2011–2012 colin powell center annual report
Upload: colin-powell-school-for-civic-and-global-leadership-the-city-college-of-new-york
Post on 05-Mar-2016
222 views
DESCRIPTION
The 2011–2012 annual report of the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service at the City College of New YorkTRANSCRIPT
COLIN L. POWELL CENTERfOR LEAdERShIP ANd SERvICET H E C I T Y C O L L E G E O F N E W Y O R K
ANNUAL REPORT 2011–2012
“Participating in the leadership seminars
has helped me shape the issue I am
passionate about.”
Simone Gordon
“The access I’ve had has
been essential to building my understanding
of policy issues.”
Humaira Hansrod
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.
“The Center has taught me the value of action and fostered within me a sense of duty and responsibil ity.”
Sergio Galeano
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.
Contents
2 Messages
4 2011–2012 Highlights
6 Colin Powell Program in
Leadership and Public Service
12 Partners for Change Fellowship Program
16 Community Engagement
Fellowship Program
18 Service-Learning Programs
22 Community-Based Research Program
24 Looking Ahead
DEAR FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS,
I’m pleased to present the 2011–2012 annual report of
the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service.
This year we introduced several new programs and
expanded others, all designed to recruit and prepare
a diverse group of leaders at one of America’s most
influential public institutions: the City College of New
York. Since 1847, CCNY has provided educational
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
that my Center is so deeply involved in its mission.
The Colin Powell Center advances this mission through
leadership training, scholarship support, service-based
teaching, and other programs described in this report.
We continue to grow because the needs and opportuni-
ties 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
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 pro-
grams 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 maga-
zine, 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.
Finally, our search to secure permanent facilities for the
Colin Powell Center took an unexpected and welcome
turn this summer when a brownstone townhouse in the
neighborhood immediately north of CCNY became avail-
able to us. The building is a historic structure known as
the CCNY Alumni House. Together with expansions to
our current Shepard Hall facilities, it will provide us with
space to expand our programs for years to come.
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
of you who have helped out. I invite you all to visit the
Center, learn more about our work, and find ways to
support this extraordinary organization.
Sincerely,
GENERAL COLIN L. POWELL
FOUNDER AND CHAIR COLIN L. POWELL CENTER FOR LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE
2 — C o l i n P o w e l l C e n t e r
Message from the founder
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 estab-lish a vision of a more engaged mode of public education, tailored to the remarkable democratic laboratory that CCNY has always been. A grow-ing service-learning program embeds teaching directly into the life of our surrounding commu-nity, 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 stu-dents—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 BOUDREAUDirector Colin Powell Center
Message froM the Director
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:
n Colin Powell Program in Leadership and
Public Service
n Community-Based Research Program
n Community Engagement Fellowship Program
n Edward I. Koch Fellowships for Community Service
n Partners for Change Fellowship Program
n Public Scholarship Program
n Service-Learning Engaged Department Grants
n Service-Learning Faculty Fellowship Program
2011 –2012 highlights
Defeating Disease in New York city
n Produced the Heart-2-Heart conference, bring-ing together health professionals and committed citizens to reduce heart disease in New York City.
n Fought hypertension in Harlem through high blood pressure screenings, education, and field research.
n Raised more than $1 million for lupus research.
fighting for environmental Justice
n Recommended best-practice guidelines for New York State’s hydraulic fracturing policies.
n Assessed the primary environmental concerns of Latino residents of Washington Heights.
4 — C o l i n P o w e l l C e n t e r
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:
n Colin Powell Program in Leadership and
Public Service
n Community-Based Research Program
n Community Engagement Fellowship Program
n Edward I. Koch Fellowships for Community Service
n Partners for Change Fellowship Program
n Public Scholarship Program
n Service-Learning Engaged Department Grants
n Service-Learning Faculty Fellowship Program
2011 –2012 highlights
creating Just communities
n Evaluated the potential of community land trusts to combat homelessness.
n Broadened support for participatory budgeting, enhancing the role of citizens in fiscal decision making.
n Surveyed 1,100 residents of Harlem’s District 9 to assess community needs and guide decision making.
n Examined how the spirituality of veterans returning to Harlem affects their readjustment to civilian life and counseling needs.
encouraging Peaceful international relations
n Produced a five-volume collection of Kofi Annan’s papers, highlighting the former U.N. secretary-general’s role in conflict resolution.
n Advocated for important international policy changes to reduce civilian casualties in warfare.
improving Long-term health outcomes
n Recommended policy changes to improve access to affordable dental care for New York City seniors.
n Studied the mental health challenges of African immigrants and refugees in Washington Heights.
n Explored innovative solutions to encourage the sale of
fresh produce in under-resourced communities.
opening education to all
n Advocated for reducing barriers to girls’ education in Cambodia through improved implementation of the United Nations’ “Right to Education” program.
n Developed a citywide database of college access support organizations for youth and their families.
