The City University of New YorkBlack Male Initiative (CUNY BMI)

www.cuny.edu/bmi

http://web.cuny.edu/academics/oaa/initiatives/bmi.html

The City University of New York• CUNY is the nation’s largest urban public university with twenty-three (23) institutions: eleven (11) senior colleges, six (6) community colleges, the William E. Macaulay Honors College, the Graduate School and University Center, the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, the CUNY School of Law at Queens College, and the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education.

• The University is led by a Chancellor who reports to a Board of Trustees and is appointed by the Governor of the State of New York and the Mayor of the City of New York. The CUNY Chancellor oversees all of the colleges of the CUNY system from the University’s Central Office.

Dr. Matthew Goldstein, Chancellor,The City University of New York (CUNY)

The City University of New York• The Executive Vice Chancellor and

University Provost manages the CUNY Office of Academic Affairs which oversees University policies governing the academic programs of the University and its twenty-three (23) colleges and more than a hundred research centers. Among its numerous

special programs, the CUNY Office of Academic Affairs is responsible for the development and implementation of The City University of New York Black Male Initiative (CUNY BMI).

• As the CUNY Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Dr. Frank D. Sanchez supervises CUNY BMI staff and manages the implementation of the program throughout the University.

Dr. Frank D. Sanchez , Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The City University of New York (CUNY)

CUNY BMI: History and Purpose - I• Based on promising models at Medgar Evers College, a CUNY college in central

Brooklyn led by President Edison O. Jackson, the University created a BMI program.

• In May 2004, the Board of Trustees of The City University of New York unanimously approved its Master Plan for 2004-2008. This comprehensive planning document included for the first time in the University's history a Chancellor's Initiative on the Black Male in Education.

• In fall 2004, Chancellor Matthew Goldstein established a University Task Force on the Black Male Initiative. Key faculty members and administrators with relevant knowledge and expertise were asked to serve on the Task Force.

• During the 2005-2006 academic year that funds projects throughout the CUNY system that are designed to increase the enrollment and retention rates of students from groups that are severely underrepresented in higher education. For a detailed explanation of CUNY BMI, including a link to our History and Purpose Statement and a list of BMI campus project directors and campus projects, please visit: http://www.cuny.edu/bmi or http://web.cuny.edu/academics/oaa/initiatives/bmi.html

I

CUNY BMI: History and Purpose - II• The Task Force was charged with developing

recommendations that would include a series of action-oriented projects to help black males overcome the inequalities that lead to poor academic performance in the K-12 system, the attendant weak enrollment, retention, and graduation from institutions of higher education, and high rates of joblessness and incarceration.

• During its six months of deliberations, the Task Force was presented with convincing evidence that black males in New York City and beyond face patterns of ongoing and distinctive discrimination in many aspects of their lives, most evidently in education, in treatment by the criminal justice system, and in employment.

CUNY BMI: History and Purpose - III• In 2005, the CUNY BMI Task Force issued a comprehensive report

that listed nine (9) recommendations that should guide CUNY BMI’s work and the program’s agenda. The nine (9) recommendations are:

1. Provide strong University leadership on the challenges facing black youth and men;

2. Strengthen the school-to-college pipeline to enable many more black male students to move into higher education;

3. Increase admission and graduation rates at CUNY colleges; 4. Improve teacher education to prepare professionals for urban

education; 5. Improve employment prospects for black males; 6. Contribute to the reduction of the incarceration rate for black men; 7. Establish an Institute for the Achievement of Educational and Social

Equity for Black Males; 8. Involve experts in the implementation of the recommendations; and9. Establish benchmarks and hold Colleges accountable for

implementing these recommendations.

CUNY BMI: History and Purpose - IV• After hearings before the Higher Education Committee

of the New York City Council chaired by the Honorable Charles Barron, the University was awarded funding from the New York City Council and began to implement some of the aforementioned recommendations.

• With the generous support of six (6) consecutive grants from the New York City Council, CUNY BMI has created projects throughout the University that provides direct services to CUNY students.

