2010-2011 Annual Report of the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service

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COLIN L. POWELL CENTER

for leadership and service THE CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK

Annual Report 2010–2011


Colin Powell leadership fellows, left to right, from top: Sela Hong, Chris Raju, Liubov Shamshina, Anthony Okolo, Olivia Bailey, Joseph A. Nelson, Hannah Wolff, and Emie Lomba.


Who We Are The Colin Powell Center at the City College of New York is a nonpartisan educational, training, and research center named for its founder, one of CCNY’s most distinguished graduates.

What We Do

The

Center builds leaders for the common good, promotes civic engagement at City College and beyond, and strengthens connections between campus and communities. ccny — 1


Message from the Founder

Dear Friends and Supporters, I’m pleased to present the 2010–2011 annual report of the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service at the City College of New York. From our early concentration on supporting and training a small circle of student leaders, we have built a larger and more dynamic mission. Both on the CCNY campus and off, we are helping to develop tomorrow’s leaders, with a commitment to the diversity of their experience, the excellence of their preparation, and the depth of their service commitment. As this report ever before. CCNY has always allowed young men and women from humble backgrounds to develop their potential and achieve great things. It remains one of the most important and diverse educational institutions in the country, a beacon to the marginalized and underrepresented. The Colin Powell Center pushes this historic mission forward, connecting teaching and learning more directly to service projects and policy debates. We want every CCNY student to have the chance to learn in a service environment or to

2 — Colin Powell Center

Photograph © Stephen Voss

details, we are executing that mission at a higher level, and with greater impact, than


“ We are helping develop tomorrow’s leaders with a commitment to the diversity of their experience.” —Colin L. PoweLL undergo leadership training at the Center. Our programs reach into virtually every department and school on campus, integrating our vision of service-oriented education into the college’s core mandate. In the process, we’re also addressing the relationship between higher education and communities in need. We connect academic resources to service projects, make a place for community groups in our discussions, help young people from these communities find their way into our classrooms, and in other ways break down barriers between our campus and our Harlem and northern Manhattan communities. One sign of this expanded mission is our name change. Known as the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies since its inception in the late 1990s, the Center has now formally renamed itself the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service. Another larger indication of this expanded mission lies in our work to construct Colin L. Powell Hall as a home base for campus and community collaboration on projects that promote leadership and service. I’m tremendously excited by the opportunity to place this building on CCNY’s Harlem campus, because it will embody what I value most in my own public education: its potential to call forth and cultivate the public leaders we so desperately need. The growth and development described in this report would not be possible without your help and support. I thank each of you who has contributed to our work, and invite those of you who may be reading about the Colin Powell Center for the first time to find a way to get involved.

Sincerely,

Message from the Director Greetings from the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service. Leadership and service training, especially in the context of a public university, can be difficult. At City College in particular, students don’t merely come from traditionally underserved populations; they usually juggle heavy course loads and substantial out-of-school responsibilities. Not long ago, a CCNY survey revealed that the average CCNY student works an average of 30 hours a week; these approximate numbers are still true today. The Colin Powell Center’s approach seeks to elevate leadership and service training by expanding student ownership of Center activity. Some of our earliest and most exciting initiatives–our Community Engagement program, for instance–build on student ideas about community problems and solutions. Our New York Life Symposium, undertaken with guidance from Leader-in-Residence Farai Chideya, was planned and produced by the Center’s student fellows. Managing important Center programs and projects teaches students what it’s like to be accountable to a constituency, to navigate complex organizations, and to take charge of something they believe in. This year’s report details student-led initiatives and our progress on other fronts. You’ll see how some other new programs, like our Public Scholarship faculty grant, help CCNY make more direct contributions to community concerns. And you’ll learn how our programs continue to develop extraordinary leaders at one of the most exciting educational institutions in the country. Apart from new programs, we’re also supporting more students in scholarships, service placements, and specially designed service-learning classes than ever before. Those of us working at the Center are deeply grateful for your support of our work, and invite you to

general Colin L. Powell Founder and Chair Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership And Service

get more involved in the Center and its activities. Vincent Boudreau

Director of the Colin Powell Center

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2010–2011 High lights The Colin Powell Center at City College builds student leadership, advances public dialogue, and fosters high-impact collaborations between campus and community. Here, highlights of the year’s accomplishments. EDUCATION n

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Cosponsored the CCNY School of Education immigration conference, “Envisioning Schools, Communities, and Policies of Acceptance,” which included 30 breakout sessions that addressed the schooling of young immigrants and issues affecting them and their families.

