Public Employee Press

40 years of learning

By ALFREDO ALVARADO

Milestones 1971 DC 37 Education Fund is established. 1972 The DC 37 Campus of the College of New Rochelle opens with 153 students from 30 local unions, the first time a college campus is established in a union headquarters. 1976 DC 37/Cornell Labor Studies Program for Women created. 1979 Education Fund initiates civil service test preparation classes. 1982 Study conducted by Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations gives Education Fund programs an A+. 1983 Tuition Reimbursement benefit of $525 annually available to DC 37 members. 1987 New York State Labor History Association honors the Education Fund. 1988 Fund creates only program in the country for union members with dyslexia. 1993 First class of NYPD civilian employees graduates from supervisory and communication skills course. 1994 Fund offers workshop series for members pursuing graduate education. 1995 Education Fund offers career ladder programs for NYC Housing Authority Clerical employees. 1996 Education Fund Library is dedicated to the memory of Bernie Rifkin, first Education Fund administrator. 1998 Education Fund helps more than 9,000 members prepare for civil service exams. 2000 Computer technology training courses, foreign language and American Sign Language classes are introduced. 2001 Education Fund resumes classes at off-site locations one month after 9/11 attack on World Trade Center. 2006 Tuition Reimbursement benefit grows to $700 per calendar year. 2007 The Education Fund offers college credit courses in partnership with various colleges and universities. 2009 Education Fund introduces CPA preparation Course. 2010 Education Fund increases labor education course offerings to include the history of public-sector workers and a brief history of labor in America. Today More than 3,500 members have earned a nachelor of arts degree at the DC 37 Campus of the College of New Rochelle. Tuition reimbursement has been increased to $800 per year.

The DC 37 Education Fund celebrated its 40th anniversary Sept. 8 at union headquarters with students, union leaders, current and former administrators. "This milestone shows the strong commitment to membership education that District Council 37 has demonstrated," said Education Fund administrator Dr. Barbara Kairson.

The fund was the idea of DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, in answer to the needs of the union membership.

"My dream was to help make life better for our members," said Roberts at the celebration. "And that dream could not have been realized without this great staff."

Tired of seeing members working at dead-end jobs, Roberts helped establish the innovative educational benefit in 1971 with the late Bernie Rifkin, who was the union's education director from 1968 to 1974. The fund's library on the second floor at DC 37 was dedicated in his honor in 1996.

A year after the Ed Fund was established, the union and the College of New Rochelle created a campus at 125 Barclay St., making DC 37 the first and still the only union to include a four-year college degree program for members in its headquarters. The DC 37 campus opened with 153 students from 30 locals; since then, more than 3,500 members have earned their college degrees at the union.

"The Education Fund was about dignity and respect," said former Administrator Katherine Schrier. "It was also a critical tool in building this union."

The high school equivalency program was an early favorite with members. As technology has changed, computer studies have gained great popularity. Today, the fund offers courses in business, allied health, literacy and general mathematics.

To help members climb the career ladder, in 1979 the fund began offering classes to help them prepare for civil service exams. More than 9,000 members of DC 37 locals have taken advantage of the test prep courses.

In another ground-breaking advance, the fund created the only union program in the country for members with dyslexia.

"The Education Fund does not rest on past achievements," stressed Kairson. This fall the fund expanded members' options by adding courses in Public Speaking, Writing for Shop Stewards and Conflict Resolution. Classes new in 2009 and 2010 include two labor history courses and preparation classes for the Certified Public Accountant exam. To language courses such as Mandarin Chinese, Conversational Italian and American Sign Language, the fund recently added Hindi and the Culture of India.

Roberts says the Education Fund is just as valuable in today's challenging job market as when it was first created. "The challenges will never end," she said, "but our members have shown with their desire for knowledge that they are more than ready to meet those challenges, and our Education Fund is ready to keep meeting the members' needs."