HOLYOKE — The Care Center has completed its $4 million “Moving Women Forward” Endowment Campaign, ensuring that its growing microcollege program for young mothers and other under-resourced women will remain tuition-free.
The Care Center, a nationally recognized nonprofit championing the education of young mothers, partners with Bard College to run Bard Microcollege Holyoke, the first-of-its-kind college designed for young mothers and other under-resourced women. Through small class sizes, a rich curriculum and extensive support services including childcare, transportation, meals, healthcare and housing vouchers, the micro college breaks down barriers to education.
The associate degree program boasts a 71% graduation rate, compared to 30% for associate degree programs nationwide, and just 8% for single moms nationally.
“We are so grateful to everyone who made this possible,” said Oona Cook, executive director of the Care Center. “Because of our community’s incredible generosity, women will break the cycle of poverty. They will earn degrees, launch meaningful careers, buy homes and advocate for their children and communities. Their success will be felt by generations to come.”
Cook took over in the role of executive director earlier this year.
The Care Center Director of Development Jane Slater told Reminder Publishing the endowment campaign efforts began in 2022 when the organization was looking to plan its future financials along with the fact that the microcollege program was consistently producing results and helping young women and mothers advance their careers.
“We knew that we wanted this to be available to women in our community for a long time, so we launched this effort to make sure that this was sustained into the future,” Slater said.
The Care Center runs its various programming through fundraising but the endowment campaign’s funding goal was specifically to continue support of the microcollege. Cook and Slater said The Care Center will be able to continue to lay the foundation down for its microcollege.
Cook explained the funding raised through the endowment campaign reflects the community’s support of the microcollege and shows there is support for the program that is producing real results within the community for young women.
“To be able to know that there are funds available just to pay for this microcollege moving forward has been really beneficial for the Care Center community and for the students that we serve,” Cook said. “It’s a really successful program and the success of the endowment campaign is really about the generosity of the community and the recognition of what a difference this is making in the lives of our students and the community at large.”
According to data shared by The Care Center, nearly half of graduates of Bard Microcollege have been admitted to bachelor’s degree programs including at Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, Hampshire College, Bard College, Trinity College, Elms College, Florida Southern College and Bay Path University. Also noted, 82% of Bard Microcollege Holyoke graduates are either employed or pursuing a bachelor’s degree.
Cook added The Care Center has always been effective in supporting women in being able to complete college and high school and a key part of their work is getting students to fall back in love with learning. Eventually, as The Care Center’s programming graduation rate grew, they were seeing many of the students struggle to maintain their newfound success when entering the next level at a new college.
“They were running into some of the same obstacles that had prevented them from staying in traditional public high schools and what they really needed was to continue to receive the wrap around services that The Care Center provides,” Cook explained. “So rather than leaving The Care Center to go to college, eight years ago, we brought a college to The Care Center so that they can continue to have daycare and transportation and food and healthcare and counseling.”
Slater added meeting the basic needs of the women they serve has led to success in their continued growth down a career path.
“When you give women what they need, which is pretty basic childcare, transportation, food, housing, they succeed,” Slater said.
The Ceres Foundation, a long-time supporter of The Care Center, helped launch the endowment with a $1 million leadership gift.
“We are so proud to invest in this critical initiative advancing women’s education. By removing barriers to success, The Care Center makes college completion possible and changes the trajectory for women and their families,” said Amanda Northrop, executive director of The Ceres Foundation.
Last fall, the campaign received a $500,000 gift from The Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation.
“The Care Center’s groundbreaking work embodies our commitment to innovation and excellence in education. We are honored to help sustain this powerful resource, which not only supports young families as they navigate the path to financial stability, but also stands out as a model for other college access programs,” said Davis Foundation Director Laurel Ferretti.
The innovative programming and commitment to education has not gone unnoticed as they have earned recognition from The White House, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and numerous national publications. With the completion of this campaign, The Care Center is poised to expand its impact and continue its work in the community into the future.
“I am just blown away by the generosity of this community. We are a small organization in Western Massachusetts, and this was a really ambitious goal and we’re thrilled at how unbelievably generous the community has been,” Slater said. “This means that women in our community will change the trajectory for their families, for their children, for their grandchildren and then for their communities so it’s huge.”
Cook added the program comes down to being about these young women having more resources to help them through the remainder of their education.
“It’s really about them having control over their own lives, their families’ lives. Increasing access to options to be able to make decisions about what they want their lives to look like to being able to support their communities and invoke change,” Cook said.