Connected students with the East Harlem Tutorial Program for tutoring-based service-learning projects. Provided project management training, mentoring, and funding to implement We Are New York CCNY. The program offers the Harlem community access to English-as-a-second-language discussion groups, based on a model developed by the Mayor’s Office of Adult and Continuing Education. Delivered professional development, editorial support, and funding to strengthen the public scholarship of two CCNY School of Education faculty members. One focused on the impact of illegal status for young immigrants; the other explored the importance of active learning for young children.

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Developed and produced the student-led New York Life Symposium, “Civic Engagement in the Era of New Media,” which explored ways to leverage social media to improve local communities.

Led the New York Metro Area Partnership for Service-Learning (NYMAPS), an organization devoted to building a coalition of institutions of higher education and community partners, to foster campus– community partnerships. Connected students with service projects at West Harlem Group Assistance, a nonprofit community development organization. Supported service-learning courses in the Media and Communication Arts Department. Students in the courses developed marketing and PR materials for community organizations, including Harvest Home Farmers Market and the Spanish Harlem–based art gallery MediaNoche.


THE ENVIRONMENT n

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Offered skills building, mentoring, and support to the City Agriculture Network, a student-led initiative that launched (and manages) a Harlem-based community garden.

Provided policy training, analysis, and public scholarship editorial support to Beth Wittig, an assistant professor of civil engineering, who addressed problems of toxic and malodorous air pollutants in underserved New York City communities. Provided training and professional development to support the service-learning course Environmental Entrepreneurship. Students in the course developed and pitched micro-venture proposals to administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency. Collaborated with Center Leader-in-Residence Anasa Scott, who leads the EPA-funded Water Champions project. Through the project, Center fellows and CCNY volunteers taught middle school students to promote efficient water use in Harlem.

HEALTH n

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Collaborated on an initiative of Colin Powell Public Scholarship Fellow Glen Milstein to link Veterans Affairs administrators, community clergy, and mental health-care providers to improve the continuity of care for young veterans.

Provided a course assistant for the service-learning course Patient-Doctor I & II, through which students taught scores of low-income and non-English-speaking patients important health literacy techniques. Provided project management training for a student-run initiative focused on expanding the capacity of the West Harlem Community Kitchen and launching a hunger-awareness drive at CCNY. Delivered leadership development, training, and resources to 19 Edward I. Koch scholars, each of whom devoted a minimum of 200 hours to volunteering this year, benefiting, for example, Elmhurst Hospital’s pediatric department and Mount Sinai’s Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Program.

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Cosponsored the 2011 Cyber Infrastructure Protection Conference with the Center for Information Networking and Telecommunications at the CCNY Grove School of Engineering. The conference addressed cybersecurity policy, strategy, and threats.

Supported International Relations Professor Jean Krasno’s Kofi Annan Papers Project, cataloging and publishing the papers of the former U.N. secretary-general. Placed students with the International Rescue Committee, one of the largest refugee resettlement organizations in the nation and a Colin Powell Center service-learning partner.

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Each semester, leaders from the public sphere come to the Colin L. Powell Center to speak to our fellows about a range of policy and leadership issues.


Colin Powell Program in Leadership and Public Service “What is leadership?” Early in the academic year, we posed this seemingly simple question to the fellows of our signature Colin Powell Program in Leadership and Public Service. Their answers included personal characteristics such as “charisma” and “vision.” Then one fellow observed, “It’s also taking the meeting minutes without being asked.” At once the tone and tenor of the conversation changed, recalls Kamilah Briscoe, the Center’s director of student leadership: “The fellows began to see leadership not as a collection of abstract qualities, but as something I can do.”

Building and Inspiring Tomorrow’s Leaders This episode captures one moment in a year of remarkable transformations for the 36 fellows of the Colin Powell Program in Leadership and Public Service. Among the most motivated and highest-achieving students at City College, these young men and women represent a rich cross-section of CCNY’s schools and programs, and would stand out, we believe, on any campus. The fact that two of our fellows were named Truman Scholars for 2011 is one indication of this. The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Program is widely considered to be among the nation’s most prestigious; in 2011 only one other institution—Stanford University—had two awardees. This year, the leadership program grew deeper, richer, and more dynamic. Designed to provide students with a real-world understanding of policymaking and public service and the skills to step forward as the next generation of leaders, our program is a rigorous two-year experience (one year for graduate fellows) that demands an enormous commitment. It encompasses instructional seminars, leader­ship modules, skills workshops, service-learning, and enrichment activities. This description, however, scarcely covers its compelling mix of offerings, which in 2010–2011 included the following elements: n

