COLIN L. POWELL CENTER
for leadership and service THE CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK
ANNUAL REPORT 2011–2012
“The Center has taught me the value of action and fostered within me a sense of duty and responsibility.” Sergio Galeano
“The access I’ve had has been essential to building my understanding of policy issues.” Humaira Hansrod
“Participating in the leadership seminars has helped me shape the issue I am passionate about.” Simone Gordon
Colin Powell fellows, left to right, from top: Sergio Galeano, Mouiri Siddique, Alen Sajan-Malliath; Augustine Gnalian, Arielle Elmaleh-Sachs, Isatou Sanneh, Humaira Hansrod; Hector Velez, Simone Gordon; Moyosore Ayodele, and Daniel Asemota.
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Messages 2011–2012 Highlights Colin Powell Program in Leadership and Public Service Partners for Change Fellowship Program Community Engagement Fellowship Program Service-Learning Programs
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Community-Based Research Program
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Looking Ahead
The Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service 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.
Message from the Founder
and worked in the White House. They launched careers in the New York attorney general’s office and in the New York Public Service Corps. Our service-learning programs continue to expand; they passed an important milestone this spring when service-learning students rendered their 10,000th hour of service. Each year, Colin Powell Center students engage in programs with such national organizations as the Council on Foreign Relations and the Center for a New American Security, as well as local groups like West Harlem Group Assistance. This year, we conducted joint programming with the Eisenhower Fellowships and City Limits magazine, and we will soon inaugurate a new lecture series with the Hariri Middle East Center at the Atlantic Council. We now maintain more than 80 similar partnerships. Dear Friends and Supporters,
I’m pleased to present the 2011–2012 annual report of
Finally, our search to secure permanent facilities for the
the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service.
Colin Powell Center took an unexpected and welcome
This year we introduced several new programs and
neighborhood immediately north of CCNY became avail-
expanded others, all designed to recruit and prepare
able to us. The building is a historic structure known as
a diverse group of leaders at one of America’s most
the CCNY Alumni House. Together with expansions to
influential public institutions: the City College of New
our current Shepard Hall facilities, it will provide us with
York. Since 1847, CCNY has provided educational
space to expand our programs for years to come.
opportunity to “the whole people”–young men and women from every walk of life and social background. CCNY remains today what it was at its founding: a fundamental engine of American democracy. I’m pleased
turn this summer when a brownstone townhouse in the
There is much more to tell about our work, presented in the following pages. Our work would not be possible without your support, and I’m deeply grateful to those
that my Center is so deeply involved in its mission.
of you who have helped out. I invite you all to visit the
The Colin Powell Center advances this mission through
support this extraordinary organization.
leadership training, scholarship support, service-based teaching, and other programs described in this report.
Center, learn more about our work, and find ways to
Sincerely,
We continue to grow because the needs and opportunities confronting us are dynamic and compelling. This year, our scholarship programs will support nearly 100 students, all through private donations. In 2011–2012, Colin Powell Center students received Fulbright awards
2 — Colin Powell Center
General Colin L. Powell Founder and Chair Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership And Service
Message from the Director Greetings from the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Center’s current program of activity, a milestone that, honestly, crept up and caught me unawares. In 2002, we began by recruiting seven students into a three-year program, the first of whom graduated in 2005. Last spring, 47 students participated in the Colin Powell Program in Leadership and Public Service, and this year we have still more. Since our first program year, we have opened three additional scholarship lines, including our new Partners for Change program, described in this year’s annual report. In 2011–2012, 85 students participated in Colin Powell Center scholarship programs, and in 2012–2013, almost 100 will do so. Our quantitative expansion, however, tells only part of the story. As we have developed and refined our programs, we have worked to establish a vision of a more engaged mode of public education, tailored to the remarkable democratic laboratory that CCNY has always been. A growing service-learning program embeds teaching directly into the life of our surrounding community, and we have made great strides in sustaining and expanding community partnerships. A series of programs for faculty now stand alongside our student leadership programs, encouraging academics—often working with students—to speak more directly to public concerns, even drawing community partners invested in those concerns into the research process. Across these programs, I hope you see and are pleased by our coherent and compelling set of goals, and our vision of education as a profoundly public resource, responsive to important social concerns and to the demands of a changing and challenging world. Thank you for your support.
VINCENT BOUDREAU
Director Colin Powell Center
2011–2012 Highlights
Defeating Disease in New York City n
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Produced the Heart-2-Heart conference, bringing together health professionals and committed citizens to reduce heart disease in New York City. Fought hypertension in Harlem through high blood pressure screenings, education, and field research. Raised more than $1 million for lupus research.
The Colin Powell Center builds leaders for the common good and creates positive change through publicly engaged scholarship and community–campus collaborations. Here, highlights of the work we supported in 2011–2012: How We Help
The Center supports the meaningful work of affiliated faculty, community partners, and students through the following programs:
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Colin Powell Program in Leadership and
Public Service
Fighting for Environmental Justice n
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Recommended best-practice guidelines for New York State’s hydraulic fracturing policies. Assessed the primary environmental concerns of Latino residents of Washington Heights.
4 — Colin Powell Center
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Community-Based Research Program
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Community Engagement Fellowship Program
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Edward I. Koch Fellowships for Community Service
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Partners for Change Fellowship Program
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Public Scholarship Program
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Service-Learning Engaged Department Grants
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Service-Learning Faculty Fellowship Program
Creating Just Communities n
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Evaluated the potential of community land trusts to combat homelessness. Broadened support for participatory budgeting, enhancing the role of citizens in fiscal decision making. Surveyed 1,100 residents of Harlem’s District 9 to assess community needs and guide decision making. Examined how the spirituality of veterans returning to Harlem affects their readjustment to civilian life and counseling needs.
