Urban College of Boston is no ordinary college. Started as a program to help working adults, primarily women, earn college credits in 1967 by longtime leader of Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD), Robert M. Coard, Urban College officially achieved college status in 1993. The vision for Urban College of Boston was born out of Coard’s conviction that higher education is the pathway for socioeconomic mobility for marginalized people. Coard, one of the leaders of the national community action movement who fought for the passage of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, created a legacy that is lived through every graduate of our college. Through Coard’s wife, I continue to learn so much about the early days and vision for Urban College.
Coard’s vision and his life’s mission touched me in a very personal way. Growing up in Boston, my family benefitted from the services that ABCD provides. Fuel assistance in the winter and food from the Women, Infants, & Children (WIC) Nutrition Program were social services that my family depended upon. They were the “hand up” that our working-class immigrant family needed. Because of Urban College, my mom realized her dream of becoming a childcare provider and small business entrepreneur. It is the college that allowed her to provide for her family and help defray the cost of college for my brothers. I know firsthand the power of that small but mighty college to transform lives and help folks from all walks of life achieve the American Dream.
Leading Urban College at this point in my career is a real delight and privilege. I get to bring all that I have learned in my prior leadership positions to help Urban College evolve. I get to speak all the languages I am fluent in and learn new words and phrases in languages that I don’t know. Our college is a designated Hispanic Serving Institution and an Asian-American, Native American, and Pacific Islander Serving college. I get to be my authentic self as a woman, a Bostonian, and an immigrant. I get to work with colleagues and students whose cultures, experiences, and aspirations for themselves and their children and families are so much like mine. I have less to explain, less to educate others around, and so much to learn. Our students don’t have to justify or explain the cultural wealth that they bring and how that is so much more than the deficits that they have. I know that that wealth is what will help them overcome those deficits. So many of their deficits are only temporary. Best of all, I get to do work that energizes me, that lifts me up, and that gives me a sense of fulfillment. I get to do this work with others who are as passionate about our mission.
Yes, I love this job!