College Mentorship
Freedom and Citizenship Mentoring
In addition to the services offered to all DDC students listed below, F&C participants receive one-on-one college mentoring from Columbia undergraduates as well as letters of recommendation to college from their professors. Nearly 100% of F&C graduates are accepted to and attend colleges the semester following high school graduation. In recent years, F&C students have been accepted to out-of-state schools including Brown, Georgetown, the University of Pennsylvania, Brandeis, and Vanderbilt. Within New York, we have students at Columbia, New York University, Fordham, Syracuse, as well as in the CUNY and SUNY system.
From our students...
"The Freedom and citizenship program changed my way of thinking-- it opened my mind and provided me with the tools I needed to shape my...political discourse...Not only was I able to notice this, but the University of Rochester, the school I currently attend, noticed it as well;
it was one thing to feel that F&C made an impact on my admission but it was even greater to see it mentioned on my acceptance letter as a 'contributing factor to my acceptance.'"
-Ronny Llerena, Freedom and Citizenship 2015
Double Discovery Center
All students accepted to Freedom and Citizenship are eligible for all the college advisory services of the Roger Lehecka Double Discovery Center. Established in 1965, the DDC was begun by undergraduates at Columbia and Barnard who wanted to address the disparity of opportunity between the students at the Ivy League institution and those at neighboring high schools in Harlem. Since then, the DDC has helped more than 15,000 New York City students graduate high school and attend college. More than 90% of students enrolled in DDC programming graduate high school on time and enter college the following fall--far surpassing city, state, and national outcomes for low-income, first-generation, minority students. Students from the F&C summer of 2010 conducted an oral history of the DDC in celebration of its 45th year which can be found here.
The DDC's Upward Bound and Talent Search programs are funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education.
DDC Services
- Tutoring: One-on-one and small group in all academic subjects
- Classes/Labs: Small group classes, mini-courses and science lab exposure
- Test Prep: Small group and individual standardized test prep, including the SAT and Regents exams
- Workshops: Small and large group activities to develop college, career, leadership, and life skills awareness
- Counseling: Academic, college, career, financial aid and youth development
- College trips: and daily access to the college prep library, internet-capable computers, and the Center’s professional staff
Students not yet eligible for Freedom and Citizenship are encouraged to apply to the Double Discovery Center to increase their chance of admittance into F&C in the summer before their senior year of high school.
Our Graduates Have Attended College at:
- Antioch College
- Columbia University
- New York University
- SUNY Potsdam
- Babson College
- Cornell University
- New York Institute of Technology
- SUNY Purchase College
- Bard College
- Dickinson College
- Onandaga Community College
- Syracuse University
- Barnard College
- Fairfield College
- Queensborough Community College
- Trinity College
- Baruch College
- Fordham University
- Quinnipiac University
- University at Albany-SUNY
- Binghamton University-SUNY
- Franklin & Marshall College
- Rutgers University
- University at Buffalo
- Borough of Manhattan Community College
- George Washington University
- Scripps College
- University of Miami
- Boston College
- Georgetown University
- Skidmore College
- University of Connecticut
- Boston University
- Hartwick College
- St. John's University
- University of Pennsylvania
- Brandeis University
- Howard University
- St. Thomas Aquinas College
- University of Rochester
- Brooklyn College-CUNY
- Hunter College
- Stanford University
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Brown University
- Iona College
- Stony Brook University-SUNY
- Ursinus College
- Capital University
- Ithaca College
- SUNY Geneseo
- Vanderbilt University
- Carleton College
- John Jay College of Criminal Justice-CUNY
- SUNY New Paltz
- Villanova University
- City College of New York
- Lafayette College
- SUNY Plattsburgh
- Clarkson University
- Lehman College-CUNY
- College of Mount Saint Vincent
- Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College