Rachel Ravina, The Reporter
JENKINTOWN — Manor College received $1.27 million in federal funding on Monday to provide financial assistance to students in need.
The monies allocated through community project funding in the fiscal year 2023 budget aim to bolster the Jenkintown-based higher education institution’s Refugee, Immigrant and First-Generation College Student Support Fund.
“This is a life-changing gift for our students, their families and our community,” said Manor College President Jonathan Peri.
Founded in 1947 by the Ukrainian Sisters of Saint Basil the Great, Manor College has maintained its strong ties to Ukraine, highlighting traditions in its Ukrainian Heritage Studies Center and Museum inside Josephat Hall on the Fox Chase Road campus.
As the Russian invasion into Ukraine and subsequent war nears the one-year mark, elected officials and educators note the significance of this latest contribution.
“This grant could not be more timely in light of current global events,” Peri said. “Wars in Ukraine and elsewhere are creating tragic displacement for many families. Helping refugees and immigrants fleeing for a better life is at the heart of this grant.”
The funds will offer aid in several areas including tuition and housing for refugee, immigrant and first generation college students looking to advance their education. Manor College has about 600 students enrolled; roughly 60 percent are the first in their families to attend a university, according to a Manor College spokesperson, who added that around 20 Manor College students are Ukrainian.
“Manor College has long been at the helm of making college affordable and accessible through both two- and four-year programs, and as the United States gets ready to receive a record number of refugees from Ukraine because of Putin’s unprovoked, criminal war, Manor College will be there to ensure students seeking safety can continue their education,” said U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-4th Dist.
Dean, Peri, other Manor College staff, and local Ukrainian-American community members gathered for the Monday morning press conference on campus. The room was filled with more than two dozen attendees as officials shared remarks on the latest funding announcement.
Peri told MediaNews Group that students have been active over the past 11 months in advocacy efforts for Ukraine and have not wavered in working to help those thousands of miles away.
long with creating a website to direct humanitarian resources, another initiative started last spring called Project Resilience “acquires and digitizes materials significant to the cultural value of Ukraine,” according to a Manor College spokesperson.
Additionally, the college’s English as a second language program has 230 participants.
“People don’t want to see our contemporary world suffering in this way,” Peri said. “It’s human rights violations; it’s people suffering in the cold because their homes and everything has been bombed out.
“It’s an aberration to humanity and it’s something that has to be addressed,” he continued. “The mood on campus is I would say an awareness of that, and also an effort, feeling a need to support the people of Ukraine in whatever ways we can.”
The greater Philadelphia area has a sizable Ukrainian and Ukrainian-American population of about 70,000 people.
“My constituents, whether they’re Ukrainian American or not, recognize ourselves in the plight of Ukraine. If we fail to stand up for our democracy like Ukraine, we’re failing to stand up for our own,” Dean said. “So I feel an urgency from my constituents, whether they are Ukraine American or not, to say we have to help them, and make sure that they regain their sovereignty and maintain and build their democracy,” Dean continued.
Iryna Mazur, the honorary consul of Ukraine in Philadelphia, has observed true camaraderie amid the war.
“They are holding up. They are all united,” Mazur said of her friends, family and fellow Ukrainians. She also applauded Peri’s efforts over the last 11 months here in the greater Philadelphia area.
“I cannot find a better advocate and supporter of Ukraine,” Mazur said, stressing his “mission, his vision that he has for the college, and for the students is just incredible.”
While the war in Ukraine drags on, Monday’s funding announcement provides somewhat of a bright spot, and a safe place, for students looking to further their educational careers.
“It’s crucial these students who come here for safety, for sanctuary, for education, be met with welcoming arms, which is so often provided right here at Manor College,” Dean said. “I can think of no more welcoming (a) place for these students, and importantly, their families, to come to a community that knows their history, their culture, their pride, and sadly their deep trauma.”
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