M entoring and instruction from two extraordinary New York Life leaders-in-residence: Farai

Chideya, award-winning author and multimedia journalist, and Anasa Scott, founder of the social enter­ prise incubator Greenproofing, Inc., whose EPA-funded Water Champions project enabled fellows to help launch profound environmental awareness among local schoolchildren. n

Small-group discussions with public leaders during which they shared not only their policy views and successes, but also their struggles and setbacks. The conversations were, perhaps, a revelation to fellows, who came to understand that their prospects are not encoded in the circumstances of their birth. Guests this year included James A. Baker, former secretary of state; Peter R. Orszag, President Barack Obama’s former budget director; Ambassador Young-mok Kim, South Korean consul-general; and Sir Harold Evans, renowned publisher and journalist.

In spring 2011, Colin Powell Fellow Caritas Doha

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An opportunity for Center alumni and fellows to hone their policy views in the new Powell Network Blog.

contributed to cybersecurity research through the Center.

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Formative service-learning opportunities at organi-

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Strategic career-related workshops such as a

zations such as the International Rescue Committee and

session on resume writing that enabled students to target

Sakhi for South Asian Women, which prompted one fellow

resumes to actual job openings they aspired to. Students

to write, “Through my placement, I learned knowledge is

assessed ways to gain the additional skills or experiences

powerless without action.”

they would need to achieve those positions.

Center-cosponsored conferences, including the 2011 Cyber Leadership in Action Infrastructure Protection Conference. CIP ’11,

Among the year’s activities, the 2011 New York Life Sympo-

which examined critical issues of cybersecurity policy, was sium, “Civic Engagement in the Era of New Media,” stands hosted by the Center for Information Networking and Tele-

out as a particularly exemplary expression of leadership

communications at the Grove School of Engineering.

development. The four-month process, which culminated on March 23 at the historic Schomburg Center for Black Culture,

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E nhanced opportunities to collaborate on fac- was marked throughout by the fellows’ professionalism, intelulty research. This included a project through which

lectual engagement, and creativity. Working closely with Farai

several fellows assisted Center Director Vince Bou-

Chideya, a core group of 11 fellows debated and honed their

dreau in developing a framework to analyze the CIP ’11

theme. They lined up an impressive panel of social media

papers, and earned coauthorship on the introduction of

activists, as well as keynote speakers Deanna Zandt, author

a collection of these works. Additionally, support that

of Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social

enabled fellows to deliver in-depth policy briefs.

Networking, and Majora Carter, MacArthur Fellowship (“Genius Award”) winner and founder of the nonprofit organization

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Access to participate in invitation-only tele-confer-

Sustainable South Bronx. Together, the fellows launched

ences with the Council on Foreign Relations, a

a social media campaign so effective it caused one guest

Center partner. Fellows thus place themselves at the cen-

to request the name of the Center’s social media market-

ter of some of today’s most relevant policy conversations.

ing firm. Beyond this, each student stepped up in his or her role. On the day of the event, from the sign-in of volunteers

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Potentially life-changing internships, which during

to the closing thank-you’s, the fellows not only demonstrated

summer 2010 included opportunities to teach in a wom-

outstanding initiative but also, perhaps, embodied the tone

en’s center in Nepal, to conduct HIV-prevention fieldwork

of the year as a whole, in the words of Leadership Director

in Guyana, or to work in the White House.

Briscoe: purposeful, serious, energetic, and optimistic.

Colin Powell Program in Leadership, 2010–2011

$420,500| 18 |

Dollars of scholarship and internship support provided to fellows.

Countries of origin other than the U.S. represented among Colin Powell leadership fellows.

8 — Colin Powell Center

49| 36|

Number of high-level briefings, special meetings, skills workshops, and other enrichment opportunities provided to fellows.

Number of students who participated in the Colin Powell program.


Clockwise from top: Leader-in-Residence Farai Chideya opens the 2011 New York Life Symposium; former Secretary of State James A. Baker discusses international policy; editor and publisher Sir Harold Evans unpacks innovation; symposium panelist Hilary Doe outlines tools for social change.

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Student-led Initiatives

Imagine you cannot speak the language of the country in which you live. Every encounter is a challenge. You struggle to decipher traffic directions, advice from your health-care provider, and instructions from your employer. Bing Shao, a 2010–2011 Community Engagement fellow with the Center, understands the impact of limited English proficiency. Shao, who came to the United States from Fujian, China, at age 9, witnessed family members’ struggle to communicate. She saw a misunderstanding nearly cost her uncle life-saving surgery. Through this experience, Shao developed a profound appreciation for the importance of language assistance. She devoted her senior year to setting up a dynamic English-as-a-second-language (ESL) program on campus for Harlem’s newest residents. Community Engagement Fellowships

To launch her venture, Shao relied on a Community Engagement Fellowship from the Colin Powell Center. Community Engagement Fellowships support CCNY undergraduates who design and carry out projects that address community needs in a sustainable way. The award provides crucial project management training, skills building, and mentoring, along with $3,000 to help cover project costs. Projects are also eligible for continuation funding.

