Press Mayor to Restore CUNY 'Opportunity' Aid

The Chief-Leader/Adrienne Haywood-James SUREST PATH TO HIGHER EDUCATION: Elliot Dawes (second from left) tells a City Council hearing that the Black Male Initiative's mentorship program was a vital service for the City University of New York because 67 percent of black males 'don't make it through the traditional K-through-12 pipeline.'

The City Council's Higher Education Committee Chair April 28 called on Mayor Bloomberg to revoke cuts to the City University of New York's opportunity programs.

"Don't tell us you're the Mayor for education and then cut the budget for CUNY," Councilman Charles Barron said to a Council Chamber packed with CUNY students and professors. "I don't care what the budget deficit is; it really doesn't matter."

'No Reason for Cuts'

Mr. Barron convened the hearing over the Mayor's proposed withdrawal of funding to the Peter F. Vallone Scholarship Program and the Black Male Initiative, city-funded CUNY programs aimed at the underprivileged and under-represented minorities.

CHARLES BARRON: Chides Mayor over cuts.

The Councilman, a caustic critic of Mr. Bloomberg, alleged that the Mayor was using fiscally troubled times to mask his disdain for the programs. "The Mayor automatically cuts our programs every year," he said. "There's no reason why they should be cutting the Black Male Initiative, or why they should be cutting the Vallone scholarship; the money is there."

In a phone interview, mayoral spokesman Marc LaVorgna said that Mr. Bloomberg's budget for CUNY did not specifically target the opportunity programs. "It's not like the Mayor is saying, 'cut this Vallone scholarship,' " he said. "Both programs were given seed money by the City Council and that can occur through the budget process again this year."

The Black Male Initiative was designed to recruit more African-American males, a disproportionately low percentage of the CUNY population, although the program is open to all under-represented students. The BMI grants support mentorship programs, leadership academies and support services.

BMI students are also encouraged to pursue careers in city service, particularly as public school Teachers. Currently, only 4.5 percent of the city's Teacher ranks are black males, a number many think contributes to the low achievement rates of African-American male students in public schools.

A Running Battle

Funding for the Black Male Initiative started at $2 million in 2006 but fell to $1.5 million a year later, before being boosted to $2.5 million for the next two years. As Mr. Barron noted, the City Council has had to negotiate to restore funds for the Black Male Initiative every year since its inception.

The Peter Vallone scholarship, named after the former City Council Speaker, awards scholarship money to students from city high schools who retain at least a B average. When it began in 1999, the program provided stipends of $1,250 a year per student, but payment is now $500 a year because of increased student interest coupled with a decrease in city funds.

CUNY Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Gary Moore testified that the programs were vital to maintaining a vibrant student community, saying, "at no time in our nation's history has there been a greater need to support all of our students." He noted that 80 percent of recipients of opportunity program money "finish their semesters in good academic standing."

Elliot Dawes, the Director of the Black Male Initiative, said that the mentorship program was important not only in bringing under-represented groups to CUNY, but also in helping underachieving students obtain their General Equivalency Diplomas before taking college-level classes. "Sixty-seven percent of African-American males don't make it through the traditional K-through-12 pipeline," he testified.

A Fund-Raising Toll

Mr. Dawes also noted that the better the city funded the Black Male Initiative, the better it looked to outside donors. "Funds from the City Council help us make our case to the private donors," he said.

Testimony from the Professional Staff Congress focused on two other opportunity programs funded by the state. Union Secretary Arthurine DeSola said that the SEEK (Search for Education, Elevator and Knowledge) and College Discovery programs had been hemorrhaging funds for years and were under threat due to the state's fiscal problems.

"These programs serve some of CUNY's neediest students," Ms. De- Sola said. "[They are] available to only to entering college freshmen who are academically disadvantaged and come from families with incomes below the poverty level." She called them "among the biggest success stories of CUNY" due to their "long track record for moving very low-income students from a marginalized position to high levels of academic attainment."

40% Drop in Service

Both SEEK and College Discovery have been affected by a decline in funding. The programs served 4,320 freshmen in 1990 but only 3,180 in 2008, a 40-percent drop. While the City Council cannot restore state funding, Ms. DeSola asked that Mr. Barron negotiate to provide increased student counseling and mentorship at CUNY to compensate.

"We believe that all financially and academically disadvantages students- a large proportion of all CUNY students- should have the same levels of educational support services provided to students in the SEEK and College Discovery programs," she said. "We call on the City Council to invest more resources in CUNY students who are New York City's future workforce."

"This is the kind of ammunition we need when we go into budget talks," said Mr. Barron, who encouraged the gathered CUNY students to mobilize and push city government for the funds. "We contribute billions of dollars to the economy and we're 450,000 strong," said the Councilman, a CUNY graduate himself who said that he had benefited from SEEK and College Discovery. "You don't want to mess with us."