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The program will provide eligible women with career, financial, academic and achievement coaching to earn a degree or certificate and set themselves up for economic success.
“We are very excited to be a part of this important community partnership,” said Suzanne Peters, vice president of the Fairfield County’s Community Foundation Fund for Women and Girls.
“The Family Economic Security Program at Housatonic Community College will give low-income women students specially designed comprehensive services to help them stay in school and graduate, while preparing them for jobs today and careers tomorrow that pay family-sustaining wages. With so many student-parents, FESP will have a multi-generational effect, which will mean a better future for participants’ children and their families.”
The program will be open to Bridgeport-area women with dependents or who are low income and financially independent, including existing HCC students. The first group of students will be welcomed to the HCC program in the fall semester and will receive scholarships and coaching in career exploration, financial planning and academic success from FESP staff.
The FCCF estimates a woman with one child in Bridgeport would need an income of $71,460 to provide well for her family. The median income for women with just a high school diploma in Fairfield County is $25,996. The median income level rises steadily with educational attainment. FESP has had success at Norwalk Community College, helping students stay in school and graduate, improve credit scores and income-to-expense ratios and assisting graduates in their job search or in transferring to four-year universities.
“The FESP program brings an integrated set of financial coaching, life-skills coaching, specialized academic advisement, career counseling and financial assistance, which will address many of the impediments that prevent students from obtaining a college degree,” Peters said.
The program will be directed by Alana Wiens, who brings more than a decade of experience in higher education and training, including building community college programs for adult students at Holyoke Community College (Holyoke, Mass.) and building minority recruitment programs at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst, Mass.).
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