Strengthening Communities Through Student Action Working with core team members, Shao established a We Are New York program at CCNY. Sponsored by the We Are New York Community Project, the program provides structured ESL discussion groups. Run by volunteers, the groups provide an alternative to backlogged ESL classes. Shao and her team members organized the classes, recruited 70 students as volunteer instructors, developed partnerships with local ESL programs, and scouted for additional sites in Harlem. As colleague Chirag Shah noted, “Bing put all of her heart and mind into the project.” The Community Engagement Fellowship Program is one of the Center’s two student-led initiatives. The program is designed for an elite group of socially minded entrepreneurial students. Community Engagement fellows devote themselves to accomplishing the formidable goal of launching and structuring a new social venture. They funnel enormous creative energy toward overcoming large and small obstacles, gaining buy-in from campus and community, and ensuring the long-term success of their project. In 2010–2011, the Center also awarded Community Engagement Fellowships to Joseph Cleto, a civil engineering major, and Melissa Charles, a junior majoring in international studies. Cleto focused An English-as-a-second-

on a program to help low-income residents gain better access to “green” housing resources. Charles,

language learner considers the

a longtime volunteer at the West Harlem Community Kitchen, established FeedNYC on campus. The

lesson of a We Are New York CCNY discussion group, launched on campus by Bing Shao (pictured above).

organization provides, trains, and oversees CCNY volunteers at the West Harlem Community Kitchen. FeedNYC also helps manage kitchen operations at West Harlem Community Kitchen, launch food drives, and host awareness-raising events. Continued on page 12

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Continued from page 10

The Center also provided continuation funding to the City Agriculture Network, a student-led organization begun by Kaizhong Huang. The network established a thriving community garden, and works to promote healthy diets, increase access to fresh food in Harlem, and reduce the local carbon footprint. As one supporter said, “The garden itself is a gorgeous and lovely space in Harlem, but the energy that the community brings to it is something extraordinary.” Edward I. Koch Scholarships

Another corps of dedicated volunteers is making a difference by working within established organizations. Edward I. Koch scholars devote a minimum of 200 hours a year to community service. The Edward I. Koch Scholarship Program in Public Service is considered among CCNY’s most meaningful scholarship programs. It supports five new scholars a year (for a total of 20) with a full-tuition $5,000 scholarship, renewable for up to four years, and supportive programming. Anonymously endowed in 2009 in honor of former Mayor Edward I. Koch, the program rewards civic-minded students, enables them to interact with professionals in their chosen field, and encourages them to consider public service careers. Students are selected on the basis of commitment to volunteering, academic merit, and financial need. Since 2005, when the program launched with five students, Koch scholars have devoted more than 9,853 hours of public service to local nonprofits and public institutions. They have aided teachers in overcrowded classrooms, assisted HIV-positive immigrants, translated in hospital emergency rooms, and helped to create a healthier green environment, among other efforts. Commitments such as these require tremendous patience, energy, and thoughtfulness, but scholars insist they gain more than they give. Koch Scholar Hyeondo “Luke” Hwang volunteered as an overnight chaperone at the Central Baptist Church shelter, among his other placements. Reflecting on the experience, he told us: “I am not only helping those in need, but significantly molding my character. Humility, compassion, volunteerism, and faith are taking a strong root in my heart. I am getting back tenfold what I am giving.”

Student-Led Initiatives, 2010–2011

19| 4| 700+|

1,406 | 9,852| 70|

Number of scholars in the Edward I. Koch Scholarship Program in Public Service, all of whom devote themselves to service in the community. Number of Community Engagement fellows who launched and built sustainable community projects.

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Number of meals served at the West Harlem Community Kitchen by FeedNYC volunteers, through a Community Engagement project.

Number of hours the Edward I. Koch Scholars in Public Service devoted to volunteering this year.

Total number of hours the Koch scholars have devoted to volunteering since 2005.

Number of CCNY students who volunteered to lead new English-as-a-second-language discussion groups for Harlem residents.


