The Bronx is a college town. Twelve colleges call the Bronx home, four of which have significant resident populations that bring new faces to the borough each year. Several others provide Bronx students with the chance to have an affordable education with ample opportunities for future success.
This year, many of those institutions will introduce new initiatives to enhance their students’ college experiences.
Lehman College, which has about 12,000 undergraduate students, was awarded $1.25 million to promote health studies as a career option to high school students in the borough. This means the college can educate more students about the opportunities there are in the health fields. Granting access to the healthcare and medical industry for children in an underserved borough is no small feat.
Additionally, the University of Mount Saint Vincent is introducing new options for learning in the Bronx by adding an associate degree program. Seton College, which opens this semester, offers associate degrees in business, pre-health professions and social sciences. Students will be awarded maximum student aid so they can explore different pathways of learning without going into debt.
Another exciting change here in the Bronx: Manhattan College is now Manhattan University. MU President Milo Riverso told the New York Times that this decision was made to reinforce the value of a college degree. Mercy College was also recently promoted to Mercy University.
The Bronx Economic Development Corporation continues to be involved in the educational enhancements made to the borough’s colleges. Last November, the BXEDC hosted the Green Action Challenge, which Bronx Community College won and was awarded $1 million to make their campus more environmentally friendly.
The Business Initiative Corporation of New York, which is a sister organization to the BXEDC, is also working with the Fordham University Center for Community Engaged Learning on a grant that will fund environmental justice projects in EPA Region 2, which covers several areas including New York, Puerto Rico, New Jersey and the Virgin Islands.
These institutions will only become more crucial to the Bronx as it grows, and they are constantly forging partnerships with organizations as a way of being more integrated in the community. Business owners should think about their relationships to the colleges – they can be helpful to small businesses in many ways.
Interested in applying for the EPA Grant? Visit www.fordham.edu/ccel to learn more.
Jilleen Barrett is the director of communications and marketing at Bronx Economic Development Corporation.
