This Friendsgiving is about more than sharing a meal鈥攊t鈥檚 about celebrating generosity, connection, and the strength of the 可乐视频 community. It鈥檚 an opportunity for students, faculty, and staff to come together, enjoy delicious dishes made by students, and learn more about the many resources available to support all 可乐视频 students year-round.

Date and Time: December 2, 12:45鈥�2:30 p.m. and 3:40鈥�4:30 p.m.
尝辞肠补迟颈辞苍:听Food Lab, 5122 Ingersoll Hall

可乐视频 student Yl茅 Blackburn (left) and 2024 Valedictorian Rhema Mills, a CUNYCAP student employed in the Food Pantry who is currently attending the CUNY School of Public Health, helping out at the 可乐视频 Food Pantry.

During this event, students will present dishes inspired by comfort, tradition, and togetherness. While there will be a fun judging component鈥攁ttendees will help select a favorite鈥攖he real purpose is celebrating community and raising awareness for the many ways 可乐视频 supports student well-being.

The students will also be sharing prepared dishes to take home, which will be distributed at the Food Pantry in 312 Student Center while supplies last.

This effort is an ongoing collaboration with the pantry and Professor Rifkin鈥檚 classes. Last year, 可乐视频 mascot 鈥淏uster鈥� joined students who baked delicious treats and prepared goody bags for over 100 students.

One of the participating students,聽Cadidia Aupont, shared why this event matters: 鈥淔riendsgiving is about students uplifting one another. It reminds us that no one at 可乐视频 should feel alone when it comes to support or access to basic needs.鈥�

The event also highlights the essential work of the聽可乐视频 Food Pantry, led by聽Nicole Cohen, which is open to聽all聽可乐视频 students鈥攑roviding healthy food, snacks, and essential items in a caring, judgment-free environment.

and please share this link. Spaces are filling up!

Get Involved
There are many ways to help鈥攂oth for this event and beyond.

• Contribute ingredients or materials
• Donate gift cards or small prizes
• Offer financial or departmental support
• Spread the word about the event
• Donate to the Food Pantry Wish List or make a monetary donation
• Bring in food for donation

To learn about more ways to help, or about the event, you can contact Professor Rifkin at laura.rifkin@brooklyn.cuny.edu 辞谤听Nicole Cohen at Nicole.Cohen@brooklyn.cuny.edu. Learn more about the 可乐视频 Food Pantry here.

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Her staff under CAASS and the Student Success Unit work with first-year, transfer, and continuing students to ensure that they map out their courses, connect with the right faculty members and programs, know their degree requirements, and more. As November鈥檚 College-Wide Advisement Month wraps up, Newton has been working as hard as ever.

A native Long Islander for whom the four-hour daily commute is more than worth it, Newton received an interdisciplinary bachelor鈥檚 degree in political science, sociology, and women鈥檚 and gender studies. It was during her undergraduate studies that she discovered a love for higher education.

鈥淚 worked in residential life and was involved with student activities. I loved being on a college campus, and I felt like I didn’t want to leave,鈥� says Newton, a first-generation student. 鈥淚 realized it鈥檚 where my passion lies.鈥�

After earning an M.S. in counseling education, she ended up as a site administrator in an undergraduate nursing program. But with her background and devotion to inclusion and accessibility, she was drawn to CUNY鈥檚 mission.

鈥淚 was researching CUNY as a place to work and thought, 鈥榃ow. There are a lot of things here that align with my personal values’,鈥� says Newton. 鈥淐UNY is what I believe that higher education should be for all students.鈥�

After working as an academic adviser at Queensboro Community College, she started at 可乐视频 as a senior academic adviser. Within the past two decades, she has grown and learned through holding the positions of associate director, co-director, and now executive director鈥攁nd she hasn鈥檛 looked back.

With her knowledge and experience, she is a mentor and a friend to the associate directors that she works with each day, but she never takes sole credit for the work.

鈥淚 don’t think I could be more fortunate to work with such an amazing team,鈥� she says, pointing out how the CAASS staff and Student Success Unit have not skipped a beat for the students during some trying times.

