Kingsborough Community College and Graduate Receive Robin Hood Heroes Award

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Nov. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Regina Peruggi, president of Kingsborough Community College (KCC) today announced that KCC and KCC graduate, Shereece Blake, were recipients of the 2010 Robin Hood Heroes Award.  As part of the award, Robin Hood presented a $50,000 check to KCC.

Robin Hood presented the awards today at its 21st Annual Heroes Award Breakfast at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. The Robin Hood Heroes Award is given annually to outstanding organizations and special New Yorkers who have overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles and have shown the resiliency of the human spirit.  

"I've been an educator for 36 years and, believe me; no one ever just calls you up and says would you like some money to achieve everything that you've been hoping for?  But that's just what Robin Hood did.  Through their grant support, our students are now receiving financial counseling and the remedial help they need to succeed. And with your help and our resolve, over the last six years, we've seen graduation rates increase by 40 percent," said President Peruggi.

Shereece Blake is a 21-year-old graduate of KCC. She grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, in a poor, violent neighborhood. She witnessed children being abused and saw her aunt immediately after she was killed. Shereece's experiences led her to decide long ago that she wanted to become a lawyer. She credits KCC's Learning Communities program  for her success. Through the program, she felt she always had someone to turn to when she had a question or needed help or money to buy textbooks. Shereece graduated with honors in January 2009. She recently took the LSAT and hopes to go to either Fordham Law School or Columbia University to study family law.

KCC, a City University of New York college, serves 30,000 students a year with a median income of less than $30,000. The Learning Communities program tries to address a daunting problem in New York City community colleges. KCC offers freshmen financial aid, intensive academic advising, tutoring, personal and career counseling, and case management. The result: over the last 6 years, graduation rates have increased by 40 percent.

Robin Hood also presented heroes awards to School of One, a prototype math program being tested in three New York City middle schools; Jericho Project, an organization that offers transitional housing to homeless resident in Harlem and the Bronx and Jose Anthony Pagan, a Bronx resident aided by Jericho.

About Kingsborough Community College

KCC, one of the top ten community colleges in the country, is located on a 70-acre campus in Manhattan Beach, on the southern tip of Brooklyn.  It was founded in 1963 and serves approximately 30,000 students per year.  It offers a wide range of credit and non-credit courses in liberal arts and career education, as well as a number of specialized programs.  The campus overlooks three bodies of water:  Sheepshead Bay, Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.  

CONTACT:  Ruby Ryles, +1-718-368-5543, [email protected]

SOURCE Kingsborough Community College