The New Ihope program at CUNY provides single parents opportunities

Inwood, N.Y.— A new program will aim to provide education and employment opportunities in health and information technology to single parents in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

CUNY in The Heights is a parent location for the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Their new Ihope program is modeled after a Texas program and funded by a prominent New York foundation.

It’s set to open on Nov. 5 and aims to remove many of the obstacles preventing single parents from going back to school or pursuing tech jobs. Nina Aristy, who is the director of the program, said child care, transportation and support for social, mental and physical health issues will be provided.

Aristy said she was drawn to the program by her own family’s experience; she and her four siblings were raised by a single mother.

“When this came up, it was just an amazing opportunity that sort of really met my own personal life like my I came from a single mom straight out of the Dominican Republic who was really looking for some sort of support in order to advance in her career,” Aristy said.

The Y Nursery School is a Jewish community center in Washington Heights that provides education and other services to young children. Student counselor and student at CUNY in The Heights Lewinny Robles describes what the program should provide.

“I think the program should have morning classes, so when the child is in school parents could just come and take class,” said Robles.

Luis Rojas, a 27-year-old EMT worker acknowledges vaguely hearing about the Ihope program. Based on what he does know, he wants there to be caretaking hours for children.

The new program was inspired, organizers said, by the early 2000s San Antonio initiative, Project Quest. The Project focused on single mothers and women of color in the community.

The Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable organization that eases problems caused by poverty, donated $1.2 million to get Ihope off the ground.

Ingrid Renderos, director of CUNY in The Heights, said applications are already coming in, and many applicants seem especially interested in child care. “Thank goodness child care is being provided,” Renderos said.”

Luis Rojas, a 27-year-old EMT worker, shares the same sentiment “offer caretaking hours for children,” Rojas said. Rojas vaguely heard about the IHope program online and as he made his way inside CUNY in The Heights.

“What we’re trying to do is to provide a quick, direct pathway out of poverty for populations that usually have a hard time taking college courses. And may have been out of school for years,” said Christopher Shults, dean of institutional effectiveness and strategic planning for the Borough of Manhattan Community College.

Shults expects Ihope to help students and families out of poverty. By basing the program on the rise and demand for jobs that will create sustainable wages in the future.

According to information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, health care and informational technology careers will boom in the coming years. “It’s a big part of the reason for the focus on parents is that we’re about generational change, and that’s really what this project is about,” Shults says.

Though the program doesn’t exclude single fathers, the pandemic particularly affected single mothers and women of color. The disparity and impact the pandemic had on both groups left them devastated.

“This is a means to help them and prioritize them in terms of getting them back in the fold,” Robin Hood Foundation official Brandon Martin said.

Robin Hood and CUNY in the Heights agreed when discussing the program that they would give it 18 months to be proven successful. The expectation from Robin Hood is that the program serves 180 students; both Shults and Renderos hope the program succeeds and goes on longer.

Several community organizations are also helping provide services for the upcoming program. Sara Chapman, director of the nonprofit organization Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation asked Robin Hood what services the program should factor in.

“I was saying, telling them that you should provide child care. You should provide citations and you should you know, make sure that it’s flexible all the things that we know to be program design components. You need good case management, and you’ve got to have good wrap around services,” said Chapman.

Chapman hopes stipends will be offered to participants. It’s a common problem educational programs suffer from, according to Chapman.

“They don’t have to worry about where their next meal is coming from or whether or not they’re going to be evicted. They don’t have to worry about whether or not they can afford books or whether or not there’s child care provided, you know.” Chapman says.

According to NYC Population Fact Finder, almost 70 percent of residents in Manhattan’s Community District 12 are Hispanic, and many aren’t fluent in English. It’s a hurdle that Renderos and Shults address by providing ESL courses and helping applicants with tutors and peer support.

“It’s not necessarily a disadvantage when talking about students entering the public health field at a later age,” said former health professor Jamie Murkey. He would like students from the program to transfer to a four college and graduate school because their life experience proves vital throughout their careers.

Another change Murkey says he wants to see is diversity in health care, “Unfortunately, there is a lack of diversity in multiple ways, you know, representing the field, and so I want to see that change just because the more diversity we have, people can share and bring their lived experiences.”

Renderos and Shults want to break the chain of poverty in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx and in the future, the hope is not only to expand the program to the main campus but to see a program like this implemented citywide.

“Frankly, that’s not just our hope that’s CUNY central’s hope, and it’s also Robin Hood’s hope they really want us to be a model so that this is something where higher education institutions across our boroughs can be Centers for this,” Shults says.

Writers Note: To learn more contact and check out their website

Ninoska (Nina) AristyPronouns: she/her/ella Program Director, Project IHOPE https://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/cuny... [email protected].