C C N Y — 5
Six weeks into the 2011–2012 academic year, the
fellows of the Colin Powell Program in Leadership and
Public Service found themselves in Washington, D.C.,
having a long conversation with General Powell and
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
their own sense of the possible.
Such opportunities are integral to the Colin Powell
leadership program. “My experience at the Center
wouldn’t be the same without having General Powell
speak to us and seeing firsthand that he cares about
what we do and what we think, and knowing that he
wants to see us grow into great leaders,” said Fellow
Jatnna Ramirez. Reflecting on a meeting with a group
of alumni who work at the U.S. State Department, the
U.S.– India Business Council, and similar organizations,
Fellow Sergio Galeano added, “To see alumni who are
that successful was great. Every person said, ‘you can
have our card; call us.’ ”
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 engage-
ment. (New York Life graduate fellows, a key cohort of
the larger program, take part in a one-year experience
tailored specifically to their needs.)
In 2011–2012, the program supported 47 fellows
with $553,000 in scholarship and internship support.
This funding, along with our programming and
personalized approach, can be life changing for
our fellows, who come from every corner of society,
are new Americans or the children of immigrants, and
often are the first in their families to attend college.
“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
someone trying to figure out his or her prospects in the
world, experiences such as
the Washington trip or a
high-powered internship
are huge. Our fellows
return believing that this
vision is viable.”
MAKING AN IMPACT
The transformation is
palpable. We see it when
our students deliver
accomplished capstone
presentations at the end of the fellowship. We hear
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
School of International and Public Affairs. We also
find our fellows’ transformation in their unwavering
commitment to civic issues. Savanna Washington,
a New York Life graduate fellow of 2009–2010 and
C O L I N P O W E L L
P R O G R A M I N
L E A D E R S H I P
A N D
P U B L I C S E R V I C E
Building Tomorrow’s Leaders
C C N Y — 7
Leadership
Fellow
Emie Lomba
with General
Colin L. Powell.
“ The Center has become a source of constant inspiration for me. ” — Jatnna Ramirez
filmmaker, exemplifies this dedication. Not only has
she produced documentaries such as Greening
of the Bronx, but Center programs opened her
eyes to the humanitarian crisis in North Korea.
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
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
advisement and mentoring. Center staff meet with
students regularly, ensuring that they are on track
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 experi-
ences dovetail with those goals. This support is one
reason fellows tell us the Center is a home for them
on campus.
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.
n 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.”
8 — C o l i n P o w e l l C e n t e r
C O L I N P O W E L L
P R O G R A M I N
L E A D E R S H I P
A N D
P U B L I C S E R V I C E
Continued on Page 10
KeN MissBreNNer
reducing Water Pollution and creating green space
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.”
“It doesn’t take a lot to achieve realbenefits.”— Ken Missbrenner
N E W Y O R K L I F E
G R A D U AT E
F E L L O W S ’
P O L I C Y
R E S E A R C H
“The result is ‘racial battle fatigue.’”— Hannah Wallerstein
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 under-resourced 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 bat-tlefield 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.
“Secure Communities creates a climate of fear.” — 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. Im-migration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, put-ting 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 Communi-ties 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.”
C C N Y — 9
n Capstone projects that emphasized working in
teams to research and address pressing public
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.
n Sixty hours of dedicated service at a nonprofit
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
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
fellows, the 2011–2012 closing celebration on May 8
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 achieve-
ments, 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.”
Continued from Page 8C O L I N P O W E L L
P R O G R A M I N
L E A D E R S H I P
A N D
P U B L I C S E R V I C E
1 0 — C o l i n P o w e l l C e n t e r
“We need artists to be provocative, to question.” — Kanene Holder
KaNeNe hoLDer
turning art into advocacy
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 class-room 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.”
“Stable governments are a pre-requisite for peace.” — 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.
