Metropole College

Metropolitan College of New YorkBorn out of the idealism and turbulence of the 1960s, Metropolitan College of New York (MCNY) was founded by Audrey Cohen, an innovative educator who believed the key to a truly effective education lay in uniting the classroom with the professional world. 1964 A udrey Cohen launched the Women’s Talent Corps in 1964, addressing a need for both jobs and training. The program prepared motivated women, with experience in their low-income neighborhoods, for jobs to assist their communities. Simultaneously, the Women’s Talent Corps worked to create a new level of “paraprofessional” positions in organizations and agencies: teacher’s assistant, guidance counselor assistant, paralegal. The 30-week training program included an eight-week classroom orientation, 10 weeks on-the-job training in a school or community agency, and 12 weeks of intensive work at the same organization. Students were then hired by those agencies. The one-year training program paid students $2 per hour to participate.