SUMMER 2017 · VOL. 11 · NO. 02
Building Successful Transitions to College
The first graduating class of CAMBA’s Collegiate Express program celebrates with family and staff.
The two and four-year college degrees, along with all of the advantages of higher education, are now more important than ever for high school students from low-income backgrounds. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ predictions, by the year 2020, 65 percent of jobs will require a college degree and most of the fastest-growing occupations will require some level of postsecondary education. However, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, college enrollment rates among the poorest high school students have fallen to less than half of that population and will continue to fall unless action is taken to reverse this trend. CAMBA is ensuring that young people have access to educational opportunities that will lead to economic security. Through college access programs like Collegiate Express, Leading to College and Learning to Work, we level the playing field for high school students and provide them with the academic resources and social supports they need to succeed. The results are promising: This year, 100 percent of high school graduates from CAMBA’s Collegiate Express program received college acceptances and plan to attend college this fall. By 2020, we will have helped 1,000 low-income youth graduate high school and successfully transition into college. In this issue of the CAMBA Courier, we feature the achievements of graduates and mentors from these critical programs. BUILDING LADDERS TO SUCCESS 46% is the national average of students from 46% low-income familes who enroll in higher education after high school.
89%
89% of low-income graduates who participated in CAMBA’s LtC program enrolled in college.
SOURCES: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU AND DATA FROM CAMBA’S LEADING TO COLLEGE PROGRAM
From the President and CEO Each summer, CAMBA is thrilled to see young people from our community proudly process down the aisle in their caps and gowns to receive their high school diplomas. This is an incredibly momentous rite of passage that they share with their families and with many members of our dedicated staff. After the caps are tossed and after the family celebrations have concluded, what awaits these bright young students? Here at CAMBA, we applaud these students for overcoming what are oftentimes significant obstacles to gaining their high school diplomas, and we feel confident that our college access programs will allow them to go even farther after high school.
“By the year 2020, we will have helped 1,000 of these students successfully transition to college.” Through our Leading to College program, students like Breyanna (page 4), attend college classes while they’re still in high school, which breaks down the barriers and the unfamiliarity that might prevent many first-generation or economically disadvantaged young people from applying to and completing college. In another program, Learning to Work, young people like Jennifer (page 3), who face challenges both in and out of their high school classrooms, can reverse that negative cycle, receive critical career placement help and gain the assistance they need to enroll in college. Collegiate Express is another of CAMBA’s college access programs. This innovative program not only guides students like Faina Belle (page 3) through CONTINUE TO PAGE 2
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“LETTER FROM PRESIDENT…” CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE
the entire college application process, but brings their parents and guardians into the process with the work of parent coaches. We know that the jobs that exist within our city, and beyond, will increasingly require a college degree in the coming years. With one powerful initiative through our 2020 Vision, “Build Ladders to Success,” we are focusing our multifaceted college preparation on low-income high school students from the moment they enroll in high school. By the year 2020, we will have helped 1,000 of these students successfully transition to college. None of the work that we do with these talented young people would be possible without you. We are especially grateful to those who supported CAMBA this spring and summer, whether through attending our Shona Gallery’s Open House night, racing in our fundraiser run/walk with NYCRUNS, or by purchasing tickets to our fun summer baseball fundraiser, Night at the Ballpark. We hope that you’ll enjoy reading this issue’s celebration of our impressive programs that help young people throughout Brooklyn to break through the cycle of poverty and realize the incredible talents, gifts and contributions they have to offer their communities.
Thank You! We salute the following donors ($100 and more) for your generous support (Feb. – July 31, 2017): CORPORATE AND FOUNDATION DONORS
Mary Kay Gallagher Real Estate
Devin Chapman Roohi Choudhry
Steve Cohen and Caroline Piela
Admiral Air Conditioning
Meringoff Family Foundation
Alice Clifton
Maryann Reid
Samantha Cocco-Klein
Dwayne and Valerie Richardson
Alexander Gorlin Architects Ameriprise Financial Community Relations
Modern MD Urgent Care
Amida Care Anonymous
The New York Bar Foundation
The Bernstein Law Firm, LLC
New York Community Trust
Broadview Networks, Inc.
Norton Rose Fulbright
Michael and Abbe Erhard
Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce
The Parker Davidson Family Foundation
Neil and Lisa Falcone
Brooklyn Cyclones
Penguin Random House, LLC
Kathleen Feerick
MultiPlan, Inc.
Brooklyn Hearth Realty Ltd.
Pfizer Foundation Matching Gifts Program
Brown & Weinraub, PLLC Bruno Frustaci Contracting Inc.