C O L I N
P O W E L L
L E A D E R S H I P
P R O G R A M
A L U M N I
F i e l d s o f W o r k a n d S t u d y o f P o w e l l C e n t e r A l u m n i
International Development/
Policy
Policy/ Public
Service
Other Health
Environment Education
C C N Y — 1 1
“Nuanced understand-ings can be tricky to achieve.” — Ethan Frisch
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 suspi-cious 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.”
Listening—to real community needs; collaborating—
with visionary professionals; discovering—root causes
and issues; and implementing—creative, sustainable
solutions. These are the essential components of the
Center’s exciting new community-directed fellowship
program, Partners for Change.
In 2011–2012, the program’s inaugural year, we tackled
two compelling issues: hypertension in Harlem and
college access and success. Community leaders
identified these areas as ones in which the Center
could make a measurable difference by, respectively:
n Working with community partners to target devastat-
ingly high rates of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and
hypertension.
n Helping more young people open the doors to higher
education and thrive in potentially daunting college
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
tasks. They gained familiarity with their issue area
through service placements, and they clarified their
advocacy work through research and discussion.
“Whether it was facilitating workshops, promoting
health education, providing one-on-one college guid-
ance, or conducting focus groups, our students took
ownership of numerous projects and programs that
deeply impacted many community members,” says
Program Coordinator Sophie Gray.
BARRIERS TO ENTRy
The college access fellows launched their year with
an in-depth literature review of the obstacles that keep
first-generation and other disadvantaged students
out of college, or that limit their success if they gain
admission. Among the barriers, they identified a lack of
resources such as
Internet access and
trained guidance
counselors, overwhelming
financial constraints, and
family obligations.
Informed of these
obstacles, the fellows
teamed up with Gradu-
ate NYC, a city initiative
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 search-
able site and database—and keep them coming back.
The fellows also worked many hours at their service
sites. Volunteering in the college office of Health
Opportunities High School in the Bronx, Cyndi
Gonzales brought “passion, honesty, and empathy for
PA R T N E R S
F O R C H A N G E
F E L L O W S H I P
P R O G R A M
Tackling College Access, heart health
C C N Y — 1 3
“ The fellows touched the lives of many harlem residents. ” — Alwyn Cohall, M.d.
Fellow
Whitley Jackson
leads a focus
group on
online
college access
resources.
PA R T N E R S
F O R C H A N G E
F E L L O W S H I P
P R O G R A M
1 4 — C o l i n P o w e l l C e n t e r
the students she has worked with,” says her supervi-
sor, Gerald Thompson. He adds, “Cyndi’s persistence
has allowed me time to assist more students, handle
logistical work, and contribute more to the college
process for my students.” At Harlem RBI, an organiza-
tion 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 pres-
sure screenings. “The fellows made significant
contributions to our project and touched the lives of
many Harlem residents,” Dr. Cohall says. “They also
learned a tremendous amount about health dispari-
ties, 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.”
“ I was able to see what students need to get through the doors of college and come out the other side successfully.”— Stephanie Guzman
2,299 N u m b e r o f s t u d e n t s s e r v e d
b y o r g a n i z a t i o n s t h e c o l l e g e
a c c e s s f e l l o w s s u p p o r t e d .
You want students to have success.— Allison Palmer
aLLisoN PaLMer
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.
“We envision a Harlem of health equity, not disparity.”— 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-2-heart: Improving heart health in harlem and Winning the Million hearts Campaign.” Conceived under the leadership of Alwyn Cohall, M.d., a New York Life leader-in-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 hip-hop 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.
PA R T N E R S
F O R C H A N G E
F E L L O W S H I P
P R O G R A M
C C N Y — 1 5
N u m b e r o f s t u d e n t s s e r v e d
b y o r g a n i z a t i o n s t h e c o l l e g e
a c c e s s f e l l o w s s u p p o r t e d . 637 N u m b e r o f b l o o d p r e s s u r e
s c r e e n i n g s c o n d u c t e d
t h r o u g h P r o j e c t S H A R E .
While heading home from a few hours of basketball,
Felix Navarro had a breakthrough with Ledane, a
13-year-old he had been mentoring for several months.
Ledane’s parents are incarcerated, and he’d been
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 basket-
ball 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,
and strong advice.”
About three years ago,
Navarro casually ac-
cepted an invitation to
attend a fund-raiser for
the Innocence Project, an
organization dedicated
to exonerating wrong-
fully convicted individuals.
What he heard that night
changed his future.