Left: Dr. Edison O. Jackson, Former President, Medgar Evers College, The City University of New YorkRight: Council Member Charles Barron, The New York City Council

CUNY BMI: History and Purpose• Now, in its sixth year, the CUNY BMI program funds 29 projects

throughout the University

Professor Floyd Weatherspoon, Capital University School of Law, and Former Commissioner and Vice Chairman, Ohio Commission on African American Males with Third Annual CUNY BMI Conference participants

CUNY BMI: The Program• CUNY BMI is a CUNY wide initiative comprised of 29

campus-based BMI projects that are designed to increase the enrollment and retention rates of students from groups that are severely underrepresented in higher education, including African, African American, Caribbean and Latino males.

• Though targeted towards African American males, these projects do not discriminate based on race or gender and will serve as models for improving educational outcomes of all students. All programs and activities of the Black Male Initiative are open to all academically eligible students, faculty and staff, without regard to race, gender, national origin or other characteristic. 

CUNY BMI: The Program• CUNY BMI has funded projects

throughout the CUNY system that focus on the following areas:

1. Increasing enrollment of diverse populations through diversity recruitment;

2. Promoting academic success and improving retention and graduation rates through structured mentorship programs and the development of academic learning communities;

3. Facilitating access to higher education for students who have fallen out of the traditional K-12 education pipeline to college through support of targeted GED programs;

4. Exposing CUNY students to graduate and professional school opportunities;

5. Supporting reentry programs that assist formerly incarcerated individuals in making the transition to higher education.

Tyron Tyler, Student, The New York City College of Technology (City Tech)

CUNY BMI: LeadershipCUNY Central Office Administrators

Frank D. Sanchez –Vice Chancellor for Student AffairsDeborah Douglass - Executive Director of Education and Training

Opportunity ProgramsIan James - VC Office of Student Affairs Liaison to CUNY BMI and

University Coordinator for Student Grievances and Inquires

CUNY BMI Central Administrators

Elliott Dawes - University Director, CUNY BMIJermaine Wright - Associate Director, CUNY BMIAlan Newton - CUNY BMI Research Associate

BMI Project Administrators - Central Office Projects

• CUNY ADULT LITERACY/GEDLeslee Oppenheim - Director of Language and Literacy Programs Gayle Cooper-Shpirt - Staff/Curriculum Development /BMI Project CoordinatorFrannie Rosenson - Director Brooklyn College Adult Paul Wasserman - ALC Director Lehman College

• CUNY CREATIVE ARTS TEAM (CAT) - Success by DegreesLinda Zimmerman - Executive Director Keith Johnston - Program Director

• CUNY MIDDLE GRADES INITIATIVE (MGI)/GEAR UPCiji Gardner - Director, Middle Grades Initiative/GEAR UP

Julia Pujols - Family Outreach Coordinator/BMI Program Coordinator

• The College InitiativeMichael Carey - Director of the College Initiative Benay Rubenstein, Founder of the College Initiative

BMI Project Administrators - Senior Colleges

• Baruch College Ben Corpus - Vice President for Student Affairs Huthaifah Kareem - Office of Undergraduate Admissions & Financial Aid Services Angela Anselmo - SEEK Director

• BROOKLYN COLLEGE - ERIS Program Noel S. Anderson - Professor, Department of Political ScienceJoseph Wilson - Professor, Department of Political ScienceFloyd Patterson - MSW

• THE CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK- Black Male Leadership and Mentorship Program (BMLMP)Claude Brathwaite - Project Administrator, New York City Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Co-Director, Black Studies ProgramMalita Esnard - BMLMP Program Coordinator

• THE CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK-Retention, Achievement, & Professionalism Success Institute (RAP-SI)

Gordon Thompson - Director of the Black Studies Program

• COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND- College Success InitiativeDebra Evans-Greene - Director, Office of Minority Access Programs and Dean of Science & Technology Office

• HUNTER COLLEGE- Brothers for ExcellenceJohn Rose - Office of the President Marcia Cantarella - Associate Dean of Student OpportunitiesJoshua Xavier - Coordinator, Black Male Initiative

• JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE- Urban Male LeadershipBerenecea Johnson Eanes, Ph.D. - Vice President of Student Development

CUNY BMI: Leadership• LEHMAN COLLEGE -Center for Urban Male Leadership (UMLP)

John Holloaway - Associate DeanMichael A. Deas, MSW - Director, Urban Male Leadership Program, Division of Student Affairs Stacey Williams, UMLP Academic Advisement, African American Studies Department Mozelle Goodwin, UMLP Coordinator

