Our College and Career Programs are ramping up for another year of service. We are providing more content workshops, in addition, to Community Meetings. And in bringing back an oldie but goodie, creative writing workshops that will be led by spoken word poet, activist and author Kim "Goodlook" Seabrook.

 

Are you looking to get involved in advocacy, get help with college, jumpstart your career, or find a community of other justice-impacted women?

CCF is here to bring you the support you need to thrive. To learn more or take your first step towards joining the CCF community please complete this form. You can also find out more about what we do and our programming here. 

Academic Services

Academic Support Program

 CCF held its second Holiday Outing on December 17 at Zona de Cuba, where 70 participants and their guests celebrated and enjoyed a delicious brunch and were gifted journals. 

 CCF launched its Partnership Program with targeted outreach to potential and existing partners throughout each of the five boroughs, yielding new, and re-engaging existing, partners that offer opportunities for recruitment and/or connection to external resources/services that holistically support CCF student success. New partnerships include: 

  • Network Coordinated Services Inc-a reentry organization working within correctional facilities and the community that has committed to promoting CCF programs to the women they serve. 

  • National Black Women’s Justice Institute, an NYC-based nonprofit empowering Black women impacted by the criminal legal system, is providing a Self-Care workshop to CCF participants and exploring ways it might support and/or enhance MultiGen programming.  

 

Community Meetings

ASP is hosting 6 Community Meetings this spring. Topics include:  

  • Self-Care Practices

  • Navigating Student Loans

  • Entrepreneurship + Networking 

  • Optimizing LinkedIn For Your Job Search 

  • Know Your Rights-Housing

  • End-of-Semester Reflection + Celebration  

 Stay tuned for dates and sign ups!

 

multigen program

14 participants in the fall 2023 cohort of MultiGen successfully completed the semester of programming, including four workshops, one 1-on-1 check-in with staff, one family activity and one end-of-semester celebration. 

MultiGen hosted a participant-led, hybrid, paint-and-sip family activity where participants and their children created their own paintings, either in person at the CCF office, or from home with kits mailed to each of the families. 

CCF staff and the MultiGen facilitator are collaborating on updating the curriculum and program design to allow more opportunities for youth engagement. 

 The spring cohort is scheduled to begin mid-March, with applications set to launch in February.  Stay tuned for the application in your email! 

Uplift Mentor

Uplift Mentor Cohort 4 completed the first half of its year-long mentorship consisting of both one-on-one and group mentoring supports, including 6 monthly Sister Circles, 3 Mentee Circles and 3 Mentor Circles. The remaining 6 months of the mentorship will shift to exclusively to one-on-on mentoring in which mentors support mentees implement their IDPs. 

THRIVE

THRIVE provided training to SUNY Old Westbury. This is the first SUNY school CCF as an organization has partnered with since we led the policy campaign demanding SUNY ban the box with the criminal conviction question off of its college application. The ban-the-box campaign was a historic collaboration through the former Education from the Inside Out Coalition-a former coalition fostered by CCF which included CCF former policy and advocacy team, Fortune Society and the Center for Community Alternatives.

The THRIVE/SUNY collaboration has made the Community News section of a local Long Island paper.

“SUNY Old Westbury is an institution founded on the belief that all people should have access to the transformative power of higher education,” said Timothy E. Sams, SUNY Old Westbury’s president. “With our historic commitment to social justice and equity, it makes great sense that we help our team be better prepared to support students impacted by experiences with the criminal justice system. We are grateful to CCF for selecting us for this impactful opportunity.”

Throwback

Check out a video we made at the beginning of the Pell campaign, over 11 years ago! We’ve been campaigning for a long time and we are excited to see what unfolds now that Pell access has been restored.

 

Bronx Redefining Advocates for Civic Engagement (BRACE)

CCF's Policy Team is excited to begin Phase II of the Bronx Redefining Advocates for Civic Engagement (BRACE) Training Program--the Community Liaison Mentorship Program. This January we selected 4 of the top performing women in the program to continue for an additional 3 months to sharpen their research and advocacy skills.  

The Liaisons will develop an advocacy action plan, attend advocacy events like Community Board meetings, town halls, and other activities to enhance their advocacy skills, and receive mentorship from CCF staff and policy advocacy leaders who will serve as mentors that will help them learn more about campaign building and organizing. We are excited to work with the BRACE liaisons, collaborate with the mentors and support the movement to make the Bronx a better place!


Women of Change 2023: Storytelling Program with The Moth

What’s your story?  

Do you want to learn how to share your story in authentic and impactful ways?  

Apply to our new art advocacy program: the Women of Change 2023: Storytelling with The Moth. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the city council. Cultural Development Fund (CDF) is DCLA’s competitive, peer-evaluated grant process that supports a broad, multidisciplinary group of diverse non-profit organizations for their cultural services to city residents and is managed by the agency’s Programs Service Unit. We are so excited to have received this grant this year and also look forward to partnering with one of the city's greatest transformational storytelling groups. 

We welcome directly impacted women to apply to the program! The application is due Sunday, February 12, 2023. See below for eligibility details, the link to apply, and a video showing last year’s Women of Change.

Women Influencing Systems and History (WISH)

There is no update for WISH right now as we are using the Spring to review the curriculum and update the program with feedback from the alumni. Stay tuned for a new WISH cohort in the summer!