Encouraging Peaceful International Relations n
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Produced a five-volume collection of Kofi Annan’s papers, highlighting the former U.N. secretary-general’s role in conflict resolution. Advocated for important international policy changes to reduce civilian casualties in warfare.
Opening Education to All n
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Advocated for reducing barriers to girls’ education in Cambodia through improved implementation of the United Nations’ “Right to Education” program. Developed a citywide database of college access support organizations for youth and their families.
Improving Long-Term Health Outcomes n
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Recommended policy changes to improve access to affordable dental care for New York City seniors. Studied the mental health challenges of African immigrants and refugees in Washington Heights. Explored innovative solutions to encourage the sale of fresh produce in under-resourced communities.
CCNY — 5
COLIN POWELL PROGRAM IN LEADERSHIP AND PUBLIC SERVICE
Building Tomorrow’s Leaders Six weeks into the 2011–2012 academic year, the
personalized approach, can be life changing for
fellows of the Colin Powell Program in Leadership and
our fellows, who come from every corner of society,
Public Service found themselves in Washington, D.C.,
are new Americans or the children of immigrants, and
having a long conversation with General Powell and
often are the first in their families to attend college.
sharing their stories and aspirations with him. In the course of a two-day Washington experience, they traversed the capital, going to policy centers such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the Center for a New American Security, meeting with recent Powell Center alumni and other young achievers, and, through this, reconceptualizing
“Despite their tremendous capacity and potential, some of our best students still doubt that they have a claim to a life of substance,” says Colin Powell Center Director Vince Boudreau. “Everything we do at the Center asks them to trust in a simple proposition: If you’re smart, inspired, and dedicated, you can advance. For
their own sense of the possible.
someone trying to figure out his or her prospects in the
Such opportunities are integral to the Colin Powell
the Washington trip or a
leadership program. “My experience at the Center
high-powered internship
wouldn’t be the same without having General Powell
are huge. Our fellows
speak to us and seeing firsthand that he cares about
return believing that this
what we do and what we think, and knowing that he
vision is viable.”
world, experiences such as
wants to see us grow into great leaders,” said Fellow
“
The Center has become a source of constant inspiration for me.
Jatnna Ramirez. Reflecting on a meeting with a group
Making an Impact
of alumni who work at the U.S. State Department, the
The transformation is
U.S.– India Business Council, and similar organizations,
palpable. We see it when
Fellow Sergio Galeano added, “To see alumni who are
our students deliver
that successful was great. Every person said, ‘you can
accomplished capstone
have our card; call us.’ ”
presentations at the end of the fellowship. We hear
Striving for Achievement
The Colin Powell leadership program is an intensive two-year experience designed to provide CCNY’s most outstanding and motivated students with the skills, knowledge, and experience they need to fully embrace lives of leadership, public service, and civic engagement. (New York Life graduate fellows, a key cohort of the larger program, take part in a one-year experience tailored specifically to their needs.)
”
— Jatnna Ramirez
it from service and internship supervisors who offer our fellows jobs and cajole them to extend their internships. We recognize it in the achievements of our alumni, who are making a meaningful impact at organizations such as the Center for Peace and Security Studies and IntraHealth International just a few scant years after leaving CCNY. We celebrate it in their acceptance to highly prestigious graduate programs such as Columbia University’s
Leadership
School of International and Public Affairs. We also
Fellow
In 2011–2012, the program supported 47 fellows
find our fellows’ transformation in their unwavering
Emie Lomba
with $553,000 in scholarship and internship support.
commitment to civic issues. Savanna Washington,
with General
This funding, along with our programming and
a New York Life graduate fellow of 2009–2010 and
Colin L. Powell.
CCNY — 7
COLIN POWELL
filmmaker, exemplifies this dedication. Not only has
PROGRAM IN
she produced documentaries such as Greening
LEADERSHIP
of the Bronx, but Center programs opened her
AND
eyes to the humanitarian crisis in North Korea.
PUBLIC SERVICE
She embraced the issue and is now wrapping up a feature devoted to the plight of North Koreans. Learning from One Another
The demanding program includes formal leadership training and an in-depth examination of the diverse ways one can create social change (through policymaking, advocacy, direct service, and research). Fellows learn not only from program staff and special instructors, but also from one
advisement and mentoring. Center staff meet with
“It doesn’t take a lot to achieve real benefits.”
students regularly, ensuring that they are on track
— Ken Missbrenner
another, an aspect that led Fellow Ramirez to note, “The Center has become a source of constant inspiration to me.” The leadership program also includes extensive
both with the program and with their coursework. Staff members also help fellows articulate and develop their post-graduation plans, and ensure that Center-supported internships and service experiences dovetail with those goals. This support is one reason fellows tell us the Center is a home for them
KEN MISSBRENNER
on campus.
Reducing Water Pollution and Creating Green Space
Additionally, in 2011–2012, the program included the following components: n
The Center’s new “Conversations with Leaders” series. These discussions with local, state, and national public figures such as Fatima Shama, New York City commissioner of immigrant affairs, and Jeffrey Laurenti, senior fellow at the Century Foundation, provided an intensive focus on leadership and policymaking through the eyes of experienced policymakers and opinion leaders. Separately, the Center hosted talks by other notable public figures, including former U.S. Ambassador John Price.