“ The entirety of my experience as a Powell fellow enriched me beyond measure, and greatly assisted in

“We grew as leaders and team members, and

preparing me for my tenure as a Ph.D.

understood where our strengths lie. The assis-

student at Harvard.”

tance I’ve received has been second to none,

—Funlayo Easter Wood 2009–2010 New York Life Graduate Fellow Colin Powell Program in Leadership and Public Service

and my own growth as a student and individual during my time as a fellow has trumped all expectations I had entering the Colin Powell Program in Leadership and Public Service.”

Brian Paragas

— Brian Paragas 2009–2011 Dobrich New Americans Scholar Colin Powell Program in Leadership and Public Service

Funlayo Easter Wood

“ Volunteering as a Koch scholar inspired me to make a greater impact in the world. Therefore, I traveled to Honduras as part of Global Medical Brigade to give care in small poverty-stricken villages.”

—Monica Dluzniewski, Koch Scholar 2010–2011


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Service-Learning Initiatives

Service-learning plays a pivotal role in the Center’s programming because of its exceptional impact on students. This innovative teaching approach animates classroom discussions and energizes the learning process. Service-learning exerts equally powerful effects on faculty and on the community at large. On Thursday, April 14, the Colin Powell Center’s Service-Learning Recognition Ceremony for 2011 provided ample demonstration of these effects. The Center honored nearly three dozen partners, faculty, and student leaders for their dedication to this pedagogy. Many stepped to the podium to share their service-learning experiences and describe their impact. For students, the effects included newfound leadership skills and the deepened sense of self-worth that comes from having one’s contributions solicited and appreciated. The benefits they reaped also included unexpected mentoring and career counseling from the professionals they encountered, and a stronger sense of connection with their community.

Transforming Education Through Service Community partners told us service-learning strengthened and renewed their capacity to achieve their mission. Quoting a letter from Joan Wells of Hour Children, Social Work Professor Mary Lutz read, “The students are vital to the success of our program, and their volunteer status has left a lasting impression on the women we serve. Thank you again for inspiring me.” Hour Children works on behalf of incarcerated mothers, ex-offenders, and their children. (Its name comes from the hour-long time limit of mother–children visits.) The students in Lutz’s Social Welfare Institutions course mentored the mothers. To create such powerful effects, faculty commit to the hard work of re-conceptualizing a course syllabus to add service placements, client accountability, and teamwork requirements to traditional classroom activity. The goal is provide students with a practical perspective on the concepts they are learning and, simultaneously, the chance to perform valuable service that addresses real community needs. The results are often deeply gratifying. Assistant Professor Yael Wyner of the Department of Secondary Education commented recently, “Thank you for opening this world to me.” A Better, Stronger Vision

Such outcomes have led us to see ourselves as “activists who have a better, stronger vision of what education can be,” in the words of one service-learning advocate. To advance this vision, the Center leads the New York Metro Area Partnership for Service-Learning (NYMAPS). NYMAPS is a powerful alliance of college, university, and nonprofit personnel that supports service-learning regionwide. This year’s NYMAPS symposium, “The Power of Partnerships: Transforming Students and Communities through Service-Learning,” hosted at Columbia University on March 23, showcased remarkable servicelearning projects in an interactive teaching environment. Participants explored best practices, challenges, and lessons of compelling collaborations, which, they told us, inspired and energized them for the year ahead.

To promote a new farmers’ market in West Harlem, servicelearning students such as Elle Shin (pictured) researched the sights, sounds, and scents of the markets.

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A Vocal Champion

At the Center, we understand that to optimize service-learning experiences throughout City College, cultivating the support of campus leadership must be a fundamental priority. That’s why in 2010–2011, with the explicit encouragement of CCNY President Lisa S. Coico, a vocal champion of the pedagogy, the Center worked directly with the Office of Academic Affairs to build broader campus support. President Coico places service-learning at the heart of CCNY’s mission, and the Center strives to realize this goal. We provide professional development, training, financial support, and ongoing technical assistance that enables faculty teams within academic departments to pursue and sustain servicelearning activities. In 2010–2011, we worked closely with the Black Studies Program and the Department of Secondary Education to develop department-wide service-learning programs that build logically across departmental curricula. Exemplary Programs

These fruitful collaborations have not gone unnoticed. For the second year in a row, the Corporation for National and Community Service has recognized CCNY for its exemplary community-service programs. The honor, President Coico noted, “reflects the deep commitment to service that CCNY faculty, staff, and students have made to our goal of growing a world-class research institution that is also deeply engaged in the Harlem community, our city, and the world at large.” Our robust community of nonprofit partners makes these efforts possible. Numbering more than 50, our partner organizations represent a remarkable cross-section of issues and interests. They include Sahki for South Asian Women, which fights domestic violence and assists survivors; We Act for Environmental Justice, which advocates for sound environmental policies in low-income northern Manhattan communities; and even New York City public schools such as Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem, which has held the U.S. record for the highest percentage of African-American men it sends to college. What’s more, the individuals in the organizations are truly co-educators—mentoring, teaching, serving as models of leadership, and sometimes even providing internships and first jobs to worthy young men and women. Such partnerships weave together unique strengths and perspectives on community needs and show what is possible when we work together. The results are truly transformative.

