The Bedford Hills College Program is offered to incarcerated women at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, New York State's only maximum security prison for women. The BHCP offers non-credit college-preparatory courses in writing and math, as well as credit-bearing courses leading to Associate of Arts degrees in social science and Bachelor of Arts degrees in sociology. With the cooperation of a consortium of New York area colleges, MMC has served as the degree-granting institution for the program since 1997, and has been responsible for its operations since 2004. More than 800 women have participated in BHCP since 1997. MMC has conferred more than 110 associate's and bachelor's degrees at Bedford Hills, since becoming the degree-granting institution for the program. For the past two years, 160 to 175 women have enrolled in courses each semester.
The women have indicated that the College Program has been a life-changing experience both for them and their families. Though the Bedford Hills College Program (BHCP) is currently a tremendous success, we are mindful of the need to ensure that it continues to thrive, regardless of administration change or fluctuations in private or public funding. With that in mind, two years ago, the College began to build a $4 million endowment that would provide the majority of the program's annual operating expenses in perpetuity. Enthusiasm for this endeavor was immediate. One supporter of the program offered to match the first $50,000 in contributions. This challenge was quickly met and another long-time donor to the program stepped up and offered to match all gifts to the endowment up to $1 million.
Shortly after creating the BHCP endowment, Marymount Manhattan launched This is the Day, the Campaign for Marymount Manhattan. The Kresge Foundation awarded a $1.5 million challenge grant to MMC. Recognizing BHCP as a crucial component of the College's mission to educate a socially and economically diverse population, contributions designated for the BHCP endowment will count toward the challenge. The highly competitive and prestigious Kresge challenge requires that the College complete the campaign by securing gifts and pledges totaling our campaign goal of $25 million by March 31, 2010. Pledge payments can extend to March 31, 2015.
To make a gift to the Bedford Hills College Program or the BHCP Endowment, contact Jean Wilhelm, Campaign Director, (212) 517-0460 / jwilhelm@mmm.edu.
