LaGuardia Community College Receives $85K Grant to Enhance Career Services for Students
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY (January 7, 2025) — LaGuardia Community College/CUNY and its Continuing Education and Workforce Development Division were recently awarded a $85,000 grant from The Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation to support the critical re-organization of Career Services at LaGuardia through the LaGuardia Career Forward Navigation Lab initiative.
“The Petrie Foundation’s support will allow LaGuardia to effectively plan and begin executing this much-needed re-organization, which promises to significantly enhance our students’ career success across both credit-bearing and non-credit programs and improve access to quality careers for students from underserved communities,” stated Sunil Gupta, the college’s Vice President for Adult Continuing Education and Workforce Development.
Currently, LaGuardia’s career-related resources, guidance, and services to connect students to employment opportunities are dispersed across various departments without a centralized system of coordination. Gupta says this lack of consolidation creates inefficiencies in the system that result in missed opportunities for students to connect with employment, especially first-generation students or students from low-income backgrounds.
The reorganization of the College’s career services will be a collaborative effort involving key stakeholders across the College, including various units from the Student Affairs and Academic Affairs divisions. LaGuardia will also partner with Jobs for the Future (JFF) on this initiative.
“JFF, like LaGuardia, is committed to addressing systemic and structural barriers to equitable economic opportunity and closing gaps to access, outcome, and wealth for underserved communities,” Gupta said. “Their diverse expertise will help guide the creation of a cohesive career services model that bridges academic and non-academic career support resources.”
Gupta noted that the implementation plan for the Career Forward Navigation Lab will be based on the Career Everywhere model that the University of Connecticut (UConn) has been developing since 2019 in response to students’ anxiety about getting the advice needed to make effective course plans with pathways to good careers.
“The goal of Career Everywhere is to improve equitable access to career resources and create a culture of career readiness on campus, empowering everyone who engages with students with the skills necessary to guide them towards great careers in the fields of their choice,” Gupta said. “This approach is a great fit for community colleges that are committed to equitable access but have limited resources for career advising.”
The LaGuardia Career Forward Navigation Lab will be developed in 2025. The development group will review various milestones throughout the year to ensure objectives are being addressed.
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LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC), a Hispanic-Serving Institution, located in Long Island City, Queens offers more than 50 associate degrees and academic certificates, and more than 65 continuing education programs to prepare New Yorkers for transfer to senior colleges and rewarding jobs and careers. An institution of the City University of New York (CUNY), the College reflects the legacy of our namesake, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, the former NYC mayor beloved for his advocacy of the underserved. Since 1971, LaGuardia’s academic programs and support services have advanced the socioeconomic mobility of students from Queens, NYC and beyond.
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