Service-Learning, 2010–2011

6,000+|

87|

Number of hours of service that students in the NYMAPS network devoted to volunteering organizations.

Percentage of CCNY servicelearning students who say they would like to take another service-learning course.

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420| 1,500+|

Number of students who participated in service-learning courses through the Center-led regional network, NYMAPS.

Number of CCNY students who have participated in service-learning courses since 2005.


“FeedNYC has helped me and our other volunteers realize that food poverty in New York City is as real as it gets.”

—Melissa Charles Community Engagement Fellow CCNY Graduate 2011

Melissa Charles, Community Engagement fellow (top row, middle), and FeedNYC volunteers.

“ Working on the Casabe House project, I learned about the people who built programs in East Harlem that I was part of. People like Yolanda Sanchez, who helped those who wanted to escape the negativity that was evident in the neighborhood. Working on this project made me more attentive to what’s really important in life–one another.”

— Angel Quiles Service-Learning Student, CCNY Graduate 2011

Maritza Wellington Owens

“ Having the service-learning students come in and bring new energy and ideas, it’s motivating. They have helped our organization significantly.”

—Maritza Wellington Owens Founder, Harvest Home Farmers Market

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Public Scholarship Program What can we do to help returning veterans reintegrate into their communities and into their lives? This subject was the focus of an eye-opening discussion on June 29 at a private dining room at City College. Young veterans gathered with Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials, community clergy, military chaplains, and experts in the field to examine barriers to reentry, shortcomings of current discharge and transition processes, what vets want from community clergy (given that returnees may not be attending services), and how VA officials can collaborate with clergy to identify vets in need. Among the insights of the morning: Clergy could check in with vets, often children of their congregants, and inquire, “What’s your plan?” “In the military, you’re given a plan,” noted Darren Rommel, an Army veteran and president of the CCNY VA, a student-run vets club at CCNY. “When people come back, they don’t necessarily have a plan. Vets with plans are usually doing better than those without.”

Promoting Policy Change Through Scholarship The discussion, sponsored by the Colin Powell Center on behalf of Glen Milstein, a Colin Powell public scholar and an associate professor of clinical psychology, seeks to shape recommendations for military and VA policy changes that could strengthen networks of support for returning vets. Currently, up to 30 percent of the vets return with impairments such as post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury (often undiagnosed), and depression, which raise their risk of suicide and related behaviors. For Milstein, the next step will be to work with the VA to pilot a number of the recommendations in a Center-supported community-based participatory research study. “To have the opportunity to advance this research, and to evaluate whether a trial program delivers better access to care, and help guide an existing infrastructure, is a profound experience,” Milstein says. “This is the most a clinical professional could hope for, and the Center has been a fundamental resource at every step of the process.” Milstein is not the only faculty member for whom the Center’s Public Scholarship Program has been a springboard. Beth Wittig, an assistant professor of civil engineering, focuses her research on more cost-effective ways to track and measure toxic and malodorous air pollutants in under-resourced neighborhoods. Wittig, who used her fellowship to help communicate her results more effectively to policymakers, has now been awarded a Science and Technology Policy Fellowship from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. During 2011–2012, she will work in the EPA Office of Policy in Washington, D.C., which reports directly to EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. Tatyana Kleyn and Beverly Falk, CCNY School of Education faculty members, also participated in the program. Kleyn, an assistant professor of bilingual education and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), focused on the impact of illegality for young immigrants and on the New York State DREAM Act. Kleyn also co-organized the CCNY Education and Immigration Conference on March 19. The conference, which the Center cosponsored, drew more than 400 participants and included 30 breakout sessions. Falk, head of graduate programs in Early Childhood Education, advocated for the importance of active learning for young children in the context of increasing pressure for them to learn in structured ways.

Strengthening support for returning veterans is a goal for Glen Milstein, an associate professor of clinical psychology at CCNY.

