Dear MCNY Community,
Metropolitan College of New York is unique in its focus on providing a Purpose-Centered Education to empower our students to advance equity and lead positive change. Helping each student find their unique Purpose, and learn how to harness it to serve others, requires the dedication of every member of the MCNY community.
MCNY students confront a range of obstacles as they work to achieve their goals. Among the most powerful of these is skepticism—the doubts of society, and sometimes their own loved ones, that they can complete their degrees. As one alumna, now the executive director of a nonprofit, put it: “I am someone who wasn’t supposed to make it.” Most of our students work full-time, and many are single parents. The challenges and cynicism they face can become permanent roadblocks.
We work hard to help students break down these barriers through proactive academic and support services. Demand is high for these resources, which include:
• Scholarships and emergency grants to address tuition, housing and other life challenges
• Social services and counseling to help students navigate emotional, mental and physical issues
• Food pantry services and special holiday groceries to alleviate food insecurity
MCNY also extends its social justice mission to people in our communities who may have been marginalized by their prior educational experiences. One of the most impactful programs at our Bronx campus is Pathways to Success, which enables adults without high school credentials to earn a high school equivalency diploma while taking college classes. From its inception in 2021, 53% of the adults who enrolled earned their HSEDs, along with 24 college credits, within one year. A new cohort of students is about to complete the program in December.
The Pathways program is already bringing positive change to marginalized adults, their families, and our Bronx communities, as demonstrated by Keshia’s journey:
At age 16, Keshia Howell dropped out of high school because she was not receiving the resources needed to succeed. Family hardship was an added barrier. As an adult, Keshia tried numerous GED programs without success. Sixteen years later, her brother, a graduate student at Metropolitan College of New York recommended the Pathways to Success program. Two years later, with the support network provided by the MCNY Pathways Team, Keshia has earned her high school equivalency and is on her way to earning an associate degree in Human Services. Keshia is now in a position to turn her job into a career at the Bronx non-profit where she works with runaway and homeless young people, providing resources for parenting and pregnant teens. “My personal experience led me to this purpose. I see myself in these young girls and advise them that they can do it if I did,” says Keshia Howell, “They can’t give up.” Keshia plans to follow in her brother Kelvin’s footsteps, with aspirations to complete her bachelor’s in Human Services and move on to her Master of Public Affairs and Administration.
MCNY is small but mighty. We have an outsized impact on our communities through the success of our students—the ones who weren’t supposed to succeed. We need your help to continue our work of helping students transcend the barriers to their academic and professional success. When you donate to MCNY, you invest in making NY a better place for all of us. Please give to the extent you can, and know that we are deeply grateful for your support of our mission and our Purpose.
Sincerely,
Joanne Passaro
President
