Three CCNY students win the Women’s Forum Education Fund Award

Three City College of New York students are recipients of the Women’s Forum Education Fund Award, which supports women over the age of 35 who have overcome adversity to resume their education. The unrestricted $10,000 grants are awarded directly to the recipient for any costs associated with advancing her education.

The winners and their bios are listed below.

• Doreen Ahumah is a double major in childhood education at the School of Education and psychology at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, and she will graduate in the fall of 2023. As a single parent, who lost her husband in 2018, she is the sole provider for her family. Originally from Ghana in West Africa, Ahumah used the scholarship at a time when she was in financial distress and needed to find a new apartment to raise her two young boys. Ahumah is prepared to teach and is the secretary of the Teachers for Tomorrow Club.
   
• Rainbow Sarah Farr is a senior and an early childhood education major in the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education (City College Downtown). Due to an illness, Farr is unable to work and the scholarship helped her with rent, food, medication and school fees so that she can compete her degree. She credits her professors and advisors for supporting and advocating on her behalf as well as giving her the confidence to be a better teacher and leader. The Bronx native is a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success and has received the Quest Peter Cott and Ken Leedom Memorial Scholarship and The Quest Scholarship.
   
• Darresa Rodriguez is an urban studies and public administration major at CWE and will graduate in the spring of 2023. As a first-generation student who dropped out of high school to work, she thought a college education wasn’t possible. Through the individualized support from CWE as well as the scholarship, Rodriguez will be able to support her daughter while pursuing her education. She is in the Alpha Sigma Lambda honor society and in the Legal Studies Honors program. She also received the Quest Scholarship Award, Quest Peter Cott and Leedom Memorial Scholarship and an LCU Housing Grant. She will pursue a master's degree in the study of the Americas with a human rights concentration at CWE to prepare for law school in 2024. In her spare time, she is an avid long-distance runner in the Bronx. 

About the City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. This year, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.