Headline: Hamilton Project Aims to Elevate
Excerpt: Social service workers once told Vivyan Adair she was only cut out for low-wage service work....Adair, a high-school dropout, proved them wrong by going back to school until she had a doctorate in English. But as difficult as it was for Adair, now a tenure-track professor at Hamilton College, people in the same predicament today would have a much harder time getting a degree. New welfare laws scale back benefits to recipients in nonvocational programs, college officials explained.
...Now Adair reaches out to help women in similar circumstances through Project Access at Hamilton College. Project Access is a pilot program funded by the college and a variety of private and public grants whose goal is to train low-income men and women skills for higher-paying jobs.
... The school (Hamilton College) opened up its classrooms to ... (17) mothers from Madison, Oneida and Herkimer counties who would otherwise settle for a low- or minimum-wage job. All have a high school diploma or equivalency degree.
The students get free tuition, use of college facilities, books, supplies and free lunch. The faculty works to coordinate child care, transportation, counseling and tutoring. The mentors learn about the student's personal lives and share their experiences.