鈥淥ur students鈥� sense of safety was shaken after Hurricane Sandy,鈥� says Newton. 鈥淚t was so important to me that we make any process or procedure related to their academic advising or appeal to policy due to extenuating circumstances as supportive and seamless as possible. Experiencing these students rebuild not only their basic needs, their homes and neighborhoods, but also their academic paths, was truly inspiring.”

Little did she know, this tragedy helped prepare her office for the COVID-19 pandemic.

鈥淲e immediately went virtual on March 16th, the next day,鈥� she says. 鈥淢y team was committed to making sure that they were available for students during a scary time. We wanted to remove any obstacles for them and give them a sense of stability during a scary time.”

It was also a time when the office was just trying to launch its Transfer Student Success team, to help remedy the previously unmet needs of transfer students.

鈥淭here are unique challenges to being a transfer student and our team has dubbed this ‘transfer turmoil’, which includes ‘transfer shock,’ a dip in a student鈥檚 GPA, loss of momentum toward completion, and a general sense of being unmoored,” she says. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 not just about their GPA鈥攊t鈥檚 about being there to support their transition to a senior college or a new senior college.鈥�

The Transfer Student Success Team works closely to support current students, whether through referring them to the Learning Center, connecting them with resources like the Food Pantry or Personal Counseling, helping them get advisement on the Navigate app, or encouraging them to explore student life.

Outside of empowering students and elevating her teams, Newton is an adventurous, creative people-person at heart. Though she hopes to someday become an expert ukulele player so that she can jam out to her favorite songs, for now, she enjoys paddle boarding, baking (and putting exciting twists on recipes), spending quality time with her family, and health activism.

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New York State may have been under pandemic restrictions, with most of the college鈥檚 3,800 employees working from home for the better part of the last year and a half, but for 220 essential workers, trekking to 2900 Bedford Avenue and logging a full day鈥檚 work has remained an everyday thing.

They are security and custodial workers, plumbers and carpenters, staff from the Office of Environmental Health and Safety, Food Pantry workers, and many others whose job it was to secure and maintain the campus or other critical functions.

Though many initially found that a once bustling campus felt a little post-apocalyptic when they first returned, most quickly realized that you can get a lot of work done when no one is around.

鈥淲e took advantage of it,鈥� said Scott Hambelton, paint supervisor. 鈥淚f anything, it was beneficial to us. It鈥檚 much easier to paint when the rooms are empty.鈥�

As the first weeks of the fall semester and the gradual return to campus unfolds鈥�20 percent of the college鈥檚 courses are fully in-person, and another 25 percent are hybrid, while most staff are reporting to campus at least one day a week鈥攖he essential workers have barely missed a beat, earning a nod from President Michelle J. Anderson in one of her letters to the campus.

鈥淎s we gradually transition our remote employees back on site, let鈥檚 continue to be grateful for all those who have already had to work on-site over the past 15 months,鈥� she said in a June correspondence with the campus community.

For much of the summer, that work has included preparing the campus for a mass reentry this semester. Here鈥檚 a look at the college鈥檚 essential employees at work.

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On May 27, 可乐视频 honored the incredible strength and perseverance the Class of 2021 displayed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with a virtual commencement celebration. But it would be impossible not to also recognize the support students received to reach their academic goals, as approximately $2.1 million was raised through various channels throughout the last year.

At the forefront of the movement to provide students with the financial aid they needed was the 可乐视频 Foundation. Established in 1958, the Foundation is the engine that drives ongoing annual support for student scholarships and other philanthropic priorities, and the team kicked into high gear at the onset of the pandemic with various community partners.

Last spring, at the beginning of the pandemic, the 可乐视频 Foundation established a Student Emergency Fund to aid students affected by COVID-19. Over 500 individual donors stepped up and joined community leaders like The Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, poverty-fighting organization Robin Hood, and The Tow Foundation to provide critical emergency support for the college鈥檚 students.

