NoVo Foundation Supports The New Start for Women program at SUNY Ulster
The New Start for Women program at SUNY Ulster is more than just academic courses; currently, 16 area women enrolled in the program will receive a bevy of tuition-free programming addressing things like conflict resolution, test-taking strategies and resume workshops.
Program director Jordan Scruggs was appointed to the post earlier this summer. Scruggs said she feels the community has the obligation to “recognize that we’re only as strong as the weakest link on our community, and that our collective investment in providing better lives and opportunities particularly for women is an investment in the future of our community as a whole.”
Scruggs has a solid resume in community work — she’s a Methodist deacon, chair of Kingston initiative Midtown Rising and a Hudson Valley Fellow at the Good Work Institute. She was Ulster County YWCA Human Rights Advocate of the Year in 2016 and is a member of several local boards, including the Rising Hope Prison Education Initiative and TransArt & Cultural Services.
“Every community has the resources that they need to solve their own problems, even the communities that struggle,” she said. “The best way to shift a community is to invest in the people that are already there.”
Scruggs said the women chosen for the first run of the program were targeted not just for their economic status, but for their ability to give back to the community — and to each other...