Professor Mary Brown: Community Leadership Program
This photo of the Community Leadership Program ran in a local newspaper, Park East, September 11, 1969. It is now in the MMC Archives.
In 1967, Marymount Manhattan College launched its own war on poverty by contacting Sister Marie Thomas of Fort Greene’s Dr. White Community Center. Later, MMC connected with Mattie Cook of East Harlem’s Addie Mae Collins Community Center. Both women identified promising girls in their senior year of high school. Twenty girls received tutoring at the neighborhood centers during their senior year and the summer afterward, leading to their admission to MMC in fall. Twenty more students were enrolled in the Community Leadership Program, as it was called, in the fall of 1968 and 1969. In 1969, New York State introduced its Higher Education Opportunity Program. MMC joined HEOP immediately, and has participated ever since. HEOP allowed MMC to reach out to traditional-age students who would need both financial and tutoring assistance to attend college.
Published: August 21, 2014
Jeremy Dominguez ‘18: Malcolm-King
Marymount Manhattan College took other actions similar to the Community Leadership Program. In 1968, the Malcolm King Harlem College extension program was created because of the community need. It became a free two-year program that offered up to 60 credits to adults ages 25-40 in the Harlem community. The first institution to sponsor Malcolm-King was Marymount Manhattan College. Malcolm King gave students the skills to be politically active and help their communities grow. It was very much an institution of its time, reflecting Michael Harrington’s call in The Other America, for political voice for the poor, and Sargent Shriver’s efforts in the Office of Economic Opportunity to teach effective community action. In 1987, Mattie Cook the administrative director died, and Malcolm-King ended soon thereafter. In years since, the “War on Poverty” has changed. Some programs and practices developed in the 1960’s still exist; such as Head Start, HEOP, civil rights, and health care, to name a few. MMC’s “War on Poverty” shows us the importance of student action individually and as organized groups. MMC’s history should empower us to continue to be committed to programs like HEOP because they are crucial in winning this war.