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Exposure to leading policy experts through the Council on Foreign Relations’ invitation-only teleconferences, such as “The United States and Iran on the Brink,” and “Energy Dependency.” Continued on Page 10
8 — Colin Powell Center
New York City’s aging drainage system is designed to handle both storm water and sewage. But in many areas, even minor rainstorms quickly overwhelm the system. Then a polluted stew of storm water, domestic sewage, and industrial runoff pours into the city’s open waterways. In response, the city is rolling out an innovative green infrastructure plan. Green infrastructure includes planned ditches, expansive tree pits, vegetative areas, and porous pavements that let storm water soak into the ground rather than flood the system. New York Life Graduate Fellow Ken Missbrenner, a 2012 master’s degree graduate in landscape design, investigated whether the plan could also address the lack of green spaces in under-resourced neighborhoods. He found the city could implement its plan to create pocket-sized parks in green-deprived areas of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. He says, “It doesn’t take a lot to achieve real positive benefits for the community in terms of open space.”
“The result is ‘racial battle fatigue.’”
NEW YORK LIFE G R A D U AT E FELLOWS’ POLICY RESEARCH
— Hannah Wallerstein
“Secure Communities creates a climate of fear.”
HANNAH WALLERSTEIN The Psychological Impact of “Stop and Frisk”
In 2011, New York City’s Stop and Frisk program led to a record 684,000 stops, primarily in the city’s underresourced communities. What’s harder to quantify is the program’s psychological impact. New York Life Graduate Fellow Hannah Wallerstein, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology, set out to try. She found officers regularly treat their primary targets—young black and Hispanic men and women—in a racially derogatory way, or subject them to racially tinged slights, insults, or acts of aggression. The result of living under the constant threat of Stop and Frisk, Wallerstein says, is what William A. Smith, Ph.D., has termed “racial battle fatigue,” which mimics battlefield stress. Its effects include feelings of pervasive anxiety, intrusive thoughts, ulcers, loss of appetite and sleep, and loss of self-confidence. Additionally, being stopped and treated like a criminal suspect can lead to disengagement and feelings of shame, she adds. Shame, Wallerstein notes, is a feeling that researchers have linked to violence. All the more reason, she says, to implement policy alternatives to the program.
— Ezra Christopher
EZRA CHRISTOPHER How “Secure Communities” Misses the Mark
The U.S. government launched Secure Communities in 2008 primarily to identify and deport dangerous non-resident criminals. Yet the vast majority of the 162,000 individuals deported under the program in 2011 committed only minor offenses. New York Life Graduate Fellow Ezra Christopher, a 2012 master’s degree graduate in public administration, analyzed the program and found widespread extended detentions, wrongful arrests, separated families, and due process violations. Secure Communities also creates a climate of distrust and fear, she says. Under the program, once an immigrant enters the criminal justice system—whether as a witness, victim, or perpetrator—officers must notify the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, putting that person at risk of deportation: “This undermines community–police relations and makes immigrants afraid to report crimes,” Christopher says. States are required to implement Secure Communities in 2013. But first, Christopher says, ICE must address the program’s flaws. Most important, she adds, “Secure Communities should stick to its original mandate of focusing on dangerous criminal aliens.”
CCNY — 9
COLIN POWELL
Continued from Page 8
PROGRAM IN LEADERSHIP
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Capstone projects that emphasized working in
AND
teams to research and address pressing public
PUBLIC SERVICE
problems. This year’s projects were “fracking” in New York State, the implementation of the U.N.’s Right to Education program in Cambodia, doctor– patient relations in poor urban neighborhoods, and ways to combat urban fresh-food “deserts.” n
Skills development workshops in areas such as networking, resume writing, and interviewing techniques.
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Sixty hours of dedicated service at a nonprofit
“We need artists to be provocative, to question.”
institution, such as the International Rescue Committee, designed as a hands-on examination of organizational culture and leadership practice. n
Substantive summer internships that were carefully designed and vetted to provide formative
— Kanene Holder
leadership and service experiences. Daniela Parra, for instance, served as a mediator with the New York State Attorney General’s Office, acting as a consumer advocate. Stepping into the Future
For the program’s 26 second-year and graduate
KANENE HOLDER
fellows, the 2011–2012 closing celebration on May 8
Turning Art into Advocacy
represented a truly significant milestone. Each program graduate received not only recognition, but also a special book, which Program Director Kamilah Briscoe chose to honor his or her unique achievements, goals, and character. For Humaira Hansrod, winner of a Fulbright Scholarship to examine the country of Oman’s supportive economic policies for women, Briscoe chose Paradise Beneath Her Feet by Isobel Coleman. For Ed Martinez, a graduate fellow focused on urban education and director of multisite after-school programs in the Bronx, she selected There Are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz. At the close of the ceremony, Jill Iscol, noted philanthropist and coauthor of Hearts on Fire: Twelve Stories of Today’s Visionaries Igniting Idealism into Action, stepped to the podium. “I’m incredibly moved by what you are doing,” Iscol said, looking out at the graduating fellows. “You are part of what makes me and my generation feel optimistic about the future.”
10 — Colin Powell Center
Whether she is satirizing American “blonde and blind” injustice in a one-woman show, delivering a presentation on “culturally responsive pedagogy” at an education conference in Baeza, Spain, or using Notorious B.I.G.’s hip-hop song “Mo Money, Mo Problems” to enrich a lesson on the Great Depression, Kanene Holder, an award-winning educator, performance artist, and activist, works tirelessly on behalf of her commitment to social justice. Master of curriculum at the Urban Arts Partnership’s Fresh Prep Program, Holder pairs her work in the classroom with advocacy in the larger world. She is a participant in and national spokesperson for the Occupy Wall Street movement, and says the understanding of policy she gained at the Center informs her message. The former New York Life graduate fellow (2007– 2008) confronts economic injustice constructively in her current performance piece, “$earching for American Justice: The Pursuit of Happiness.” She says, “We need artists to be provocative, to question, to excite, as well as to entertain.”