• Medgar Evers College Targeted GED Program Male Ladders Educational Initiative Jonathan Bissell, Adult and Continuing Education Ella Russell, Adult and Continuing Education

• Medgar Evers College -The Male Development and Empowerment Center (MDEC)

Larry B. Martin - Project Director Paul Washington

• NEW YORK CITY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY- STEMSonja Jackson - Dean of Curriculum and InstructionReginald Blake - BMI Project Director, Assistant Professor, Physics Department and City TechJoan Schwartz, BMI Project Coordinator

• QUEENS COLLEGE - Excellence, Equity and InclusionJune Bobb - Assistant Provost

Irving Macario - Academic AdvisorRonald Sanchez - Project ExCELProgram Coordinator

• YORK COLLEGE – Men’s Center Jonathan Quash – Director, York College Male Initiative Program & Men's Center

BMI Project Administrators - Community Colleges

• BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE (BMCC)Urban Male Leadership ProgramMichael Gillespie - Associate Dean, Academic Affairs

Ashtian Holmes - BMI Coordinator

• BRONX COMMUNITY COLLEGE - SLASEGeorge Sanchez, VP of Academic Affairs Bernard J. Gantt – BMI Executive Director , Dean of Enrollment Management Clifford Marshall, II - CR Manager, Director of VA/Director of BMI

• HOSTOS COMMUNITY COLLEGE – Youth Leadership ModelWeldon C. Williams III - Professor Coordinator, Black Studies Unit Department of HumanitiesSandy Figueroa – Professor, Business, Hostos BMI Steering Committee Cynthia Jones – Professor, Humanities, Hostos BMI Steering Committee

• KINGSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE- Student Leadership InitiativePaulette Dalpes, Dean for Student Affairs Michael Rodriguez, Student Leadership Initiative

• LAGUARDIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE-Empowerment and Success Program Renee Butler - Senior Administrator for Student AffairsJohn Lee Baker, Jr. - Associate Director of Student Services and Black Male Empowerment and Cooperative Program FacilitatorTerik Tidwell - Retention Coordinator Office of Student Development

• QUEENSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE – MALESWarren Soare - College Discovery Program, BMI Project Director Brian A. Kerr – Director of Office for Academic Advisement

Nidia Gonzalez – Academic Advising, BMI Project Coordinator

CUNY BMI: LeadershipBMI Project Administrators – Access to Graduate and Professional School

Opportunities

• CUNY GRADUATE CENTER Office of Educational Opportunity and Diversity Programs (OEODP)Donald Robotham, Professor of Anthropology and Executive Officer, OEODP

• CUNY LAW SCHOOL - Pipeline to JusticeMary Lu Bilek - Associate Dean and Professor of Law

• JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE - Ron Brown Pre-Law ProgramJodie G. Roure, J.D., Ph.D. - Project Director , Assistant Professor, Latin American and Latina/o Studies Department and Principal Investigator

Francois Restrepo, Assistant Director Brown Pre-Law Program

• SOPHIE DAVIS SCHOOL OF BIOMEDICAL EDUCATION THE CITY COLLEGE - Medical Career Success ProgramJerrold Erves - Associate Director of Admissions

CUNY students at graduation

Organizational Chart Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs

Enrollment/Academic Success Targeted GED

Baruch BMI BMCC –Urban Male Leadership Academy

Brooklyn College - ERISBCC – SLASE

Reentry Program

City College- RAPSICity College- BMLMP

The College Initiative

Professional /Graduate Access

City College- Sophie DavisCUNY Adult Literacy/GED

CUNY Graduate Center-OEODP

CSI - College Success Initiative CUNY CAT- Success by Degrees

CUNY MGI/ GEAR UP Hostos BMI

CUNY Law Pipeline to Justice

Hunter- Brothers for Excellence JJC- UML

KBCC- Student Leadership Initiative

JJC-Ron Brown Pre-Law Program

LaGuardia/ BMI BMEC

Lehman - Urban Male Leadership Program Medgar Evers - MDEC

NYCCT- STEM

Medgar Evers – Ladders Initiative

CUNY BMI Central

Executive Director COPE/POISED

University Director CUNY BMI

Associate Director CUNY BMI

Program Manager CUNY BMI/TALP

Teacher Development Teachers as Leaders Project (TALP)