To ensure students stayed on track for graduation, the College was able to offer completion grants thanks to support from Foundation Board member Carol L. Zicklin 鈥�61, her husband Larry, and their children. The Zicklin Scholars Degree Completion Program has provided grants for students to take additional courses in summer and winter intercessions in order to help them complete their degrees.

A 可乐视频 Family Affair

Evan Silverstein is a graduate of the Class of 1976 and chair of the 可乐视频 Foundation Board of Trustees. Silverstein was one of the first donors to the Student Emergency Fund and is one of the fund鈥檚 lead supporters. He is particularly proud of the dedication 可乐视频 students are showing during the COVID-19 pandemic. He feels while a lot has been done to help, the Board knows its work is ongoing.

鈥淭he talent 可乐视频 students bring to the region must be allowed to flourish, and we remain devoted to offering this crucial support during these most difficult times,鈥� Silverstein said. 鈥淥ur students face unique challenges, but the COVID-19 pandemic added obstacles that required us to take our mission to another level. We are proud of the work we are doing for the students and the community, as 可乐视频 will continue to serve as an anchor institution for New York City moving forward.鈥�

The philanthropic effort at 可乐视频 has felt like a family affair to many. In fact, Silverstein reconnected his good friend and fellow alumnus Michael Rabinowitz 鈥�81 to the college more than a decade ago. Since that time, Rabinowitz has served as a regular donor and eventually created a scholarship fund in 2018 in his name for a cohort of five students to support over four years. He recently hosted a Zoom event with that cohort鈥攐ne of whom now has an internship at his company鈥攁nd he is excited to hear from them again soon. While he is planning to launch another scholarship program, Rabinowitz knows that offering varying modes of support has never been more critical than now.

鈥淚 feel it is important to connect with students,鈥� Rabinowitz said. 鈥淚t is not always about how much you can give financially, but how much time you can invest to make an impact on student lives and their futures.鈥�

Florence Cohen Rosen ’59 graduated at a time when tuition at 可乐视频 was free. Wanting to pay that educational gift forward, she founded the Rosen Fellowship Program in 2011. This extremely successful and impactful project-based program鈥攐ften including travel鈥攑rovides worldly experiences students would not normally enjoy until later in their careers. But, when the pandemic made extensive travel impossible, she pivoted her support to provide students with generous gifts. This enabled many to realize their ultimate goal of graduation and others the opportunity to register for the classes they needed to graduate.

鈥淚 am very passionate about the Rosen Fellowship, but when it became obvious that traveling was unsafe during the pandemic, I felt it was important to offer immediate assistance as students worked toward their degrees and career goals,鈥� Rosen said.

Supporting the Most Vulnerable Students

The college鈥檚 Immigrant Student Success Office (ISSO), which offers support to 可乐视频鈥檚 immigrant students, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) who identify with the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAMERS) and first-generation students, also played a huge role supporting students through this difficult time. With the help of the 可乐视频 Foundation, ISSO was able to secure two relief grants from the poverty-fighting organization Robin Hood in July of 2020 and February 2021. The initial grant provided emergency assistance to 300 immigrant students. The second offered financial support for an additional 160 students who have lost low-wage jobs or who have other COVID 19-related emergency expenses, such as food, housing, and technology for remote learning. ISSO also worked with the Hispanic Federation and The City University of New York (CUNY) to help pay for DACA application fees for 20 students.

ISSO itself would not have been possible without the financial support of 可乐视频 Foundation Board member and graduate Irwin Federman 鈥�56 and his wife Concepci贸n, whose donation helped launch the Office in 2019, and who have continued their leadership support since then, helping to ease the burden of immigrant students at a time when it is needed more than ever.