“Nuanced understandings can be tricky to achieve.”
COLIN POWELL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM ALUMNI
— Ethan Frisch
“Stable governments are a prerequisite for peace.”
ETHAN FRISCH Contributing to Development in Afghanistan
Based in Kabul with the Aga Khan Foundation, a humanitarian organization, Ethan Frisch regularly travels throughout five Afghan provinces. As national program coordinator for engineering, he helps administer engineering and infrastructure projects vital to the lives of countless Afghans. Deeply committed to the foundation’s large-scale approach, Frisch also aims to effect change in small ways— despite logistical, linguistic, and cultural boundaries. “Afghans’ opinions of the United States are often suspicious at best,” says Frisch, a Colin Powell fellow from 2006 to 2008. “Through my behavior, I hope I can at least encourage people to reconsider.” For now, Frisch says his primary goal is to learn. “Especially in policy, push yourselves to understand not just what people’s opinions are, but why they have them,” he advises. “Nuanced understandings can be tricky to achieve and even trickier to work with, but at the very least they’re more interesting, and they’re usually more accurate.”
International Development/ Policy
Other
Environment
Policy/ Public Service
Health
Education
Fields of Work and Study of Powell Center Alumni
— Michelle M. Muita
MICHELLE M. MUITA Building Stability in Africa
Michelle Mendi Muita calls 2012 her “year of experiments.” After traveling to China, the former New York Life leadership fellow (2009–2011) relocated to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s vibrant capital and the continent’s political hub. There, Muita, a native of Kenya, joined the recently established Institute for Peace and Security Studies of Addis Ababa University as a communications officer. Thoroughly dedicated to issues of governance and human rights, Muita works to promote the institute’s peace and security initiatives, and has helped organize high-level forums on African security issues. What motivates Muita is a core belief that “a stable, accountable government is a prerequisite for peace and economic prosperity.” Her dream, she adds, “is to work towards building a continent that is integrated in a political, economic, and cultural sense.” Muita says her Powell fellowship helped her develop key professional and communication skills. It also led to an internship with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City and spurred a capstone project on the International Criminal Courts’ intervention in Kenya, knowledge she finds “essential” to her work today.
CCNY — 11
PA RT N E R S FOR CHANGE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Tackling College Access, Heart Health Listening—to real community needs; collaborating—
health education, providing one-on-one college guid-
with visionary professionals; discovering—root causes
ance, or conducting focus groups, our students took
and issues; and implementing—creative, sustainable
ownership of numerous projects and programs that
solutions. These are the essential components of the
deeply impacted many community members,” says
Center’s exciting new community-directed fellowship
Program Coordinator Sophie Gray.
program, Partners for Change.
Barriers to Entry
In 2011–2012, the program’s inaugural year, we tackled
The college access fellows launched their year with
two compelling issues: hypertension in Harlem and
an in-depth literature review of the obstacles that keep
college access and success. Community leaders
first-generation and other disadvantaged students
identified these areas as ones in which the Center
out of college, or that limit their success if they gain
could make a measurable difference by, respectively:
admission. Among the barriers, they identified a lack of
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Working with community partners to target devastatingly high rates of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and hypertension.
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resources such as Internet access and trained guidance counselors, overwhelming
Helping more young people open the doors to higher
financial constraints, and
education and thrive in potentially daunting college
family obligations.
environments. This year, we selected two remarkable New York Life leaders-in-residence to guide our efforts: Allison Palmer, director of the New Settlement College Access Center, and Alwyn Cohall, M.D., director of the Harlem Health Promotion Center. Through Partners for Change, they mentored and guided eight students whom we chose to be program fellows. Cyndi Gonzalez, Stephanie Guzman, Whitley Jackson, and Shodan Rodney focused on college access; Elbert Greenaway Jr., Rebecca Moore, Rammiya Nallainathan, and Lynette Peguero focused on heart health. taking ownership
Each student, supported with a $5,000 scholarship, devoted hundreds of hours to executing issue-oriented
Informed of these obstacles, the fellows teamed up with Graduate NYC, a city initiative
“
The fellows touched the lives of many Harlem residents.
”
— Alwyn Cohall, M.D.
funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foun-
dation, which aims to substantially increase graduation rates at City University schools. Together they worked on a Web-based database and guide to college access resources and organizations for students and their families. To sharpen the site’s effectiveness, the fellows conducted five focus groups with high school students, gathering an abundance of data and developing clear insights about what would draw teenagers to a searchable site and database—and keep them coming back.
tasks. They gained familiarity with their issue area
The fellows also worked many hours at their service
through service placements, and they clarified their
sites. Volunteering in the college office of Health
advocacy work through research and discussion.
Opportunities High School in the Bronx, Cyndi
“Whether it was facilitating workshops, promoting
Gonzales brought “passion, honesty, and empathy for CCNY — 13
Fellow Whitley Jackson leads a focus group on online college access resources.
