DDC was founded in 1965 by a group of Columbia students, alumni and faculty to engage the Harlem community and promote a mutual understanding between the campus and its neighbors in northern Manhattan. Its two federally-funded programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search, target students at risk of not completing high school or entering college, offering them academic, career, college, financial aid and personal development services year-round with the goal of increasing the rate of high school graduation, college entrance and college completion.

 

Upward Bound offers assistance to more than 165 high school students both year-round and through a six-week summer residential academic program on campus. Talent Search serves students in grades 7 to 12 with after-school programs and weekend field trips during the regular academic year, and with fulltime programming over the summer.

 

DDC's keynote commencement speaker was Dr. Hector Vázquez (DDC’93), an East Harlem native and first-generation college graduate who embodies the values of scholarship and service that DDC strives to instill in its students. A graduate of Amherst College, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, Dr. Vásquez is now a pediatric emergency care physician at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. His address to the class of 2009 emphasized the importance of community service and of helping those who follow in your footsteps.

 

The sentiment was echoed by one of the program’s most dedicated students, Karima Jackson, who is set to graduate from the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics and will attend Columbia College in the fall. Jackson, the winner of the Eddie Watson Award for a student exemplifying scholarship, leadership, determination and service, spoke highly about her experiences at the DCC. "There has never been a moment in which I am not amazed by just how much the program is a part of my life," she said. "It really is a community and a strong support system."

 

Jackson won't be the only new DDC graduate on campus this fall. Mariany Polanco, a Washington Heights resident and senior at the High School for Math Science and Engineering, will attend Barnard College, which will allow her to be near her older sister and fellow DDC alumna, Aridia, who begins her senior year this fall at the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.

 

“Now that I am going to Columbia,” said Jackson, “I will continue to visit DDC because it guarantees encouragement, resources and results.”

 

This year's DDC graduates will attend a variety of competitive colleges, including Boston College, Mount Holyoke College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York University, Fordham University, Tufts University, Trinity University and the University of Pennsylvania.  Over the past five years, the center has seen, on average, 97 percent of its seniors graduate from high school, far surpassing New York City’s graduation rate of 52 percent. Approximately 95 percent of DDC students enroll in college.