from faculty, peers, and staff; attended workshops related to retention and academic success; benefited from additional formal and informal faculty contact; participated in extracurricular and social activities; received close monitoring of their academic progress; and enjoyed the advantages of early advisement and registration. In 2008-2009, QCC will continue providing support services for the current cohort of students; to recruit, enroll, retain, and promote the success of additional students from underrepresented groups; and add a new teacher development component. |
York College
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The goal of the Male Initiative at York College implemented through the York College Men's Center is to increase the enrollment of underrepresented groups, particularly African American male students at York College, and to create an environment to assist these underrepresented students in developing and achieving the academic, personal and professional skills that are needed to succeed in college and beyond. The CUNY BMI funded project at York College features three (3) main programs: (1) a teacher development initiative, known as the "Back On Track Program," (2) a recruitment initiative through which York College students, particularly participants in Men's Center programs, will be conducting workshops at high schools in southeast Queens including John Adams High School, Richmond Hill High School, and Hillcrest High School, and (3) a V.I.T.A. Program through which accounting majors and high school students will provide free tax return preparation to low-income residents of southeast Queens. Several York College students participate in the CUNY BMI Teachers as Leaders Project.
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