CIANA Launches College Prep Program in Partnership with NYC CEC

On March 5, CIANA officially launched Pathways to a Successful College Career. Funded by the NYC Civic Engagement Commission as part of The People's Money - Citywide Participatory Budgeting, our project will demystify the college process for multilingual students and their families living in Long Island City, Corona, and East Elmhurst through group workshops and one-on-one mentoring.

This project was initially proposed by Queens residents during the 2024-2025 cycle of Citywide Participatory Budgeting, having been generated in the fall then voted on in the spring. CIANA was selected by the CEC to implement this project late last year, and hosted a formal launch event last month. We look forward to holding our first workshop in the imminent future.

For many immigrant families, the college process can be rigorous and stressful, filled with many different documents and fees that can be difficult to navigate without personal experience or fluency in the English language. With our new project, families will have the proper tools and guidance to apply for these universities and aid which allows their children to pursue higher education.

Our project aims to give support and hands-on assistance to immigrant and first-generation high school students as well as their families, preparing them with the tools needed to select colleges, complete the application process, request financial aid, and much more.

This project is aimed specifically at families who live in Corona, East Elmhurst, and Long Island City, three neighborhoods designated by the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity (TRIE). Originally created early in April 2020 to address the disparate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color, TRIE has expanded to include other forms of underrepresentation, including higher education. Given that these three areas all contain significant populations of low-income immigrant families, they were deemed prime areas for this project.

Our launch event was held at Commonpoint Queens’ Jack and Shirley Silver Hub in Elmhurst, right at the intersection of our target communities. We were pleased to host staff from the offices of Assemblymembers Catalina Cruz, Steven Raga, and Jessica González-Rojas, along with many members of the community.

CIANA was founded 20 years ago to help new immigrants achieve educational, professional, and social advancement. Helping immigrant families navigate college process will help us achieve our goal in innovative and exciting ways.

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We are currently recruiting volunteer mentors to give one-on-one guidance to program participants. Fill our an interest form here.

Learn more about Participatory Budgeting on our website.