Premier Ford Lincoln
Emily Deininger
Luz Rivera
Angeles Delgado
Harvey and Helaine Rosen
Jessica Dickson
Vern Bergelin and Mary Ellen Ross
Lindsey Drake Ted and Kathy Dros
Kim Shimoda Justin Silver Lauren Slivosky
Ellen Farrell
Barry Smith Susanna Stein
Michael and Claudine Ferrante
Amorie Stephens
Martin and Aurea Fisher
Jillian Tate Liliane Sznycer and Abby Taub
R&B Janitorial Supply
Robert Buckholz and Lizanne Fontaine
Red Stone Equity Partners
Mary Kay Gallagher
Reliant Electrical Contracting, Inc.
Shirley Gayle
Remco Press of NJ
James Heineman
Clark Foundation
Retro Fitness
Foster Henry
Dougert Management Company
The Right Connection Plumbing & Heating Inc.
Sharelle Hicks
Robin Hood Foundation
Mark Bisard and Christie Hodgkins
RECURRING
Equity Environmental Engineering, LLC
The Rogosin Institute
David Hodgkins
Andrew Blair
Flatbush Development Corporation
Saretsky Katz & Dranoff, LLP
John Bailin and Jenny A. Hourihan
Pamela Booth
Flatbush Food Coop
Sentinel Printing Co.
John Izzi
Flatbush Optical
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Seth Cooper
Katrina Jeffries
Fresh Direct
Sheldon Lobel, P.C.
Emily Deininger
Alfy Jimenez
G & W Food Products, Inc.
Rami Ezratty
Pearl Jones
Goldman Sachs
Shinda Management Corporation
Audrey Feldman
Lexi Jones
Groupe Sanglier
Teradata
Kelsey Field
Hirschen Singer & Epstein LLP
Tribeca Pediatrics
Terence and Margaret Kelleher
Jordan Garegnani
Peter Kibalo
Interior Resources USA
TriState Apartment Furnishers
JER HR Consulting LLC
Whitsons Culinary Group
Jewish Communal Fund
York International Agency
JMT Consulting Group Inc.
INDIVIDUALS
Joshua Marks
JP Morgan Chase Foundation
The Parker Davidson Family Foundation
Deeney Avery
Mina Marsow
Robert Pierson
Lamb Financial Group
Richard Revesz and Vicki Been
Janet Miller
Mackenzie Riggs
M&T Bank
Julia Millin
Matthew W. Botwin
Maria Paula Sadler
M.C. O’Brien Inc.
Justin Nardilla
Kristian Breton
Jessica Sarles-Dinsick
Maimonides Medical Center
Mike and Karen Breton
Charles and Katherine O’Neill
Jillian Tate
John and Sharon Browne
Kaz and Joanne Oplustil
Henry Briance
Chris Paradysz
Arlene Bryant
Christine Pasquariello
Budget Business Supply Co. Chakula Catering NYC CHI Benefits by Corporate Health Innovations
Marion E. Kenworthy – Sarah H. Swift Foundation
Christopher Taylor Nathan Taylor Rebecca Waugh
Claudia Gilchriest
Scott Woodcock Christopher and Leslie Zarra
Leigh Angel
Robert Casper
Janelle Gooley Carrie Kran
Kim Larsen
Choichun Leung
Edward Levins
Katherine Nehring
Michael Mallon
Board of Directors CAMBA is a non-profit agency that provides services that connect people with opportunities to enhance their quality of life.
KATHERINE O’NEILL Chairwoman
ELENA BONIFACIO
TERENCE KELLEHER
MATTHEW W. BOTWIN
ALLAN F. KRAMER II
HENRY BRIANCE
BERNARDO MAS
REV. DANIEL RAMM Secretary/Treasurer
NEIL FALCONE
MICHAEL ROSS
PAUL GALLIGAN
DAVID H. SCHULTZ
JULIA BEARDWOOD
JENNY HOURIHAN
CHRISTOPHER ZARRA Vice Chairman
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Read more stories via CAMBAVoice.blog.
