Local tutoring program to move into BC dorm |
| Local tutoring program to move into BC dorm Posted: 21 Jan 2011 01:10 AM PST After sitting dormant for over five years, two storefronts at 110th Street and Manhattan Avenue may see activity as early as this summer. Plans are progressing for the relocation of a local tutoring program, which will move from 88th and Columbus Avenue to two unoccupied spaces in Barnard's Cathedral Gardens residence hall. Gregory Brown, Barnard's chief operating officer, said that he expects construction to take place either this summer or the summer of 2012 for the new location of Goddard Riverside Community Center's OPTIONS tutoring program. "We're encouraged by the community's support for the project and hope the plans come together in the spring," Brown said in an email, adding that planning and fundraising efforts for the move have already begun. One of 27 programs that Goddard Riverside runs throughout the Upper West Side and Harlem, OPTIONS provides SAT preparation and college admissions counseling for students from low-income and middle-income backgrounds. The partnership will provide Goddard Riverside—which provides food, shelter, and education services—with over 5,000 square feet of property that has been vacant since Barnard reserved the two storefronts for community space after completing its Cathedral Gardens dorms on 110th Street in 2006. OPTIONS came into the picture after original plans to turn the space into a day care center were scrapped. Because the space is partially underground—a potential fire hazard—the city's Administration for Children's Services declared the property inappropriate for child care. The arrival of OPTIONS will also provide Barnard with an opportunity to increase involvement with local high school students, especially after Barnard ended its Liberty Partnerships tutoring program for area youth last year due to increased costs and lack of state funding. While the college is launching a pilot program called Barnard CITY—Community Involved in Tutoring Youth—to address the immediate needs of former Liberty students, Barnard staff said OPTIONS's move will provide more choices. "Barnard CITY involves Barnard and CU students who tutor, recruit volunteers, and make referrals for students and families," said Vivian Taylor, Barnard's chief of staff and vice president of community development, in an email. "Many former Liberty students are enrolled in other neighborhood programs, including OPTIONS." Brown added that he hopes Barnard volunteers will become involved with the program once it opens. "We see the relationship with Goddard Riverside as a partnership, so an essential element will be the opportunity to involve the Barnard community," Brown said. Mark Diller, CC '80 and chair of Community Board 7's Youth, Education, and Libraries Committee, said the move will be beneficial to OPTIONS because it will provide the program with a larger space while increasing its proximity to the neighborhoods where most of its students live. "It's bursting at the seams and can't fit in the space they have been occupying," Diller said of the program's current location at 88th Street. "The core constituency in terms of students comes from north of this location as opposed to south of it." "It's a program that has a record of success, and we think that it's a great use for the space," said Mel Wymore, chair of Community Board 7, which passed a resolution in November in support of the project. Lily Owen, director of planning and special projects for Goddard Riverside, said the new location will serve current students better and attract future students. "There's a lot of need uptown that hopefully we'll be able to meet in terms of college access and success," she said. "Having it at the storefront, from our side, is going to make it that much more welcoming and appealing to students." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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