LAGCC in the News: Meeting the Needs of Our Local Community

Dear Friends of LaGuardia:

One of the core values of LaGuardia Community College that has always inspired me is our determination to meet our local community's needs. Over our almost 40 year history, the traditional "town vs. gown" division is a very foreign concept here at LaGuardia.

Our work isn't limited to the classroom. We combine our understanding of New Yorkers' needs with our knowledge and skills to launch programs that make a huge difference in people's lives. It's everything from helping small businesses grow and create jobs to bringing yoga (yes, yoga!) to taxi drivers.

LaGuardia was selected by the Goldman Sachs Foundation as the first community college in the nation to launch the 10,000 Small Businesses program. The articles below, from Business Week, Fortune and the Daily News, discuss how this intensive, hands-on education and assistance is helping businesses understand their niche, leverage financing, become more profitable and hire new employees. For these entrepreneurs, and many to come, this program is transformative.

Here at LaGuardia we encourage our faculty and staff to ask, "What if?" We cultivate exploration and ask ourselves to dream of new possibilities. LaGuardia's yoga program for taxi drivers, covered in The New York Times article below, is just one more example of that distinctive approach. Our people study a problem—in this case, taxi drivers having intensely stressful and physically demanding jobs—and then apply their passion and knowledge to create a solution. This small program embodies the LaGuardia spirit.

Feel free to let me know what you think and what else we can be doing to support our community. As always, thanks for your continued support for this most unique institution.

Business Week: Entrepreneurial Training from Goldman Sachs

Fortune: Goldman Sachs's gift to 10,000 small businesses

Daily News: Wall Street giant Goldman shares the wealth in entrepreneurship program '10,000 Small Businesses'

Daily News: Goldman Sachs helps Manhattan furniture seller negotiate bigger sales with 10,000 Small Businesses

Daily News: East Harlem resident Michelle Cruz had dreams of opening her own business as a kid; Goldman helped

The New York Times: Using Yoga to Help Cabdrivers Relax Body and Mind

Sincerely,

Dr. Gail O. Mellow
President