“This pandemic has disproportionately impacted minority students and the majority of our undocumented, DACAmented, and first-generation immigrant students,鈥� said Jes煤s P茅rez, director of the ISSO. 鈥淚n working with Robin Hood and others, we were able to secure another layer of support.鈥�

Sidebar: The talent 可乐视频 students bring to the region must be allowed to flourish, and we remain devoted to offering this crucial support during these most difficult times. Our students face unique challenges, but the COVID-19 pandemic added obstacles that required us to take our mission to another level. We are proud of the work we are doing for the students and the community, as 可乐视频 will continue to serve as an anchor institution for New York City moving forward.
鈥� Evan Silverstein ’76, chair of the 可乐视频 Foundation Board of Trustees

The help was not only financial. For students who are food insecure, the 可乐视频 Food Pantry, which receives funding from the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, also played an immensely important role during the pandemic. By using safe distribution techniques approved by the city and the state, the pantry has been able to safely serve 492 students since March 2020. It had 29 appointments scheduled for the month of April this year. The pantry is open every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., even through spring break and the summer.

To help students reach their career goals during this difficult time, the Magner Career Center at the college was able to raise money from alumni to pay students stipends for unpaid internships and similar opportunities.

鈥淪tipend awards help current students take non-paid, off-campus opportunities related to their career, which could involve internships, volunteer efforts, off-campus research and student teaching,鈥� Natalia Guarin-Klein, Magner鈥檚 Director said. 鈥淭hese were competitive and approximately 30% of students selected received these awards. They really could not have come at a better time, and we were thrilled to help through this program.鈥�

可乐视频 students also joined the effort to help their classmates. The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) at 可乐视频 led an effort to raise $40,000 in emergency-based grants. Aharon Grama, Chief of Staff of the Undergraduate Student Government explained that the effort involved asking students to donate their student activity fees that went into two separate funds: one for $20,000 grant for a 可乐视频-based effort and another $20,000 for a CUNY-based University Student Senate (USS) program. While all the monies collected went to deserving 可乐视频 students, the USG partnered with the USS to help with the logistics of reviewing applications and other responsibilities associated with the effort.

鈥淲e wanted to help as many 可乐视频 students as possible, so working with the USS to help more students made sense,鈥� Grama said. 鈥淭here was a lot of planning and work that needed to be done, so it was great that we were able to make it happen.鈥�

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at 可乐视频 takes great pride in helping the community, especially during the holiday season. For decades, the organization has opened its doors and served home-cooked meals to scores of people in need during the Thanksgiving holiday, and the tradition has become one of its signature events. This year, the COVID-19 pandemic made Tanger Hillel鈥檚 work even more impactful.

Over the years, Tanger Hillel has coordinated and planned large dinners for people in need at its center on Campus Road, typically serving well over 200 people each year. In 2019, more than 200 volunteers assisted with the effort.聽 This year, it partnered with a local food bank, Met Council, and held an event on November 25 at Met Council鈥檚 Fulfillment Center in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

The food was packaged and delivered through a partnership with Uber Eats and local livery companies to offer a safe, in-person volunteering event where students selected a shift that worked for them and packaged Thanksgiving meals for New Yorkers in need. Approximately 60 volunteers helped with the effort.

Yelena Azriyel, Tanger Hillel鈥檚 assistant director, said the COVID-19 pandemic has forced them to change their philanthropic efforts for safety reasons, but it hasn鈥檛 stopped them.

Tanger Hillel followed CDC guidelines to host a coat drive November 22. They partnered with various clubs on campus, including the Public Health and Medicine Club, Biology Club, Community Health Associated Initiatives Club, and Uzbek Society. All coats and winter clothing were donated on November 24 to a local homeless shelter with which they have a long-standing partnership. Twenty-three students volunteered their time to organize and coordinate the drive, and they collected more than 70 coats and other winter clothing items.

鈥淰olunteering is one of the five core values here at Tanger Hillel. It is a value that is embedded into our DNA,鈥� Azriyel said. 鈥淲e offer an array of volunteering opportunities for our students to partake in, and we encourage and guide our constituents to spearhead and take the lead on volunteer initiatives.鈥�

Other efforts during this difficult time included partnering with a local synagogue to provide food packages to families in need in a safe, COVID-secure environment. Volunteers were also able to partner with Masbia Soup Kitchen Network and assisted with packaging and distributing meals to communities of all walks of life, cultures, and religions in the Brooklyn area.

