CUNY LAUNCHES EMERGENCY RELIEF
FUND TO AID STUDENTS IN NEED
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
The City University of New
York (CUNY) launched a Chancellor’s
Emergency Relief Fund
on April 8 to help students facing
financial hardship during
the COVID-19 crisis.
With initial support from
the Carroll and Milton Petrie
Foundation and the James and
Judith K. Dimon Foundation,
the Chancellor’s Emergency
Relief Fund will distribute
grants of $500 each to thousands
of CUNY students who
are coping with the severe economic
fallout of the extraordinary
public health emergency.
“The coronavirus pandemic
is having a devastating
economic impact on many
of our students, and this unprecedented
emergency fund
will provide rapid-response
financial support to those who
need it most,” said Chancellor
Felix V. Matos Rodriguez. “We
applaud the Petrie and Dimon
Foundations, whose generous
and swift response to this
growing crisis allowed us to
quickly establish this critical
support for our students.”
CUNY serves 275,000 degree
seeking students whose
median household income is
about $40,000 a year; 38 percent
are from families earning less
than $20,000. Nearly half work
while in school, and many now
find their jobs and incomes
eliminated, drastically reduced
or threatened — exacerbating
financial pressures and
challenges including food and
housing insecurity and lack of
access to health care.
The Dimon Foundation and
the Petrie Foundation each announced
initial gifts of $1 million
to establish the Chancellor’s
Emergency Relief Fund,
the first university-wide student
assistance program of its
kind at CUNY.
The generous gifts build on
the Petrie Foundation’s history
of supporting CUNY with
both emergency aid and innovative
programming, and on
the longstanding relationship
between CUNY and HERE to
HERE, founded by the Dimon
Foundation, to prepare students
for future success.
“Having met many CUNY
CUNY students will begin receiving emergency grants of $500 each the week of April 20. Photo courtesy of CUNY
students from all 25 campuses,
I can attest to their work ethic,
persistence, talents and dedication
to their families and
communities,” said Judy Dimon,
founder of the James and
Judith K. Dimon Foundation
and founding chair of HERE to
HERE. “They deserve our support
and we are proud to stand
with the Petrie Foundation,
and many other funders who
are lining up to provide it.”
Cass Conrad, executive
director of The Carroll and
Milton Petrie Foundation,
said they’re honored to be able
to support the Chancellor’s
Emergency Fund during a
challenging time for so many
New Yorkers.
“Not only will this fund
provide near-term relief to
CUNY students and their families,
but we believe it will help
ensure that they can remain
in school, complete their degrees,
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.2 COM | APRIL 17-APRIL 23, 2020
and ultimately contribute
to the revival of the city,”
Conrad said.
In addition to the $2 million
seed money, the Chancellor’s
Emergency Relief Fund is
launching with an additional
$1.25 million in contributions
from corporate and philanthropic
donors including:
$500,000 from Robin Hood,
and $750,000 from JPMorgan
Chase, Deutsche Bank, Goldman
Sachs, The Jeffrey H.
and Shari L. Aronson Family
Foundation, The Pinkerton
Foundation, The Solon E.
Summerfield Foundation and
the Harman Family Foundation.
Students will begin receiving
emergency grants of $500
each the week of April 20. The
recipients will be chosen by
lottery from a group of about
14,000 students who have
been identified as meeting
financial-need and academic
criteria. With additional funding,
the University will seek
to deploy emergency grants to
more students in the coming
months.
The emergency fund is the
latest financial-assistance resource
CUNY is providing to
its most vulnerable students in
response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Over the past few weeks,
the University, with support
from Gov. Andrew Cuomo,
quickly purchased 30,000 computers
and tablets to distribute
to students who need them in
order to fully participate in
distance learning and keep up
with their studies.
Additionally, about 1,600
CUNY community college students
who were issued $400
campus cafeteria food vouchers
through a City Council
pilot will be getting the money
as a payout they can spend
anywhere for food. And 117 foster
care students in the CUNY
Fostering College Success Initiative
will receive $425 emergency
grants. The assistance
comes from a donor wishing to
remain anonymous.
Rodriguez is inviting other
foundations, organizations
and individuals to join them
in this time of urgent need.
“Helping CUNY students
means helping New York get
through these terribly difficult
and uncertain times so
we can all start looking ahead
with optimism,” Rodriguez
said.
To contribute to the Chancellor’s
Emergency Relief
Fund, visit: cuny.edu/emergencyfund.
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by e-mail at cmohamed@
schnepsmedia.com or
by phone at (718) 260–4526.
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