PA RT N E R S
the students she has worked with,” says her supervi-
FOR CHANGE
sor, Gerald Thompson. He adds, “Cyndi’s persistence
FELLOWSHIP
has allowed me time to assist more students, handle
PROGRAM
logistical work, and contribute more to the college process for my students.” At Harlem RBI, an organization that harnesses the power of teams on behalf of youth, Fellow Shodan Rodney discovered a level of dedication that altered his view of what work can be. “It wasn’t just a job for the staff,” said Rodney. “They love what they do, and it was refreshing to see that.” Targeting a “Silent Killer”
Our four health fellows also immersed themselves in tremendously important work: Project SHARE, an initiative of the Harlem Health Promotion Center intended to increase the number of local residents who know whether they have hypertension—and how to control it if they do. Known as the “silent killer,” hypertension is the red flag of deadly cardiovascular diseases that are devastating the Harlem population. Working under the guidance of Dr. Cohall, and in cooperation with local churches, the Harlem YMCA, and other organizations, the fellows offered blood pressure checks, resources, and education at outreach events. They also conducted extensive field research on hypertension-related knowledge gaps, attitudes, and belief systems. Their data and research are now providing Project SHARE with valuable findings about the fears and fundamental misconceptions regarding blood pressure screenings. “The fellows made significant contributions to our project and touched the lives of
“
I was able to see what students need to get through the doors of college and come out the other side successfully.
”
— Stephanie Guzman
many Harlem residents,” Dr. Cohall says. “They also learned a tremendous amount about health disparities, chronic diseases, and health communication.” Additionally, the fellows discovered how a community fundamentally impacts individual health decisions. “Before having the opportunity to be a health fellow, I had never truly recognized the health crisis facing the Harlem community,” notes Health Fellow Rebecca Moore. “I knew it existed, but... I did not know how complex and deep-rooted these issues are.” They also discovered the project’s impact on themselves personally: “In trying to learn about community,” says Fellow Lynette Peguero, “I became part of one.”
14 — Colin Powell Center
2,299
Number of students served by organizations the college access fellows supported.
You want students to have success.
PA RT N E R S FOR CHANGE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
— Allison Palmer
ALLISON PALMER
“We envision a Harlem of health equity, not disparity.”
Creating a Bridge to College Success
In her 10 years as director of New Settlement’s College Access Center in the Bronx, Allison Palmer has helped hundreds of young people get into college. Now, she is helping them thrive there. As a New York Life leader-in-residence, Palmer collaborated with the Options program of Goddard Riverside Community Center to launch a new program to increase college retention rates, especially at community colleges, where most of her students enroll. Palmer enlisted major players in New York’s world of college access and gained funding to build an “extensive and intensive college success program” for 250 students, geared toward those without a college graduate in the family. Modeled on the work of On Point for College, an award-winning nonprofit organization in Syracuse, Palmer’s program will include workshops on adjusting to campus life and succeeding academically. The program will help students navigate the financial aid labyrinth and will provide a small clothing allowance. Palmer says her leader-in-residence appointment spurred her to act on an issue she cares deeply about. “You want to send students into an environment where they are going to have success,” she says.
637
Number of blood pressure screenings conducted through Project SHARE.
— Alwyn Cohall, M.D.
ALWYN COHALL, M.D. Targeting “an Epidemic of Broken Hearts”
On May 2, the Center issued an urgent call to action through its 2012 New York Life Symposium, “Heart-2Heart: Improving Heart Health in Harlem and Winning the Million Hearts Campaign.” Conceived under the leadership of Alwyn Cohall, M.D., a New York Life leaderin-residence, this centerpiece event marked the Harlem launch of the Million Hearts Campaign, a nationwide effort by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes in five years. Presenters urged health-care providers and other participants to join together to promote change in their families, organizations, and neighborhoods. Speakers also presented innovative approaches to improving cardiovascular care and outcomes. A highlight: Hip Hop Stroke, an effective new program that uses hiphop to teach kids the signs of stroke—and through them, reaches their parents and grandparents. The goal: to get more stroke victims to emergency rooms in less than four hours, when powerful clot-busting drugs are still effective. CCNY — 15
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Shaping Justice on Many Fronts While heading home from a few hours of basketball,
pressing social need, and build that vision into a project
Felix Navarro had a breakthrough with Ledane, a
they can implement in a sustainable way. The program
13-year-old he had been mentoring for several months.
provides $5,000 in funding, office space, leadership
Ledane’s parents are incarcerated, and he’d been
training, and guidance from Center staff.
happy to talk hoops, but skirted personal issues. That day, Navarro asked about Ledane’s dream of playing in college. The middle-schooler revealed he hoped to avoid the “guys on the block” and to focus on basketball and school. Navarro, a May 2012 CCNY graduate, shared that he had passed through similar struggles when he was Ledane’s age. The disclosures, Navarro says, “opened a gate for honesty, understanding,
“
Our talk opened a gate for honesty and understanding.
and strong advice.” About three years ago, Navarro casually accepted an invitation to
”
— Felix Navarro
attend a fund-raiser for the Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals. What he heard that night changed his future.
In 2011–2012, LASI brought 15 speakers to campus to raise awareness on issues such as the rights of women prisoners and the dangers of wrongful convictions. With Colin Powell Center support, the group expanded to 74 members, five of whom took positions as mentors alongside Navarro. As mentors, each committed himself or herself to easing the pain inflicted by incarceration and guiding kids like Ledane onto paths that lead toward successful, enriched lives, and away from prison. Helping underserved students
In 2011–2012, the Center also awarded Community Engagement Fellowships to Moya Brown and Victoria King. Brown launched Health Education for Youth, which trained 40 CCNY students to provide health education workshops in underserved city schools. King created Faces of America with the American Field Service to increase the number of high school students of color who have the opportunity to explore the world through study abroad programs.
Navarro, then studying political science and pre-law, com-
Over the long term, Navarro plans to turn the research
mitted himself to fighting prison injustice and mass incar-
arm of LASI into a think tank dedicated to addressing
ceration, and to alleviating their consequences. In 2010, he
issues such as wrongful convictions. Such convictions,
formed a CCNY group that evolved into Leaders Against
he notes, “result from prejudiced policing and faulty
Systemic Injustice (LASI), which focuses on research,
legal practices, not coincidence.” Eradicating systemic
advocacy, and the mentoring of children like Ledane.
problems will never be easy, Navarro understands.
