About
College Initiative Upstate’s mission is to create pathways to and through college for people living in Tompkins County who have barriers to higher education including court involvement, former incarceration, low income, and people who are stable in their recovery.
Wise Women is a project of College Initiative Upstate (CIU) that will provide financial assistance for CIU’s women students who cannot proceed with plans to prepare for, enroll in, or continue their education because of outstanding debts, fines, and expenses including childcare, transportation, and unexpected emergencies. More than half of the 250 students who have participated in CIU are women. Most have been first- generation college students with longstanding issues of poverty, addiction, or court involvement. The majority have children. A Wise Woman grant, at the right moment in time, is instrumental in allowing her to begin or complete a college degree – bringing a new chapter of life into fruition.
