Message from Dr. Belinda S. Miles: Supporting Students Parents and More
September 23, 2022
Colleagues,
Our intentional focus on student success and support services has once again resulted in SUNY Westchester Community College being named a recipient of a U.S. Department of Education grant. Dr. Laurie Miller McNeill reports that the college has been awarded a new, second CCAMPIS (Child Care Access Means Parents in School) grant. This significant revenue source will enable us to provide even greater support systems to student parents, an at-risk population for dropping or stopping out of college, especially during these pandemic years.
Supports made available through our 2017 CCAMPIS grant enabled student-parents to persist and complete their programs of study with 96% of WCC student-parents who received CCAMPIS subsidies reporting that they would have been unable to enroll in college without such aid. Our data also indicates that the case management services in the 2017 grant—to be continued and expanded under this new grant—have doubled graduation rates among those with childcare subsidies.
The CCAMPIS grant, an excellent example of exceptional collaboration and support between the college, federal funding, and the WCC Foundation, provides essential support for childcare at our nationally recognized Virginia Marx Children’s Center. Under the provisions of this new grant, participating students will receive comprehensive childcare and parenting support, and completion-focused case management support similar to our Viking ROADs, TRIO SSS (Student Support Services), Title V, Mercy HSI-STEM Ready grant and other grant-supported cohorts.
The risks and challenges that student parents face are not unique to SUNY Westchester or our region. Here are links to recent articles that provide insight into some of the added challenges facing student mothers and fathers as they work to support their families and their academic goals.
- Rethinking community college supports for single moms (hechingerreport.org) 9/16/22
- Huge numbers of student fathers are dropping out of college (hechingerreport.org) 2/18/22
- The invisible lives of Black student fathers – TheGrio (6/19/22)
- How student parents of young kids make it through college (2/25/20)
- Student parents in college who are ‘close to the edge’ need help (5/7/20)
Prof. Kristy Robinson reminds us that the current edition of the Mental Health Matters newsletter is available on our website. Thanks to the SUNY WCC Mental Health Task Force for continuing to raise awareness of mental health by sharing valuable resources.
Thank you for all you do to support our students – especially our student parents – by providing safe spaces to study, meet with classmates or take a short break from their daily challenges, helping students build a strong connection to WCC as they fold into the fabric of our college community, and valuing their contributions to our community. Please continue to let students and colleagues know of the myriad services we have in place to support the mental health and wellbeing of our college community. As always, we are #VikingStrong.
Support Links:
- https://www.sunywcc.edu/student-services/childrenscenter/student-parent-support/
- https://www.sunywcc.edu/student-services/mental-health-services/
- https://www.sunywcc.edu/student-services/mental-health-services/for-students/
- https://www.sunywcc.edu/student-services/mental-health-services/resources/
- https://www.sunywcc.edu/student-services/mental-health-services/for-faculty-staff/
Mental Health Matters Newsletter – Westchester Community College (sunywcc.edu)
Dr. Belinda S. Miles
President