Implementing a vision Felix Navarro
This year, the Colin Powell Center awarded Navarro a
opens a LASI
2011–2012 Community Engagement Fellowship to
conference
expand LASI and extend its impact. Community
on the
Engagement Fellowships enable three or more CCNY
carceral state.
students a year to imagine how they might address a
16 — Colin Powell Center
But with children like Ledane hanging in the balance— alongside countless others—it’s impossible not to try.
1,200
Number of hours members of Leaders Against Systemic Injustice (LASI) volunteered.
SERVICELEARNING PROGRAMS
Reimagining Service-Learning This past January, the National Task Force on Civic
The Center’s service-learning program enables
Learning and Democratic Engagement issued its
faculty to leverage an expansive network of community
game-changing report, A Crucible Moment: College
connections, an understanding of pedagogy, and
Learning and Democracy’s Future. Released by the
financial and technical support to tackle the issues
White House and commissioned by the U.S. Depart-
they care most about. Whether helping to bring
ment of Education, the report calls for building a new
farmers’ markets to fresh-food “deserts,” expanding
ethic of public-spiritedness at institutions of higher
micro-financing opportunities for immigrant
education across the United States.
entrepreneurs, or addressing health disparities, faculty
It directs academia and the community to shatter traditional boundaries and forge new creative alliances in which higher education is truly “part of the community—whether the community is local, national, or global.” The report urges cultivating in each student “an open and curious mind, critical acumen, public voice, ethical and moral judgment, and the commitment to act collectively in public to achieve shared purposes.” Socially Responsible Teaching
At the Colin Powell Center, we have long embraced these principles. Since our founding, our goal has been to promote civic engagement among City College faculty in ways that:
are exploring new realms of what they and their students can accomplish through meaningful projects. Enabling Students to Flourish
In 2011–2012, the Center supported 22 servicelearning courses, reaching more than 600 CCNY students. In an art education course, Marit Dewhurst’s graduate students developed and offered a free after-school arts program. The project provided urban
“
There is absolute clarity in my syllabus now.
n
Address authentic community needs.
n
Are strongly collaborative with students and
an opportunity to explore their own creativity. It also
community partners.
offered the graduate students a chance to go beyond
Guide faculty toward socially responsible teaching
the typical arts curricula and create more memorable
and scholarship.
lessons, said Dewhurst, an assistant professor of art
n
Service-learning is our most established and farreaching effort to promote civic engagement. Faculty who embrace this dynamic teaching approach embed
”
— Vanessa Valdés
teens in local schools
education, adding, “They gained a more expansive view of what young people are able to achieve in a setting where they are able to flourish.”
opportunities for service into their curriculum, enriching
This year, the Center expanded its emphasis on
the material and their students’ experience. At the
student development. We provided in-class sessions
Colin Powell Center, service-learning stands as one
on skills that faculty identified as relevant to their
of a triumvirate of programs—along with community-
projects, such as public speaking and collection of
based research and public scholarship—designed to
oral histories. We also began offering faculty more
to middle-
support CCNY’s exceptionally engaged faculty.
individualized support. We met one-on-one with faculty
schoolers.
CCNY — 19
Servicelearners bring Afro-Latino culture
SERVICE-
as they reconceptualized their curriculum to
LEARNING
incorporate significant service opportunities. “There
PROGRAMS
is absolute clarity in my syllabus now in terms of course design, my learning outcomes, and what I can assess,” notes Vanessa Valdés, an assistant professor of Spanish and Portuguese. Like-Minded Colleagues
We also expanded opportunities for faculty members’ professional growth, adding options for them to travel to national service-learning conferences or publish related research in the Center’s new working paper series, Issues in Engaged Scholarship: An Exploration of Community–Campus Collaborations. Launched in March 2012, the series enables Center-affiliated faculty to contribute to the national conversation through rigorously developed papers. Most important, we are linking civically engaged faculty with like-minded colleagues across the disciplines. “The greatest benefit,” Dewhurst says, “is being connected with a community of faculty who are interested in this kind of teaching.” Welcoming Community Partners
In 2011–2012, the Center also deepened its support for community partners. We welcomed them to exploratory meetings, professional development workshops, and our recognition celebration. We provided resources and technical support, and, through our regional network, the New York Metro Area Partnership for Service-Learning (NYMAPS), offered connections to fellow organizations with model partnerships.
“
The impact of service-learning is immeasurable — extending from me, to my students, to the organizations, to every individual those organizations touch.
NYMAPS, a Center-led alliance of community-based
— Elena Romero, Adjunct Lecturer, Center for Worker Education
organizations and 18 area colleges and universities, continually challenges its members to “set the bar
”
higher,” in the words of Tania Mitchell, Ed.D., keynote speaker of the 2012 NYMAPS Symposium, “Ethics and Service-Learning.” Stretch beyond surface solutions, urged Mitchell, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and a national leader in service-learning. See projects through to their true completion and delve deeper to uncover the paths to sustainable change. At the Colin Powell Center, we are ready to meet these challenges, as we join with faculty, partners, and students to create our reimagined landscape of civic engagement.
20 — Colin Powell Center
50
Number of CCNY service-learning community partners.
22
Number of servicelearning courses offered in 2011–2012.
“Latinas Forward creates a safe space for young women at risk.”
