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Community Spotlight: Dr. Kristy Clementina Perez, Director of Baruch SEEK
For nearly two decades, Dr. Kristy Clementina Perez has dedicated her career to helping students find their voice, build confidence, and see themselves as leaders. After beginning her career as a classroom teacher, she joined Baruch College’s SEEK program as a graduate student intern, where she went on to become a counselor and create the…
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Ben Carey, Division Director of College Success Programs at Cypress Hills
For more than 40 years, CHLDC has worked alongside residents to create opportunities, strengthen neighborhoods, and invest in the future of Cypress Hills, East New York, and surrounding communities. Today, Ben Carey acts as Division Director of their College Success Programs. He oversees four programs across the Thomas Jefferson and Franklin K. Lane campuses, including…
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Commonpoint and CARA’s Growing Partnership
For the past several years, CARA and Commonpoint have worked together to strengthen college access across Queens through a shared belief in the power of peer leadership. Commonpoint is the lead CBO for Richmond Hill High School, Flushing High School, Queens High School for Language Studies, and Veritas Academy. As Corina Liu, Director of Postsecondary…
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College Inquiry at Phipps Neighborhoods: Year Two
When Sade Switzer first encountered CARA, she was working at Metropolitan High School, a community partner of Phipps Neighborhoods. CARA’s training courses stood out as a resource that could help build a shared understanding of college access across an entire organization. During this time period, as Sade explained, “we were kind of in different schools,…
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Synthesis Between College Access and Career Pathways
Robert Schwartz has served as Assistant Principal at Richmond Hill High School in central Queens for over a decade. In that time, he has become a leader in building school-employer partnerships and transforming post-secondary outcomes for students. When Rob stepped into his role in 2014, only 40% of graduates matriculated to college. Today, that number…
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From Dream to Center: Creating a Peer Mentoring Hub
Dr. Tolu Taiwo is the Associate Director for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Campus Climate at Clover Park Technical College, where she oversees the new Peer Mentoring Center she helped build from the ground up. As she worked to bring this space to life, Tolu partnered with CARA to build the foundation of the peer mentoring…
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Strengthening College Access in the Bronx with Alexandra
For nearly a decade, Alexandra Palacio has been a steady force behind college access work in the Bronx. As the Director of College Bound & Family Choice at Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC), she leads a team of counselors who guide young people from middle school through graduation. A certified bilingual counselor, Alexandra has spent…
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Meet Our Newark Bridge Coaches
With support from the Solon E. Summerfield Foundation, CARA expanded its College Bridge program to Newark, New Jersey in the fall of 2024. Since then, we’ve been learning alongside students, counselors, and our partners NCLC, Mentor Newark and the Newark Board of Education as we see how postsecondary access operates in our neighbor state, and…
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Bringing CARA’s Whole School Vision to the Big Island with Alana
For 30 years, Alana Haitsuka Fernandez has been working to make sure young people in West Hawaii have the support they need to plan for life after high school. In her role as a Temporary District Educational Specialist, she oversees professional learning communities across 19 schools and supports the five high schools in the West…