Urban Studies Folks! Please consider applying to the America Needs You program for awesome professional development opportunities. The deadline is March 1, 2018. Do ask Urban Studies faculty for help with your application, which includes two letters of recommendation. For more information about the program and eligibility requirements, please see the email below as well as this link: https://www.americaneedsyou.org/fellow-application/? Dear Colleagues: As you may recall, each year, CUNY partners with America Needs You (ANY), formerly the New York Needs You Fellows Program. This important two-year career development and leadership program targets low-income, high achieving, first-generation college students who have the ambition, tenacity, and desire to fully realize their education and career goals. The program's activities include bi-weekly Saturday workshops that foster relationships with over 200 highly accomplished mentor coaches and community and business leaders; curricula that focus on life planning, development of critical skills, public speaking, personal finance, written communication, relationship management, and interviewing; opportunities to apply skills learned through leading projects such as career workshops for their peers; and a stipend of up to $2,000 for the two-year commitment. Every year, students are recruited to apply for this opportunity by designated CUNY liaisons on each campus. Please find attached the current liaison(s) for your college. Because of the efforts of the liaisons, this partnership has been quite successful since its inception. For example: * Over 650 CUNY students have been accepted into the program since AY 2010 * CUNY students comprised an average of 73% of the first 4 cohorts of 350 students, representing nearly every CUNY campus and competing against applicants from Columbia, Pace, NYU, and other local colleges and universities * America Needs You was so impressed by CUNY's response that they doubled the cohort size from 50 to 100 beginning in its second year, and restricted eligibility exclusively to CUNY students in its fifth year (AY 2014). Recruitment for the 2018 cohort has begun, with a strict deadline of March 1, 2018. Because the application process involves completing an online questionnaire and submitting 3-4 essays, 1-2 letters of recommendation, high school and college transcripts and a resume, many students will need assistance to not only begin, but also to complete it in time. Please urge your campus liaisons to get the word out about this important program and to encourage and support applicants before the deadline. Michael Yohai, budget and grants manager in the University Office of Academic Affairs' Continuing Education and Workforce Programs office is coordinating this effort, and can be reached at 646-664-8015 or Michael.Yohai@cuny.edu<mailto:Michael.Yohai@cuny.edu> if you or your liaisons have any questions. Please help us boost recruitment of applicants so we can continue to help your students maximize their college experience and realize their full potential. Thank you for your support. Best wishes, John John Mogulescu Senior University Dean for Academic Affairs The City University of New York