Adelphi Gets Federal Grant To Develop Programs In West Hempstead

GARDEN CITY, NY — Adelphi University's long-running partnership with the West Hempstead School District has led to a federal grant to create innovative summer and after-school programs designed to meet the needs of students and their families. Two Adelphi faculty members are leading this five-year effort.

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant is a federally funded program that supports the creation of centers providing academic enrichment programs during non-school hours for students in low-performing schools. Associate Professor Lisa Minicozzi and Devin Thornburg, a senior adjunct faculty member, together with the West Hempstead School District, have been awarded a $4.2 million, five-year grant to develop a center in the West Hempstead district.

Adelphi's Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology also received a 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant of $6 million to help create a center in the Hempstead Union Free School District.

"This is such a great example of a highly effective and innovative partnership between higher education and one of our partner school districts," said Minicozzi. "This is how I always envisioned leading and learning in a post-pandemic teacher education society."

Adelphi has been partnering with the West Hempstead school district for more than 10 years, working closely with Superintendent Dan Rehman, an Adelphi alumnus and adjunct faculty member himself. Together, they've built residency programs for student teachers and custom courses for the Scholar Teacher Education Program (STEP). This grant takes their work to the next level.

"We're really proud of this partnership," Minicozzi said. "West Hempstead has continually opened its doors to our student-teachers and faculty. So this was our opportunity to show how we're invested in them."

Work on this new initiative will begin in July and span five years. The goal is to build a summer school and after-school program for targeted populations within the district. West Hempstead will work alongside Adelphi students and faculty to support and strengthen learning outcomes as well as parent engagement.