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Improving college access and Health care in Harlem

Just outside the doors of City College is a community whose vibrant heritage is a touchstone to millions of Americans. Strengthening the fabric of this community is central to the Center’s mission. We continually explore new ways to harness the energy of CCNY students and the resources of the university so we can match them with the resources and needs of Harlem. For 2011–2012, we are piloting a major new initiative to do this. The Center’s new Partners for Change Fellowship Program will focus student service, research, and awareness-raising in the Center areas of emphasis: education, health, the environment, and community and economic development. In fall 2011, through this fellowship, the Center is launching two new campaigns: the first will tackle the barriers to college access in Harlem; the second will address health-care disparities and ways to improve health outcomes in Harlem. Additional campaigns focused on the environment and on the Center’s other priority areas will launch in 2012–2013.

Looking Ahead: Partners for Change Overcoming Barriers

To shape its new campaigns, the Center conducted in-depth conversations with key professionals in Harlem. Their expertise, concerns, and understanding are reflected in the components of our new program, which we announced at a press conference on May 17 at the Armory in Upper Manhattan with New York City Council Representative Ydanis Rodriguez. For college access, the components are: n

C ollege Access Volunteer Opportunities. In the fall of 2011, the Center will recruit and train Partners for

Change fellows to provide college readiness workshops for youth in partnership with local organizations. Fellows may also assist with curriculum resources and serve as college access speakers. n

A wareness-Raising. The fellows will bring together local college access professionals and commu-

nity members for events to craft strategies to improve and support college retention rates for young African-American and Latino men and women. n

R esearch on the State of College Access in Harlem. The fellows will conduct research designed to inform

policy, program development, and public debate on college access and retention. Their efforts may include documenting and evaluating the work of community-based organizations that focus on these issues. Through this effort, the Center aims to help increasing numbers of local youth gain the support they need to succeed in college, in their lives, and in tomorrow’s demanding global marketplace. More broadly, through the Partners for Change initiative, the Center will cultivate long-term partnerships with key community organizations. Additionally, notes Center Deputy Director Nora Heaphy, “The initiative will give students a greater awareness of the magnitude of disparities that exist in Harlem, and an opportunity to collaborate with advocates and policymakers who are tackling these issues on the ground.” 20 — Colin Powell Center


Rinosha Majeed, a Colin Powell fellow, is a tutor with the Urban Scholars program; the Center hopes to expand opportunities such as these through its new Partners for Change initiative.

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Colin L. Powell Hall The CCNY Campaign for Leadership and Service

In founding the Colin Powell Center, General Powell envisioned an organization dedicated to deepening civic engagement between City College and Harlem, and to leveraging the initiative and knowledge of faculty, students, and community partners in new, innovative ways. Since 1997, the Center has worked to forward this vision.

Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural

Now, in response to growing community needs, the Cen-

History and the William J. Clinton Presidential Center.

ter’s own energetic expansion, and a mandate from the City

Colin L. Powell Hall will be funded through the

College of New York, our friends and supporters have con-

Campaign for Leadership and Service, drawing on pub-

cluded that the Center requires a new, permanent home.

lic resources in partnership with community and private

Responding to this call, CCNY and the City University

philanthropy. In the spring of 2011, the Center retained

of New York have announced that they will partner with

Graham-Pelton, a prominent fund-raising consulting firm,

the City and State of New York to construct Colin L. Powell

to help fulfill the vision of Colin L. Powell Hall. Graham-

Hall at the center of campus. Colin L. Powell Hall will:

Pelton assisted us in conducting strategic discussions to assess the ways our goals align with those of individual,

Provide a home and visual identity for the Colin

business, foundation, and philanthropic leaders and

Powell Center.

opportunities for capital support.

n

Serve as a hub for campus–community collabora-

n

Now the Center has begun the “silent phase” of a

tion at CCNY.

major capital campaign to provide $85 million of the total

More deeply embed civic engagement and

costs of Colin L. Powell Hall. To this end, Graham-Pelton

service-learning into the campus culture.

is assisting with campaign implementation and will help

Engage the public in General Powell’s vision of

provide the philanthropic resources to build Colin L. Powell

the Center as a vital bridge connecting CCNY and

Hall on City College campus.

n

n

Harlem. Break down the walls between the campus and

n

the community.

Transforming the Future

Colin L. Powell Hall will transform the college experience for generations of CCNY students, powerfully connect

Design Excellence

the resources of CCNY with those of the community,

After a rigorous selection process, Ennead Architects LLP,

advance the Center’s core mission of leadership and

a New York City–based firm known for design excellence,

service for the public good, and stand as a tribute to

has been contracted to design Colin L. Powell Hall. Ennead

a distinguished alumnus and leader in public service.

has worked extensively at institutions of higher education

With the support of our community, campus resources,

nationwide, including Stanford University, Williams College,

and strategic partnerships, and the generosity of major

and the University of Michigan. Additionally, the firm has

philanthropists, we are confident that we can make our

designed such renowned buildings as the Rose Center for

vision a reality.