Navarro, then studying political science and pre-law, com-
mitted himself to fighting prison injustice and mass incar-
ceration, and to alleviating their consequences. In 2010, he
formed a CCNY group that evolved into Leaders Against
Systemic Injustice (LASI), which focuses on research,
advocacy, and the mentoring of children like Ledane.
IMPLEMENTING A VISION
This year, the Colin Powell Center awarded Navarro a
2011–2012 Community Engagement Fellowship to
expand LASI and extend its impact. Community
Engagement Fellowships enable three or more CCNY
students a year to imagine how they might address a
pressing social need, and build that vision into a project
they can implement in a sustainable way. The program
provides $5,000 in funding, office space, leadership
training, and guidance from Center staff.
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.
Over the long term, Navarro plans to turn the research
arm of LASI into a think tank dedicated to addressing
issues such as wrongful convictions. Such convictions,
he notes, “result from prejudiced policing and faulty
legal practices, not coincidence.” Eradicating systemic
problems will never be easy, Navarro understands.
But with children like Ledane hanging in the balance—
alongside countless others—it’s impossible not to try.
C O M M U N I T Y
E N G A G E M E N T
F E L L O W S H I P
P R O G R A M
“ Our talk opened a gate for honesty and understanding. ” — felix Navarro
1 6 — C o l i n P o w e l l C e n t e r
Shaping Justice on Many fronts
Felix Navarro
opens a LASI
conference
on the
carceral state. 1,200 N u m b e r o f h o u r s m e m b e r s
o f L e a d e r s A g a i n s t S y s t e m i c
I n j u s t i c e ( L A S I ) v o l u n t e e r e d .
This past January, the National Task Force on Civic
Learning and Democratic Engagement issued its
game-changing report, A Crucible Moment: College
Learning and Democracy’s Future. Released by the
White House and commissioned by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Education, the report calls for building a new
ethic of public-spiritedness at institutions of higher
education across the United States.
It directs academia and the community to shatter
traditional boundaries and forge new creative alliances
in which higher education is truly “part of the communi-
ty—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:
n Address authentic community needs.
n Are strongly collaborative with students and
community partners.
n Guide faculty toward socially responsible teaching
and scholarship.
Service-learning is our most established and far-
reaching effort to promote civic engagement. Faculty
who embrace this dynamic teaching approach embed
opportunities for service into their curriculum, enriching
the material and their students’ experience. At the
Colin Powell Center, service-learning stands as one
of a triumvirate of programs—along with community-
based research and public scholarship—designed to
support CCNY’s exceptionally engaged faculty.
The Center’s service-learning program enables
faculty to leverage an expansive network of community
connections, an understanding of pedagogy, and
financial and technical support to tackle the issues
they care most about. Whether helping to bring
farmers’ markets to fresh-food “deserts,” expanding
micro-financing opportunities for immigrant
entrepreneurs, or addressing health disparities, faculty
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 service-
learning 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
teens in local schools
an opportunity to explore their own creativity. It also
offered the graduate students a chance to go beyond
the typical arts curricula and create more memorable
lessons, said Dewhurst, an assistant professor of art
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.”
This year, the Center expanded its emphasis on
student development. We provided in-class sessions
on skills that faculty identified as relevant to their
projects, such as public speaking and collection of
oral histories. We also began offering faculty more
individualized support. We met one-on-one with faculty
S E R V I C E -
L E A R N I N G
P R O G R A M S
Reimagining Service-Learning
“ There is absolute clarity in my syllabus now. ” — vanessa valdés
C C N Y — 1 9
Service-
learners bring
Afro-Latino
culture
to middle-
schoolers.
as they reconceptualized their curriculum to
incorporate significant service opportunities. “There
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 explor-
atory meetings, professional development workshops,
and our recognition celebration. We provided resourc-
es 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.
NYMAPS, a Center-led alliance of community-based
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.
S E R V I C E -
L E A R N I N G
P R O G R A M S
2 0 — C o l i n P o w e l l C e n t e r
— Elena Romero, Adjunct Lecturer, Center for Worker Education
50 N u m b e r o f C C N Y
s e r v i c e - l e a r n i n g
c o m m u n i t y p a r t n e r s .
22 N u m b e r o f s e r v i c e -
l e a r n i n g c o u r s e s o f f e r e d
i n 2 0 1 1 – 2 0 1 2 .
“ The impact of service-learning is immeasurable — extending from me, to my students, to the organizations, to every individual those organizations touch. ”
S E R V I C E -
L E A R N I N G
P R O G R A M S
“This gives neighbors a way to communi-cate their concerns.” — Mary Lutz
“Latinas Forward creates a safe space for young women at risk.” — 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.’”