Building Successful Transitions to College JENNIFER | Medgar Evers College, Class of 2020 For three years, Jennifer was struggling academically at a high school where she said she had fallen in with the wrong crowd. Then, Jennifer was placed in CAMBA’s Learning to Work (LTW) program, an initiative for students with nontraditional needs at Professional Pathways High School (PPHS) in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. With funding from the Office of Postsecondary Readiness, LTW partners with transfer high schools, such as the one Jennifer attended, to help students overcome obstacles, places them into paid internships and connects them with further educational opportunities after graduation. LTW pushed Jennifer to her full potential and gave her real workplace experience for the first time when she was hired by the school as an office intern. In addition to this first step towards a career, through LTW’s academic resources, college visits and help with applications, Jennifer was placed on a track towards enrolling in college. Jennifer said, “My experience at Pathways showed me that if I apply myself, I can go above and beyond what I thought was even possible.” Her involvement with LTW has inspired Jennifer to pursue a future in school counseling. “If students are struggling, I can relate to those experiences and I know that I can find a way to help them because I was helped in a similar way,” said Jennifer. She is on her way to achieving the future she wants as a successful student at Medgar Evers College.
“If we put more into our community, we would see our own potential and the goodness that exists within all of us.” Breyanna FAINA BELLE | SUNY Binghamton, Class of 2021 The college application process is difficult for anyone to understand, especially those without a parent or friend who’s been through it before. Faina Belle is a bright student who didn’t have access to this kind of guidance until she found CAMBA. She said “Prior to Collegiate Express, I didn’t know much about the process. Now, I’m going to be the first-generation person in my family to go to college.” CAMBA’s Collegiate Express (CE) program is dedicated to preparing lowand moderate-income high school freshmen living in Flatbush and East Flatbush, Brooklyn for college. It is unique in that it supports students for all four years of their high school careers. Faina Belle stated that CE used “very hands-on activities that helped me to understand thoroughly what the college process was like, as well as high school.” Not only does CE provide academic help, but Faina also said in an interview that “[Through CE] I was broken out of my comfort zone. I became more comfortable asking questions and networking.” As her first year of college at Binghamton University nears, Faina says she wants to be able to “use the knowledge [CE has] taught me throughout the college process,” and she hopes to further her interest in the law by studying it this fall. CONTINUED TO PAGE 4
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Collegiate Express Achievements All 26 members of our pilot cohort have received acceptance offers from colleges.
4 students will be attending college on full scholarships.
2 students were accepted into a
prestigious summer internship with Girls Who Code.
1 student received a highly competitive, full scholarship, the AT&T Aspire to Tech Scholarship, which gave her a full ride for an online coding program. We have placed a record of 39 students in summer employment for 2017, including The Go Project, Lower Manhattan Presbyterian Hospital, Girls Who Code, Glen Bank Law Firm and the T4 Technology internship at the Brooklyn Public Library.
Parent Coaches
Collegiate Express
The Parent Coach component of the Collegiate Express program uses an innovative approach to engage parents, while preparing students for college. Parents who are new to the college application process receive guidance from other members of their community: Parent coaches who have successfully guided their own children through the college process. Coaches like Florence keep parents on track with an unfamiliar admission and financial aid applications, help to arrange visits to those schools and provide invaluable guidance throughout the entire process.
“When there’s a communication issue, parent coaches speak whatever language both the parent and the student are speaking. We arrive at their level and we go from there.” Florence, Parent Coach with Collegiate Express
Celebrate 40 Years of Achievement
WHEN: Thurs., Nov. 2, 2017, 6–10 pm WHERE: Tribeca Three Sixty° in Lower Manhattan Our gala brings together a dynamic group of leaders in business, politics, development, community, arts and social services who are committed to empowering low-income New Yorkers through economic development, education and youth development, family support, health, housing and legal services. Learn more and buy tickets at CAMBA.org/CasinoNight
1720 Church Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11226 CAMBA.org
“…BUILDING SUCCESSFUL TRANSITIONS TO COLLEGE” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2
BREYANNA
Brooklyn College, Class of 2019
For a young woman from a single-parent family in Flatbush, Brooklyn, the path to college can be a steep and rocky climb. CAMBA’s Leading to College (LtC) program helped ease the way for Breyanna, now a successful rising junior at Brooklyn
College, with a keen interest in sociology and urban development. LtC provides pre-college and college-level academic instruction and social support to lowincome students. This program coached Breyanna throughout high school with an intensive college prep program that included academic enrichment, trips to visit college campuses, financial aid and application assistance—and even free precollege and college-credit courses through College Now at Brooklyn College. Breyanna said, “I’m really thankful for how Leading to College has allowed
me to grow. I don’t know where I’d be if the program hadn’t shown me a path.” CAMBA’s work has shown that over an average of five years, 89 percent of low-income high school graduates who participated in LtC later enrolled in college. The work done by LtC has inspired Breyanna to give back to her community and others similar to it by tutoring high school students within LtC. “If we put more into our community, we would see our own potential and the goodness that exists within all of us,” she said.