CLOUT Program

Community and Corporate Outreach
External Activities, Partnerships and Projects

CLOUT Program
Computers • Literacy • Opportunity • University • Technology

In the 2010-2011 academic year, the CLOUT Program continued to offer both credit-bearing and not-for-credit employment-directed training and education at the Graduate Center.

  • In Westchester, our twenty year partnership with Westchester County Department of Social Services (DSS) continues to be a success. The students must be receiving TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) and all students are parents. During this past academic year we started to phase out the credit-bearing programs, the Certificate in Personal Computer Applications for the Workplace Professional program, and the Administrative Assistant Modules program and began non-credit-bearing programs to meet the funding restrictions of the Department of Social Services and to also serve more adults.
  • The Certificate in Personal Computer Applications for the Workplace Professional is an 18 credit, full-time program beginning with a combination of not-for-credit seminars and credit-bearing courses, culminating in an internship in the last semester.
  • The Administrative Assistant Modules program provides the opportunity for participants to earn 6 credits in technology systems courses and, at the same time, build foundation skills in the College Success Skills Seminars.
  • New shorter-term, non-credit offerings which began in January 2011, Workplace Essentials and Business Essentials programs, provide the opportunity for 100 to 120 participants to enroll in the CLOUT program.  In the Workplace Essentials program students use a variety of software applications at a basic level while also developing business presentation skills and writing skills, keyboarding skills, and office skills which help students to develop a beginner level workplace skill set.
  • The Business Essentials program, a more advanced career focus program, emphasizes business accounting software, more advanced business communication skills and the use of publishing software to enhance the process of communication.
  • CLOUT’s comprehensive support services include tutoring, employment preparation, and job search, and use of all University services and facilities including computer labs, e-mail, counseling, and libraries.
  • Mastercard, Inc., Ciba Specialty, Inc. and the foundation of the Back to School Clothes for Kids sponsored new clothing, book bags, and supplies before the start of the new school year in September for 57 children of our students through the Back to School Clothes for Kids program run in Westchester County.
  • During the Holiday Season, members of Pace University’s Westchester Administrative Staff Council supported the CLOUT Holiday Wish List. One-hundred three children of our students were sponsored by a Pace employee and received holiday gifts such as educational toys, books, and clothing.
  • Pace University is a member of the Education and Work Consortium, a unique collaboration between two private institutions (Metropolitan College of New York and Pace University) and one public institution (Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York).  The Welfare to Careers Project (WTCP) is a nationally replicable program developed by the Consortium that links college education to work experience and career training, with the ultimate aim of permanently lifting the working poor out of poverty.
  • WTCP serves 197 students, who are TANF eligible, and enroll at Medgar Evers College or Metropolitan College of New York to obtain a baccalaureate degree.  To facilitate the dissemination of information and to collect the requisite data that supports the success of the project, Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems developed a research study, database, and Web site.  The purpose of the study is to determine if education in the form of a baccalaureate degree concomitant with comprehensive career counseling leads to a higher standard of living and ultimately moves participants out of poverty.  The study will also ascertain if particular programs are more effective than others.  Since the Welfare to Careers Project has been designed to provide comprehensive support to participants in the form of career counselors and academic support specialists, the study will also measure the effectiveness of these services.

The CLOUT Program received funding from the following primary sources:

  • Westchester County Department of Social Services renewed funding in the amount of $56,925 for the fall semester and $326,626 for the remainder of the academic year to provide education and training through the certificate programs and to various populations on public assistance.
  • The Education and Work Consortium needed to extend the timeline for the project and extend the prior year’s funding of $40,000 to be paid in the current academic year in order to implement the Welfare to Careers Project Web site.