AGENCY TESTIMONY
Funding and support from New York City Council for anti-discrimination initiatives
0:13:55
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136 sec
Chancellor Matos Rodriguez details the funding and support received from the New York City Council for CUNY's anti-discrimination initiatives. He highlights how this support has enabled the expansion of various programs and training efforts.
- Mentions grants of $500,000 and $425,000 to expand work from the Center in Ethnic and Religious and Racial Understanding
- Describes $1,300,000 investment in campus programs to combat hate, including $550,000 provided by the city council
- Discusses the launch of constructive dialogue training and workshops, with future scaling up thanks to a $500,000 investment from the city council
Felix Matos Rodriguez
0:13:55
First, I wanna thank the council as you have been a great partner with CUNY in this work.
0:14:01
Back in 2019, when I began my tenure as chancellor, one of my first requests to the council was a grant for $500,000 and a later year, 40, 425,000 to expand our work from the Center in Ethnic and Religious and Racial Understanding at Queen's College to a university wide level.
0:14:23
Sarah from Queen's grew from a program developed by the College Center For Jewish Studies.
0:14:28
And in my previous role as Queen's College President, I saw firsthand how successful Sarah was at educating our community and addressing the issues of racial and ethnic stereotyping in campuses.
0:14:43
Additionally, over the past 2 years, CUNY has invested 1,300,000 in campus programs to combat hate, including 550,000 provided by the city council.
0:14:57
With this support, we have built on the work on the Koffenberg Holocaust Center at Queensborough Community College and a range of activities on campuses including to cite just 1, the I am a Jew exhibition at the New York City College of Technology, which celebrate the diversity of the Jewish population at New York City Tech.
0:15:19
Finally, last month, CUNY launched constructive dialogue training and workshops for all our presidents, deans, and members of my cabinet.
0:15:28
In addition, 50 staff members will be trained and certified as constructive dialogue facilitators, and a 100 faculty and 50 students will attend workshops on navigating difficult conversations.
0:15:41
The Jeffrey h and Sherry l Aronson Family Foundation and the Carol and Mil and Milton Petrie Foundation, general supporters of CUNY, are funding the start of this program, which is being facilitated by the Constructive Dialogue Institute.
0:15:57
Thanks to a generous, half a million investment from this city council for fiscal year 2025, we'll be scaling up this effort substantially to reach even more members of the CUNY community.
