Queens nonprofi t builds free professional coaching
program to support students during the pandemic
The City Mentor Program has connected hundreds of students with industry professionals to review their materials and assist with career exploration.
Courtesy of Garri Rivkin/City Tutors
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2021 17
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
The City Tutors, a Queensbased
volunteer tutor and
mentor nonprofit in Rego Park
with a citywide outreach,
has managed to help CUNY
students and recent college
graduates secure internships
and job opportunities through
its new initiative, The City
Mentor Program.
While the COVID-19 pandemic
disproportionately impacted
CUNY students from
low-income communities in
New York City, the City Mentor
Program established in March
2020 has provided students
with the necessary tools and
resources offering resume and
cover letter revision, interview
prep, LinkedIn page audit, and
network expansion.
Garri Rivkin is executive
director of City Tutors, a nonprofit
originally launched
in City College of New York
(CCNY) in Harlem, largely
serving 16- to 24-year-olds who
are currently in high school,
college, or are recent graduates.
Their goal is to ensure no
one is left behind, and that everyone
has resources available
to them, according to Rivkin.
“We want to bring equitable
access to these resources for
communities that have been
historically underserved,”
Rivkin said. “We wanted to
make sure that we can lend a
helping hand to support students,
but also a broad support
for anyone who needs help.”
During the early days of
the COVID-19 crisis in March,
many students lacked access
to industry insiders who could
help review their materials
and assist with career exploration,
Rivkin said. The City Tutors
Mentor Program sought
to change that by providing
working professionals and
companies the opportunity
to support New Yorkers from
communities historically underserved
and especially vulnerable
job market challenges
brought on by the pandemic.
Over 70 percent of mentorship
beneficiaries in the program
are people of color.
The program has more than
250 mentors from across industries
such as finance/business,
healthcare, law, marketing/
advertising, technology, education,
publishing, nonprofit
and government.
“Since March, we’ve facilitated
over 800 mentorships
— that’s over 1,500 sessions,”
Rivkin said. “Some of the major
corporate partners are
from companies like Goldman
Sachs, Viacom CBS, IBM and
Citi.”
Once a student confirms
their participation in the program,
they are connected with
a mentor. The long-term mentors
work with the program’s
tutors to develop their professional
capacity over a period of
six months, while short-term
mentors work with anyone
from the community to develop
their resumes, LinkedIn
profiles, or to hold information
sessions on their industry.
“City Mentors connected
me with two generous and
supportive people, one a software
engineer and the other
a recruiter. Over the course
of a few meetings, they helped
me to gain confidence, develop
a strategy for my continued
learning and job search, and
offered me a chance to ask
questions and receive insight
shaped by real-world experiences,”
a CCNY City mentee
participant said.
There’s a need for professional
coaching, according to
Rivkin, especially if a student
doesn’t come from a community
with easy access to obtain
information.
“There’s clearly an appetite,
and as we’ve grown we
have partnered with Career
Services within CUNY but
also with various nonprofits
whose students also need the
support,” Rivkin said.
Rivkin says he sees the
mentor program continuing
even after the pandemic, based
on increased participation and
more companies that recognize
the value of supporting
fellow New Yorkers.
“There’s so many people
that are getting the opportunity
for the first time to go to college
and an opportunity that
their parents might not have
had,” Rivkin said. “Having as
many channels of support and
access is so crucial in order
for them to stay persistent and
propel forward.”
Rivkin, a refugee from
Lithuania who immigrated to
America with his mother in
1996, said his family did not
know how to access resources
and he was unsure whether
he would go to college. When
he was recommended by his
teacher to attend City College,
that’s where he found great opportunities
and professors who
helped him along the way.
“I was a beneficiary of being
in the right place and having
people who took a chance
on me, but it wasn’t like there
was a particular place I could
go to that didn’t require luck,”
Rivkin said.
Rivkin’s establishment
of the City Tutors Program
is very much communitydriven,
developing a hub for
professional development and
support.
“It started with one program
and hoped that the model
itself would work, that volunteers
would have the right
incentives to do the work,”
Rivkin said. “We’re hoping that
we can add more and expand to
something that can continue to
help New Yorkers.”
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by e-mail at cmohamed@
schnepsmedia.com or
by phone at (718) 260–4526.
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