SERVICELEARNING PROGRAMS
— Judith Escalona
JUDITH ESCALONA Preventing Latina Suicide
Young Latinas have the highest attempted suicide rate of any population group. “When I learned this, it was really alarming to me,” says Judith Escalona, founder of MediaNoche, an East Harlem–based new media exhibition space. “My response as a filmmaker and being grounded in the community was to conceive Latinas Forward. “Latinas Forward creates a safe space for young women at risk to discuss the issues they are dealing with, and to use new media techniques to create public works,” Escalona adds. Escalona, who is also a faculty member in CCNY’s Department of Media and Communication Arts, invited service-learning students in Lynn Appelbaum’s PR Writing course to develop marketing and public relations campaigns for Latinas Forward. “The students were highly motivated,” Escalona says. “They felt they were contributing to something bigger than themselves. They came up with very original ideas and tapped into their backgrounds—especially the Latino students. They understood, ‘This is a real cry for help, and I can use the knowledge I’ve gained at City College to make a real impact.’”
600+
Number of CCNY students who participated in service-learning courses in 2011–2012.
“This gives neighbors a way to communicate their concerns.” — Mary Lutz
MARY LUTZ Expanding Community Input
What do you really care about? For Mary Lutz, a professor of interdisciplinary studies at CCNY’s Center for Worker Education, the answer includes giving Harlem’s community members a greater voice in local decision making. To link her passion to meaningful change, Lutz incorporated service-learning into her Community Needs Assessment course. Her students, working in pairs, canvassed randomly selected pedestrians on the streets of West Harlem about local community needs. The group collected 1,117 responses, analyzed their data, and presented their results to members of Community Board 9, which encompasses West Harlem. Housing and unemployment issues dominated residents’ concerns, students found. A perceived lack of recreational programs also ranked high. For Reverend Georgette Morgan-Thomas, chair of the community board, the project has been of “tremendous help” in supporting requests for services and in better positioning community resources.
CCNY — 21
C O M M U N I T YBASED RESEARCH PROGRAM
Assessing a Promising Housing Solution Boarded-up vacant buildings are part of almost every
nationwide survey of community land trusts that
New York City neighborhood. In fact, there’s enough
provide housing affordable to people with extremely low
unused space in the city to house 199,981 people,
incomes. Now Krinsky and Picture the Homeless have
according to a study by Picture the Homeless, a
formed a larger working group to develop a community
grassroots housing activist organization staffed by
land trust as a nonprofit entity to renovate and preserve
homeless or formerly homeless members. “There’s no
vacant and troubled housing. Says Krinsky, “This is
need for anyone to sleep on the street,” says Kendall
among the most exciting things I’ve done in 10 years at
Jackman, a Picture the Homeless campaign leader.
City College as a faculty member.”
This knowledge drives John Krinsky’s partnership with
Krinsky joins three other CCNY faculty invested in equally
Picture the Homeless. Easing homelessness must
challenging and rewarding
begin with providing dependable, affordable housing for
community-based research
those most likely to lose their homes, says Krinsky, an
projects. Adeyinka M.
associate professor of political science at City College.
Akinsulure-Smith, an
One promising approach centers on community land
assistant professor of psy-
trusts, member-run nonprofit organizations that own property and lease it as affordable housing. EXPANDING THE CONVERSATION
With the help of a Community-Based Research Fellowship from the Center, Krinsky and Picture the Homeless are spearheading an investigation into the potential of community land trusts to provide the stability needed to
chology, is examining the mental health challenges faced by local African immigrants and refugees, in partnership with the African Hope Committee. Glen Milstein, an associate
“
It brings those most affected by a problem into the conversation.
”
— John Krinsky
prevent homelessness. The fellowships, which include
professor of psychology,
guidance and funding of up to $8,000, support faculty
is collaborating with the Harlem Vet Center to assess
who partner with community groups on research and
the spiritual needs of Harlem’s returning veterans to
policy formation. “It brings the experience and knowledge
ease their readjustment to civilian life. Ana Motta-Moss,
of those most affected by a problem into the conversation
director of evaluation and research at the Sophie Davis
that shapes potential solutions,” Krinsky says.
School of Biomedical Education, has joined forces with the Washington Heights “Y” and WeACT for Environ-
To launch the investigation, Krinsky invited members of
mental Justice to assess Latino residents’ environmental
Picture the Homeless into his service-learning course
concerns related to asthma and other health issues.
on affordable housing policy. Their unique perspectives played off the students’ points of view, ignited discus-
All are looking deeply into constructive solutions to endur-
sion, and built trust and collegiality. Together the groups
ing problems. For Krinsky, this encompasses addressing
took on service projects mapping Central Harlem,
not only what to do with vacant properties, but also the
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Central Brooklyn, and the
larger question of how to stabilize neighborhoods. Through
South Bronx to locate properties that could benefit
their community-based research partnership, he and
from being in a land trust. They also conducted a
members of Picture the Homeless hope to find the answer. CCNY — 23
Kendall Jackman (right) and John Krinsky lead a housing forum.
Looking Ahead to a Welcome Vision We never designed—and never intended—the Colin Powell Center as a stand-alone entity. From the first, we sought to fully embed the Center in City College’s life and traditions. We seek to connect our mission to CCNY’s core values, elevating our community’s “strivers and doers,” to borrow the apt words of CCNY President Lisa S. Coico. Ten years into our current slate of activity, our scholar-
events and lectures. Center affiliation status will repre-
ship and fellowship programs are flourishing, and our
sent an invitation to reconceiving the scholarly profession
service-learning initiatives support remarkable levels
in ways that more actively link teaching, research,
of innovative civic engagement activities across campus.
and public discussion to public purposes, community
We have grown to this point by expanding these
partnerships, and civic engagement.
programs, carefully assessing our outcomes, and continually refining our strategies. We now stand ready to take the next steps in the Colin Powell Center’s evolution. Our foremost goal is to more extensively and intentionally integrate Center activities with the life of the broader campus.
