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AGENCY TESTIMONY
Success of the CUNY Reconnect program for adult learners
0:09:09
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89 sec
Sarmiento presents the success of the CUNY Reconnect program, launched in 2022, which helps adult learners return to complete their degrees by removing small financial hurdles and offering personalized support.
- Over 47,000 New Yorkers have returned to CUNY through Reconnect
- More than 8,500 have already graduated
- Reconnect students are primarily women and people of color from all boroughs
- Example of Dennis Valdez, a single mother who returned to complete her accounting degree
Reine Sarmiento
0:09:09
Thanks to your leadership we have already have a model that works.
0:09:13
CUNY Reconnect launched in 2022 and with your support proves that when we reach out to adult learners, small financial hurdles we remove and offer personalized support.
0:09:28
Students return and they succeed.
0:09:31
More than 47,000 New Yorkers have returned to CUNY through Re Connect in just a few years and I'm happy to report that over 8,500 have already graduated.
0:09:42
Our ReConnect students come from every corner of the city, primarily from Queens and Brooklyn but hail from all of the boroughs.
0:09:50
They are overwhelmingly women and people of color.
0:09:53
Many are working parents, first gen college students and they represent the richness, resilience and potential of New York City.
0:10:02
Let me just share one story that brings it home.
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Dennis Valdez, a 24 year old Bronx Student dropped out of Lehman College in 2020.
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I believe that was when the pandemic happened.
0:10:15
When she became a single mother and lost her job during the pandemic.
0:10:20
She thought her dream was over, but through Reconnect and with the support of childcare and flexible class scheduling, she enrolled and is now on her way to earning her degree in accounting.
0:10:33
That's what Reconnect provides, a bridge between aspiration and opportunity.