Pipeline program: Helping students succeed

One central Brooklyn college is leading students to success with an ambitious Pipeline program – geared toward helping thousands of local students from disenfranchised communities throughout the borough succeed both in college and once they graduate.

Crown Heights-based Medgar Evers College (MEC) is now partnering with Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams to expand the program, which started in 2014 at the school. Efforts are already underway, with Adams promising to double down on his contributions by doubling his financial and institutional commitments.

According to Adams’ office, the resources provided in the coming year “will build on the Pipeline’s success to ensure that students and families in the program receive comprehensive academic support from kindergarten through college.”

“Medgar Evers is an oasis of hope in Central Brooklyn, where too many students in our backyard are living in the shadow of an economic boom,” said MEC President and former New York City Schools Chancellor Dr. Rudy Crew. “Each year, vast numbers of students arrive on campus requiring years of remedial education. With the help of Brooklyn Borough President Adams, we are attacking that situation head-on. We are building an ambitious pipeline that will help our most disadvantaged kids succeed in school, starting in kindergarten and continuing all the way past graduation.”

The program offers remedial training to neighborhood K-12 students, teachers and parents at MEC’s campus, according to MEC, and, since the launch of Pipeline programming, the percentage of MEC freshmen required to take remedial coursework has decreased substantially.

“In the fall of 2013, the number of students who walked through our doors needing remediation in math and/or English was 85.8 percent,” said Michael Seelig, executive director of the Medgar Evers Pipeline Program. “In the fall of 2014, that number came down to 79.1 percent and in 2015, to 67.6 percent. We’re optimistic that this trend will continue.”

“I am proud to oversee a true research and development administration, where we are not afraid to tackle big problems with outside-the-box pilot approaches that have game-changing potential,” Adams said. “Our partnership with Dr. Crew and Medgar Evers College has fostered a unique education solution to previously intractable challenges in Central Brooklyn and throughout the borough.”

Adams contributed millions of dollars from his discretionary funds into Pipeline schools to build out STEM labs and other modern facilities, according to his office. He also allocated more than $3 million in capital grants to 14 participating schools.

“This year I intend to do even more,” he added, “as Brooklyn Borough Hall and the college formalize our partnership to improve outcomes for children and families that need wraparound educational support.”