Courtesy LaGuardia Community College
LaGuardia Community College is boosting support for non-citizen students with the new $1.5 million Friedman Fund, offering scholarships, stipends, and emergency aid.
By MOHAMED FARGHALY
mfarghaly@queensledger.com
LaGuardia Community College, part of the City University of New York (CUNY), is enhancing access to higher education for New Yorkers seeking college degrees and workforce training.
In recent years, the LaGuardia Community College Foundation has provided over $4 million in financial assistance annually to approximately 3,000 students. With the introduction of the Friedman Fund for New New Yorkers, the college will increase its financial support for students regardless of their citizenship status.
“The Friedman Fund provides more dedicated funding to individual non-citizen students within existing programs of aid of almost every kind – scholarships, stipends and emergency aid,” Jay Golan, Executive Director of the LaGuardia Community College Foundation said. “In addition, the Fund inaugurates a program, the Friedman Fellows, for non-citizen students to get paid positions helping other LaGuardia students on campus in academic work, peer counseling and mentoring. “
The Friedman Family established the Friedman Fund for New Yorkers at the Community College out of a deep commitment to improving the quality of life for New York City students. Their grant for non-citizen students was inspired by visits to the LaGuardia campus, where they met students and evaluated existing support programs, reinforcing their desire to contribute meaningfully to the community.
Funded by the $1.5 million commitment from the Friedman Family, the new initiative aims to address the diverse needs of the city’s immigrant population. The Friedmans, who have had notable careers in New York, recognize the integral role education plays in fostering aspiration and achievement, contributing to a stronger city and region.
“When we stepped back from our professional careers,” the Friedmans said, “We were interested in giving back to New York City. Our interests led us to CUNY and to LaGuardia Community College for its diversity and critical role in working with immigrants, old and new, in degree, literacy and career-building initiatives. We were gratified to find partners at LaGuardia who shared our vision for a great city.”
Courtesy LaGuardia Community College
This initiative aims to enhance educational access and community integration for immigrants.
The Friedman Fund will enhance support for non-citizen students at LaGuardia Community College by offering increased financial aid through scholarships, stipends, and emergency assistance, as well as creating paid positions for students to help their peers in academic and mentoring roles.
“It is extremely gratifying to LaGuardia Community College that its mission to give every students avenues to achieve their dreams to build careers and fulfilling lives, has been validated by the Friedman Family,” Golan said. “Their partnership with the LaGuardia Foundation expands participation of private philanthropy in this mission and focuses on the particular needs of the substantial non-citizen segment of the LaGuardia student body.”
LaGuardia Community College President Kenneth Adams expressed gratitude for the Friedmans’ commitment, emphasizing the importance of providing quality education to all students. The support from the Friedman Fund will enable scholarships, experiential learning stipends, and emergency aid through LaGuardia CARES, which connects students with resources to help them overcome financial barriers and remain in school.
“Our conversations with the Friedmans were fascinating,” President Adams said. “This family has a passion for helping in ways that feel right to them, and this led them to focus on new New Yorkers and their needs. They, like all of us at LaGuardia, believe that it is possible for New York to address the challenges of integrating all kinds of aspiring New Yorkers by public education and workforce development. What LaGuardia’s donors add is invaluable privately funded quality-of-life student aid.”
“The Friedman family brings a lifelong concern for New York City students and their quality of life, and a commitment to give back to New York in a substantial way,” Golan said. “The Friedman Family grant for non-citizen students followed visits to the LaGuardia campus to meet students and a review of existing programs to aid students.”
LaGuardia Community College, located in Long Island City, Queens, offers more than 50 associate degrees and over 65 continuing education programs. As a Hispanic-Serving Institution, LaGuardia has played a significant role in advancing the socioeconomic mobility of its diverse student body since its founding in 1971.
LaGuardia Community College hopes to inspire other universities to integrate non-citizen students into campus life and encourage increased private philanthropy to support these initiatives.
“It is LaGuardia’s hope both that other universities recognize the potential that exists for integrating non-citizen students into the life of the university and the surrounding community, and that more private philanthropy can be tapped into their support,” Golan said.
