College Expands Pre-Collegiate/Dropout Prevention Programs to Middle Schools

SUNY Rockland Expands Pre-Collegiate/Dropout Prevention Programs to Middle Schools

Suffern, NY - Rockland Community College will double the number of children it serves in its pre-collegiate/dropout prevention programs by expanding services to high schools and moving into middle schools to help encourage college attendance.

The RCC Liberty Partnerships Program (LPP) received an increased grant to expand its programs in East Ramapo, North Rockland and Nyack School Districts high schools.  The increase in funds will also allow LPP to expand its programs to middle school students in East Ramapo and North Rockland School Districts.  In addition, LPP will have an evening program for high school students at the Martin Luther King Center in Spring Valley.

LPP will receive $300,000 per year for the next five years, while previously the program received $160,000 per year.

"We will be able to serve 240 students from middle school through high school -- doubling the numbers we had previously served," said Dr. Laurie Miller McNeill, Director of Grants Development.

The grant draws on the research of Dr. Edmund W. Gordon, RCC’s Scholar-in Residence, one of the nation’s leading scholars on the education of at-risk youth.

The Liberty Partnerships Program (LPP) was established in 1988 under Section 612, Subdivision 6 of the Education Law to address the significant dropout rate among New York’s youth.

Fifty-five Liberty Partnerships Programs offer comprehensive pre-collegiate/dropout prevention programs and services to youth in Urban, Rural and Suburban communities of Western New York, Finger Lakes, Central New York, Southern Tier, North Country, Mohawk Valley, Capital District, Mid-Hudson Valley, NYC and Long Island.

For more information, about the Liberty Partnerships Program, contact Cathlene Cruz, Director, Liberty Partnerships Program, at 845-574-4140, ccruz@sunyrockland.edu or visit: http://www.sunyrockland.edu/go/liberty-partnership

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Rockland Community College, a unit of the State University of New York, is located 25 miles northwest of NYC. The majority of its students transfer to four-year colleges, and many find immediate employment upon earning their associate's degree or certificate. The College also offers others, from preschoolers to senior citizens, the opportunity to simply learn something new. Quality education...at a price you can afford.