CONNECTING COMMUNITY to Resources
Community partnerships, more robust and multifaceted than they previously were, represent the third element of our emerging vision. These partnerships enabled our service-learning and student leadership programs to move forward, and many organizations grew as stable
extending Options for Students
collaborators in various Colin Powell Center initiatives.
New programs for students will supplement existing
In the coming years, we will deepen these partner-
intensive, scholarship-driven programs, such as the
ships, adopting, in some cases, a problem-focused and
Colin Powell leadership program, with shorter leader-
sustained vision for service-learning. A powerful step
ship and service training opportunities, designed around
forward, that vision will enable interdisciplinary collabora-
the needs of specific majors, particular issue areas, or
tion across campuses, and draw those collaborations
selected career trajectories. Some programming will con-
into the service of communities in need. As a first step
tinue to target students enrolled in Colin Powell Center
in this process, we will soon offer training programs to
programs, but more and more, we will engage the cam-
community organizations to help them more effectively
pus at large in a mission of leadership development and
engage the resources of the university to advance their
service that will shape generations of CCNY students.
social missions.
Creating New Faculty Affiliations
Together, these changes mark an exciting new phase of
For CCNY faculty, we are developing a new designa-
development for the Colin Powell Center, during which
tion, signifying deep and continuing affiliation with the
it will seek to become a more vibrant home for, and
Colin Powell Center. CCNY faculty currently engage the
partner to, some of the most exciting, civically engaged
Center as professors teaching service-learning classes,
activities and projects happening at the City College
as participants in our community-based research fellow-
of New York. It’s a vision we’re committed to, and it’s
ships and public scholarship programs, and at our public
launching in 2012–2013.
24 — Colin Powell Center
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+ Donors
Annenberg Foundation
New York Life Insurance Co.
Anonymous
General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.)*
Marc and Lynne Benioff
Jack and Susan Rudin*
Thomas L. Blair
May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc.
Fulvio V. Dobrich*
Jin Roy Ryu
Martin J. and Perry Granoff
Stephen A. and Christine H. Schwarzman*
Charles B. and Ann Johnson
Sy and Laurie Sternberg*
Korea Foundation
UnitedHealth Group
Editorial/Project Management: Maura Christopher
Design: Leslie Kameny
Ambassador Ronald and Jo Carole Lauder
Randy and Susan Andrews
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Peter O’Malley
Bernard Herold & Co., Inc.
Richard N. Haass*
Barry and Pamela Ostrager, Esqs.
Lloyd Blankfein
Harris Connect, Inc.
Maurice Paprin
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Margaret Holen
Kevin A. Planck
InfoUSA
Robert B. and Joan Catell*
Daniel & Eleanor Kane Family Foundation, Inc.
Ambassador John and Marcia Price
Commercial Mortgage Securities Association
Ann Ramsay-Jenkins
Stanley Kane
John F. W. Rogers
ConocoPhillips
Linda F. Kaplan Thaler*
Salesforce Foundation
Margaret Crow
William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust
Eric and Wendy Schmidt
Ambassador John J. and Irene Danilovich
John G. Kester
Peter Jay Sharp Foundation
In-soon Kim
Joseph Spallina
Joseph Drown Foundation
David H. Koch
Tupperware Brands
Kenneth M. and Jacqueline Duberstein
Michael Koester
Barbara Walters*
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co.
Lt. General Samuel E. Ebbesen, USA (Ret.)
Charles B. Wang*
Korea Society
John Whitehead
Colleen Foster
Howard H. and Gretchen Leach
John S. Williams
Allan and Karen Levine
Stephen A. and Elaine Wynn
Howard Gilman Foundation
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Katsuhiko Yoshida
Rick and Susan Goings
Sybil V. McCarthy
Lester Crown
Ford Foundation
Bernard L. and Irene Schwartz
* Advisory Council Member
Donations as of 6/30/12
Advisory Council Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service Madeleine K. Albright
Vernon E. Jordan , Jr.
Sy Sternberg
Former Secretary of State
Senior Managing Director Lazard Freres and Co., LLC
Retired Chairman and CEO New York Life Insurance Company
Henry A. Kissinger
Linda Kaplan Thaler
Former Secretary of State
CEO and Chief Creative Officer The Kaplan Thaler Group, Ltd.
James A. Baker, III Former Secretary of State
Tom Brokaw Special Correspondent, NBC
Robert B. Catell Chairman AERTC, Stony Brook University
Fulvio V. Dobrich
Lois Pope LIFE Foundation
Colin L. Powell (Chair ) Former Secretary of State
President and CEO Galileo Asset Management, LLC
Linda Powell
Harold M. Evans
Lisa Quiroz
Former President and Publisher Random House
Senior Vice President Time Warner, Inc.
Carly Fiorina
Jack Rudin
Former Chairman and CEO Hewlett-Packard
May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc.
Vartan Gregorian
Stephen Schwarzman
President Carnegie Corporation of New York
Chairman and CEO The Blackstone Group
Richard N. Haass
Lisa S. Coico
President Council on Foreign Relations
President The City College of New York
THE CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK
160 Convent Avenue Shepard Hall, Suite 550 New York, NY 10031 212-650-8551 phone 212-650-8535 fax www.ccny.cuny.edu/powell cpowellctr@ccny.cuny.edu
Actress
Barbara Walters ABC News
Elie Wiesel Charles B. Wang Fareed Zakaria Editor at Large Time, Inc.