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.
600+ N u m b e r o f C C N Y s t u d e n t s w h o
p a r t i c i p a t e d i n s e r v i c e - l e a r n i n g
c o u r s e s i n 2 0 1 1 – 2 0 1 2 .
C C N Y — 2 1
Boarded-up vacant buildings are part of almost every
New York City neighborhood. In fact, there’s enough
unused space in the city to house 199,981 people,
according to a study by Picture the Homeless, a
grassroots housing activist organization staffed by
homeless or formerly homeless members. “There’s no
need for anyone to sleep on the street,” says Kendall
Jackman, a Picture the Homeless campaign leader.
This knowledge drives John Krinsky’s partnership with
Picture the Homeless. Easing homelessness must
begin with providing dependable, affordable housing for
those most likely to lose their homes, says Krinsky, an
associate professor of political science at City College.
One promising approach centers on community land
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 Fellow-
ship 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
prevent homelessness. The fellowships, which include
guidance and funding of up to $8,000, support faculty
who partner with community groups on research and
policy formation. “It brings the experience and knowledge
of those most affected by a problem into the conversation
that shapes potential solutions,” Krinsky says.
To launch the investigation, Krinsky invited members of
Picture the Homeless into his service-learning course
on affordable housing policy. Their unique perspectives
played off the students’ points of view, ignited discus-
sion, and built trust and collegiality. Together the groups
took on service projects mapping Central Harlem,
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Central Brooklyn, and the
South Bronx to locate properties that could benefit
from being in a land trust. They also conducted a
nationwide survey of community land trusts that
provide housing affordable to people with extremely low
incomes. Now Krinsky and Picture the Homeless have
formed a larger working group to develop a community
land trust as a nonprofit entity to renovate and preserve
vacant and troubled housing. Says Krinsky, “This is
among the most exciting things I’ve done in 10 years at
City College as a faculty member.”
Krinsky joins three other CCNY faculty invested in equally
challenging and rewarding
community-based research
projects. Adeyinka M.
Akinsulure-Smith, an
assistant professor of psy-
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
professor of psychology,
is collaborating with the Harlem Vet Center to assess
the spiritual needs of Harlem’s returning veterans to
ease their readjustment to civilian life. Ana Motta-Moss,
director of evaluation and research at the Sophie Davis
School of Biomedical Education, has joined forces with
the Washington Heights “Y” and WeACT for Environ-
mental Justice to assess Latino residents’ environmental
concerns related to asthma and other health issues.
All are looking deeply into constructive solutions to endur-
ing problems. For Krinsky, this encompasses addressing
not only what to do with vacant properties, but also the
larger question of how to stabilize neighborhoods. Through
their community-based research partnership, he and
members of Picture the Homeless hope to find the answer.
C O M M U N I T Y-
B A S E D
R E S E A R C H
P R O G R A M
Assessing a Promising housing Solution
“ It brings those most affected by a problem into the conversation. ” — John Krinsky
C C N Y — 2 3
Kendall
Jackman
(right) and
John Krinsky
lead a housing
forum.
2 4 — C o l i n P o w e l l C e n t e r
Looking Ahead to a Welcome vision
Ten years into our current slate of activity, our scholar-
ship and fellowship programs are flourishing, and our
service-learning initiatives support remarkable levels
of innovative civic engagement activities across campus.
We have grown to this point by expanding these
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.
EXTENDING OPTIONS FOR STUDENTS
New programs for students will supplement existing
intensive, scholarship-driven programs, such as the
Colin Powell leadership program, with shorter leader-
ship and service training opportunities, designed around
the needs of specific majors, particular issue areas, or
selected career trajectories. Some programming will con-
tinue to target students enrolled in Colin Powell Center
programs, but more and more, we will engage the cam-
pus at large in a mission of leadership development and
service that will shape generations of CCNY students.
CREATING NEW FACULTy AFFILIATIONS
For CCNY faculty, we are developing a new designa-
tion, signifying deep and continuing affiliation with the
Colin Powell Center. CCNY faculty currently engage the
Center as professors teaching service-learning classes,
as participants in our community-based research fellow-
ships and public scholarship programs, and at our public
events and lectures. Center affiliation status will repre-
sent an invitation to reconceiving the scholarly profession
in ways that more actively link teaching, research,
and public discussion to public purposes, community
partnerships, and civic engagement.