鈥淲e at Tanger Hillel understood that many students are not able to volunteer in person; that is why we offered a volunteering hybrid program that also allowed our constituents to volunteer virtually,鈥� Azriyel said. 鈥淪tarting this fall, students have signed up for our Senior Call Bank, where they can connect over the phone with isolated seniors to check in, offer technical support and guidance, and simply be a listening ear. We also have worked with local organizations to assess community needs and mobilized the students to volunteer and address them.鈥�

Not to be outdone, members of Student Activities teamed up with the 可乐视频 Food Pantry to distribute Thanksgiving turkeys to 29 students on November 23 as part of their annual commitment to give back around the holidays. Some students also received grocery gift cards.

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“At 可乐视频, we鈥檙e committed to the success of our transfer students,” says President Michelle J. Anderson. “This generous gift from the Petrie Foundation will help to ensure that our students have the support they need to complete their degrees.”

Transfer students typically make up more than 50 percent of the college’s student population, and the vast majority of those transfers come from Kingsborough and the Borough of Manhattan community colleges. But transfer students often face unique obstacles to graduation that require greater support and academic advisement.

“They encounter transfer shock,” says Tracy Newton, executive director of Academic Advising and Student Success. “They鈥檙e used to having multilayered support. They鈥檙e eager to study and want to maintain their momentum, but when they don鈥檛 have the support they need, their path to graduation can end up being a very winding one.”

The grant will help address the issue by providing funds to hire three transfer advisement coaches, three transfer completion coaches, and four peer transfer advisers. It will also support 可乐视频 in establishing a presence鈥攚hich will be virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic鈥攁t the two-year schools to support pre-matriculation events, early advisement sessions, and other events for transfer students.

The additional staffing will be key in establishing what Newton calls a “collaborative care model” in which the transfer advisement coaches will facilitate workshops to orient students to the college鈥檚 academic life as well as connect them to the appropriate faculty and departmental advisers. The completion coaches will act as intermediaries, advocating for students and navigating them through obstacles that may increase their time to degree or their risk for fatigue. Completion coaches will have a particular focus on the final semester.

“One of the biggest takeaways we want transfer students to have is that there will always be someone here to help them,” says Newton.

Newton says that the biggest gains she hopes to see are better graduation and retention rates and less time and fewer excess credits needed to graduate.

“We will make sure that we offer students a consistent and reliable support system. We want them to know that we are here for them from commitment to completion. They have a partner in this journey and their success is important to us,” she says.

The Petrie Foundation has a long history of supporting students at CUNY. At 可乐视频, the foundation supports the Food Pantry and emergency grants aimed at helping students complete their degree.

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Forty percent of CUNY students have already experience food insecurity. With 58 percent of 可乐视频 students coming from families that earn less than $40,000 annually, the college鈥檚 Division of Student Affairs decided to replace an old program that provided students with vouchers redeemable at local retailers with an in-house food pantry.

Ronald C. Jackson, the dean of students, says the pantry will be able to serve more students and their families鈥攗p to 100 per month. For $9,000 per year the Petrie Foundation鈥� pays for food that is delivered to the college every three months. The college has also collected thousands of items of canned food that will be on the pantry鈥檚 shelves.

Students in need will be able to make a confidential appointment to visit the pantry, which is designed like a grocery store, and allowed to select their own food. Jackson adds that having the pantry will help college officials get a better handle on the number of students who are likely struggling with a host of financial and other issues.

“We want to find better ways to serve this population,” he says.

Pantry staff will consult with students and faculty members from the college鈥檚 Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences about helping to plan healthy meals, and with business students who will manage the office and order supplies.

“We also want this to be an experiential learning 聽experience,” Jackson says.

Six years ago, the Petrie Foundation has awarded the college a three-year, $300,000 grant. Last spring, the grant was extended for another three years through 2018.

Since 2005, more than 430 students at 可乐视频 have been helped by the Petrie Student Emergency Grants. “These are students who have real emergencies, and yet they stay [in school], which is why we do this,” says Beth J. Lief, executive director of the Petrie Foundation. As of last spring, some 91 percent of 可乐视频 grant recipients were able to remain in school or graduate for academic year 2014鈥�15.

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