22 — Colin Powell Center


Colin L. Powell Hall will rise as an emblem of CCNY’s commitment to leadership and service.

“ As conceived, Colin L. Powell Hall will rise at the campus center to convey how closely our mission of service and leadership relates to the college’s life.” —Colin L. PoweLL ccny — 23


Donors On behalf of our students, faculty, and community partners, we thank each and every contributor for joining General Colin L. Powell in supporting the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service at the City College of New York. $1 million + The Annenberg Foundation Anonymous Marc and Lynne Benioff** Fulvio V. Dobrich* Martin Granoff** Charles B. and Ann Johnson** The Korea Foundation

New York Life Insurance Co. General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.)*** Jack and Susan Rudin* May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc. Jin Roy Ryu** Stephen A. Schwarzman* UnitedHealth Group**

Randy and Susan Andrews

Michael Koester

Carnegie Corporation of New York

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co.

Robert B. Catell*

The Korea Society

Commercial Mortgage Securities Association

Howard H. and Gretchen Leach

Margaret Crow

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Trammell and Margaret Crow

Sybil V. McCarthy

Ambassador John Danilovich

Peter O’Malley

Joseph Drown Foundation

Barry and Pamela Ostrager, Esqs.

Lt. General Samuel E. Ebbesen, USA (Ret.)

Maurice Paprin

The Ford Foundation

Kevin Planck

The Howard Gilman Foundation

The Honorable John and Marcia Price

Goldman, Sachs & Co.

John F. W. Rogers

Richard N. Haass*

Salesforce Foundation

Harris Connect, Inc.

Eric and Wendy Schmidt

Bernard Herold & Co., Inc.

The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation

InfoUSA

Barbara Walters*

The Daniel & Eleanor Kane Family Foundation, Inc.

Charles B. Wang*

Stanley Kane

John S. Williams

Linda F. Kaplan Thaler*

Stephen A. Wynn

William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust

Katsuhiko Yoshida

John G. Kester In-soon Kim

As of 6/30/11

*Advisory Council Member **Donation to the fund for Colin L. Powell Hall ***Advisory Council Member and Donation to Colin L. Powell Hall 24 — Colin Powell Center Editorial/Project Management: Maura Christopher. Design: Amelia Costigan


Advisory Council Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service Madeleine K. Albright

Richard N. Haass

Stephen Schwarzman

Former Secretary of State

President Council on Foreign Relations

Chairman and CEO The Blackstone Group

Former Secretary of State

Vernon E. Jordan, Jr.

Lisa S. coico

Tom Brokaw

Senior Managing Director Lazard Freres and Co., LLC

President The City College of New York

Henry A. Kissinger

Sy Sternberg

Former Secretary of State

Retired Chairman and CEO New York Life Insurance Company

James A. Baker, III

Special Correspondent, NBC Robert B. Catell

Chairman AERTC, Stony Brook University

Lois Pope

LIFE Foundation

Linda Kaplan Thaler

President and CEO Galileo Asset Management, LLC

Colin L. Powell (Chair)

CEO and Chief Creative Officer The Kaplan Thaler Group, Ltd.

Harold M. Evans

Linda Powell

Former President and Publisher Random House

Actress

Carly Fiorina

Senior Vice President Time Warner, Inc.

Charles B. Wang

Jack Rudin

Editor at Large Time, Inc.

Fulvio V. Dobrich

Former Chairman and CEO Hewlett-Packard Vartan Gregorian

Former Secretary of State

Barbara Walters

ABC News Elie Wiesel

Lisa Quiroz

Fareed Zakaria

May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc.

President Carnegie Corporation of New York

Colin Powell Advisory Council members and guests (top row, from left) Elie Weisel, General Powell, and Jin Roy Ryu; (bottom row) Linda Kaplan Thaler; Sy Sternberg; General Powell, CCNY President Lisa S. Coico, Ambassador Mark Minton, Korea Society President, and Jin Roy Ryu.


Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service

The City College of New York 160 Convent Avenue Shepard Hall, Suite 550 New York, NY 10031 212.650.8551 (phone)

CP

olin L. owell Center for Leadership and Service

26 — Colin Powell Center

212.650.8535 (fax) www.ccny.cuny.edu/powell cpowellctr@ccny.cuny.edu


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