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
collaborators in various Colin Powell Center initiatives.
In the coming years, we will deepen these partner-
ships, adopting, in some cases, a problem-focused and
sustained vision for service-learning. A powerful step
forward, that vision will enable interdisciplinary collabora-
tion across campuses, and draw those collaborations
into the service of communities in need. As a first step
in this process, we will soon offer training programs to
community organizations to help them more effectively
engage the resources of the university to advance their
social missions.
Together, these changes mark an exciting new phase of
development for the Colin Powell Center, during which
it will seek to become a more vibrant home for, and
partner to, some of the most exciting, civically engaged
activities and projects happening at the City College
of New York. It’s a vision we’re committed to, and it’s
launching in 2012–2013.
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 tradi-tions. 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.
Randy and Susan Andrews
Bernard Herold & Co., Inc.
Lloyd Blankfein
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Robert B. and Joan Catell*
Commercial Mortgage Securities Association
ConocoPhillips
Margaret Crow
Lester Crown
Ambassador John J. and Irene Danilovich
Joseph Drown Foundation
Kenneth M. and Jacqueline Duberstein
Lt. General Samuel E. Ebbesen, USA (Ret.)
Colleen Foster
Ford Foundation
Howard Gilman Foundation
Rick and Susan Goings
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Richard N. Haass*
Harris Connect, Inc.
Margaret Holen
InfoUSA
Daniel & Eleanor Kane Family Foundation, Inc.
Stanley Kane
Linda F. Kaplan Thaler*
William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust
John G. Kester
In-soon Kim
David H. Koch
Michael Koester
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co.
Korea Society
Howard H. and Gretchen Leach
Allan and Karen Levine
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Sybil V. McCarthy
Peter O’Malley
Barry and Pamela Ostrager, Esqs.
Maurice Paprin
Kevin A. Planck
Ambassador John and Marcia Price
Ann Ramsay-Jenkins
John F. W. Rogers
Salesforce Foundation
Eric and Wendy Schmidt
Bernard L. and Irene Schwartz
Peter Jay Sharp Foundation
Joseph Spallina
Tupperware Brands
Barbara Walters*
Charles B. Wang*
John Whitehead
John S. Williams
Stephen A. and Elaine Wynn
Katsuhiko Yoshida
* Advisory Council Member
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
Anonymous
Marc and Lynne Benioff
Thomas L. Blair
Fulvio V. Dobrich*
Martin J. and Perry Granoff
Charles B. and Ann Johnson
Korea Foundation
Ambassador Ronald and Jo Carole Lauder
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. and Christine H. Schwarzman*
Sy and Laurie Sternberg*
UnitedHealth Group
donors
Ed
itoria
l/Pro
ject
Man
agem
ent:
Mau
ra C
hris
top
her
D
esig
n: L
eslie
Kam
eny
D o n a t i o n s a s o f 6 / 3 0 / 1 2
Advisory CouncilColin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service
Madeleine K. AlbrightFormer Secretary of State
James A. Baker, IIIFormer Secretary of State
Tom BrokawSpecial Correspondent, NBC
Robert B. CatellChairman AERTC, Stony Brook University
Fulvio V. DobrichPresident and CEO Galileo Asset Management, LLC
Harold M. EvansFormer President and Publisher Random House
Carly FiorinaFormer Chairman and CEO Hewlett-Packard
Vartan GregorianPresident Carnegie Corporation of New York
Richard N. HaassPresident Council on Foreign Relations
Vernon E. Jordan , Jr.Senior Managing Director Lazard Freres and Co., LLC
Henry A. KissingerFormer Secretary of State
Lois PopeLIFE Foundation
Colin L. Powell (Chair )Former Secretary of State
Linda PowellActress
Lisa QuirozSenior Vice President Time Warner, Inc.
Jack RudinMay and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc.
Stephen SchwarzmanChairman and CEO The Blackstone Group
Lisa S. CoicoPresident The City College of New York
Sy SternbergRetired Chairman and CEO New York Life Insurance Company
Linda Kaplan ThalerCEO and Chief Creative Officer The Kaplan Thaler Group, Ltd.
Barbara WaltersABC News
Elie Wiesel
Charles B. Wang
Fareed ZakariaEditor at Large Time, Inc.
THE CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK160 Convent Avenue Shepard Hall, Suite 550 New York, NY 10031212-650-8551 phone 212-650-8535 faxwww.ccny.cuny.edu/[email protected]