Research Associate

V C Liaison to CUNY BMI

QC – ExCel

York College – Men’s Center QCC- MALES

CUNY BMI: Core Areas• Enrollment/Success

• Graduate /Professional School Opportunities

• Targeted GED

• Teacher Awareness

• Reentry Program

Professor Kwando Kinshasa, African American Studies Department, John Jay College of Criminal Justice,The City University of New York

Enrollment/Success• The campus-based BMI projects involved in this core area are:

Senior Colleges Baruch- SEEK Program Brooklyn College – ERIS City College - Black Male Leadership and Mentorship Program (BMLMP) City College - Retention, Achievement, Professionalism Success Institute (RAP-SI) College of Staten Island - College Success Initiative: Learning by Teaching Hunter College - Brothers for Excellence John Jay College - Urban Male Leadership (UML) Lehman College - Urban Male Leadership Program (UMLP) Medgar Evers College - Male Development & Empowerment Center (MDEC) New York City College of Technology - STEM Queens College - Project ExCEL York College - Men's Center Community Colleges Borough of Manhattan Community College - Urban Male Leadership Academy Bronx Community College - Student Leadership Academy for Social Entrepreneurs (SLASE) Hostos Community College - Youth Leadership Model Kingsborough Community College - Student Leadership Initiative LaGuardia Community College - Empowerment and Success Program for Underrepresented Groups Queensborough Community College – MALES

CUNY Central Office CUNY Creative Arts Team (CAT) CUNY Middle Grades Initiative - GEAR UP

Graduate /Professional School Opportunities

• The campus-based BMI projects involved in this core area are:

Senior Colleges John Jay College - Latin American and Latina/o Studies -

Ron Brown Summer Pre-Law Program for Undergraduates Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, The City

College - Medical Career Success Program

CUNY Graduate and Professional Schools CUNY Graduate Center - Office of Educational Opportunity

and Diversity Programs (OEODP) CUNY School of Law - Pipeline to Justice

Targeted GED• Gives individuals without a high school

diploma an opportunity to enroll in GED courses oriented towards college preparation.

Senior College Medgar Evers College - GED/Educational

Ladders Initiative CUNY Central Office CUNY Adult Literacy/GED Program

Teacher AwarenessTeachers as Leaders Project

• With the generous support of the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation and The Schott Foundation for Public Education , CUNY BMI has created the Teachers as Leaders Project (TALP) which offers CUNY students: (1) full scholarships; (2) New York State Teacher Certification Examination (NYSTCE) workshops; (3) career development and public policy workshops; (4) clinical education experiences and (5) mentorship from current and former New York City public school teachers. 

• The campuses that are involved in TALP are: Senior Colleges

Brooklyn CollegeCity CollegeCollege of Staten IslandHunter CollegeMedgar Evers CollegeNew York City College of TechnologyQueens CollegeYork CollegeCommunity Colleges Borough of Manhattan Community CollegeBronx Community College Queensborough Community College

Professor Floyd Weatherspoon delivers morning keynote address at the Third Annual CUNY BMI Conference held at Medgar Evers College on October 3, 2008.

Reentry ProgramThe College Initiative

• Provides support for formerly incarcerated individuals to enroll in college.

• College Initiative, A College Access and Reentry Program based at LaGuardia Community College.

• www.collegeinitiative.org

CUNY BMI: Program Components• Diversity Recruitment Involves strategies that increase enrollment of

underrepresented students in higher education, including African American males.

• Structured Mentorship/Tutoring Mentorship can include both peer advisors and faculty/

administrators.

• Academic Programming University-wide and campus based projects provide an

additional lay of support in the form of academic programming, workshops, and lending libraries.

CUNY BMI: Goals• Increase the recruitment of underrepresented students.• Increase retention of underrepresented students.• Increase the course completion rate of underrepresented students. • Reduce the number of class withdrawals for underrepresented students.• Improve the overall grade point average of underrepresented students.• Increase the graduation rate of underrepresented students.

CUNY students at graduation

The City University of New YorkBlack Male Initiative (CUNY BMI)

www.cuny.edu/bmi

http://web.cuny.edu/academics/oaa/initiatives/bmi.html