Rachel Graham '98 used the College's Martin Luther King Jr. observance on Monday to announce a new initiative for Hamilton Hill children and to solicit members of the Union community to get involved.
C.O.C.O.A. House (Children of Our Community with Opportunities to Achieve) will be in
the basement of the Grace Temple Church of God and Christ at 30 Steuben Street,
Schenectady.
The after-school mentoring program, which was to begin on Wednesday, is intended to
provide children with a place to go after school and meet with mentors to work on
homework, play games or just talk. For information, call ext. 6832.
“It takes a whole village to raise a child,” Graham said at the College's
Martin Luther King commemoration. “On Hamilton Hill, we have a role as a College to
help them along the way and to show them that life is much broader than what they
see.”
Graham, whose father, Marvin, serves as pastor at Grace Temple, also urged members of
the Union community to get involved with other community volunteer efforts such as Big
Brothers/Big Sisters, YMCA and YWCA.
Also speaking at the College's MLK commemoration on Monday were Dan West, vice
president of college relations; Kathleen Buckley, Protestant chaplain; Tom Frieberg,
Catholic chaplain; and Les Carter, deputy director of program services for the state
Martin Luther King Jr. Commission for Non-Violence.