For Immediate Release

Contact:
Anthony Twyman
Office: 215-751-8082, atwyman@ccp.edu

Cheryl Bullock
Office: 215-751-8021, 2cbullock@ccp.edu

Community College of Philadelphia Expands Free First Class Program and Holds Minority Vendors Fair at Center for Business and Industry

PHILADELPHIA, March 27, 2008 – Stephen M. Curtis, president of Community College of Philadelphia, announced yesterday that the College is expanding its free First Class program to include members of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the African-American Chamber of Commerce and the Asian American Chamber of Commerce.

Since 2002, the First Class program has provided members of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, who have never taken a college credit course, with their first class free of charge at the College. Classes currently cost about $345 for a three-credit course for a Philadelphia resident.

Now, the College is expanding the program so that Philadelphia residents and nonresidents who work for an organization that belongs to one of the minority chambers can take part as well. Members of the chamber organizations who live outside the city will receive a tuition waiver.

"We’re always looking for ways to make access and opportunity real,” President Curtis said, during a press announcement yesterday at the College’s Center for Business and Industry, 18th and Callowhill streets. “We want to open up horizons and get people thinking in different ways.”

Lynne A. Williams, program manager for the African-American Chamber of Commerce of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, thanked the College for providing the educational opportunity. “We’re going to make sure they’re successful, as long as they’re willing and as long as they want it,” Williams said of the chamber’s members.

Julie Wong, president of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia, said the First Class program can help many Asian American business owners, especially since Community College of Philadelphia is more affordable than many other area colleges and universities. “It can encourage members to step out of their comfort zone,” Wong said. “I applaud Community College of Philadelphia.”

Kenneth I. Trujillo, chairman of the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, called the First Class program "incredibly helpful" because many of the chamber’s members, while experienced in running businesses, have never taken a college course. “This First Class program is something that really is integral to the chamber, but also at the heart of what community colleges are about,” said Trujillo, who added that he was the first in his family to graduate from college.

Carolyn Nichols, Esq., director of Philadelphia's Minority Business Enterprise Council, commended the College. Nichols said that minorities make up about half the population of Philadelphia and there are more than 15,000 minority owned businesses in the city of which 14 percent are owned by African Americans, 7 percent are owned by Asian Americans and 2.5 percent are owned by Hispanics.

“Education is critical,” Nichols said, adding that the First Class program and the College’s Minority Vendors Fair compliment Mayor Nutter’s progressive agenda to promote more opportunities for businesses owned by minorities and women in Philadelphia.

After the press announcement, the College’s Minority Vendors Fair allowed minority and small business owners to meet face-to-face with purchasing managers and representatives from the Philadelphia Area College Cooperative, a group created by area higher education institutions to strengthen their collective buying power and promote their use of local businesses.

Purchasing managers and representatives from Community College of Philadelphia, Princeton University, Drexel University, Saint Joseph’s University, Widener University, Montgomery County Community College and other cooperative members participated in the vendors fair.

James P. Spiewak, director of budgets and financial services for Community College of Philadelphia, said Community College of Philadelphia spends about $8 million annually on goods and services and soon plans to spend about $65 million on construction improvements to its Main Campus and Northeast Regional Center campus.

Through the Minority Vendors Fair, Community College of Philadelphia seeks to afford minority and small business owners an opportunity to competitively bid on items purchased by colleges and universities from around the region. Some of the goods and services these institutions purchase include office supplies, instructional supplies, housekeeping supplies, computer accessories, security, roofing, construction and catering.