As part of its quest to pursue the university's egalitarian and practical vision of higher education, Cornell has partnered with the CollegeBound Initiative (CBI) for more than a decade to broaden educational access for underrepresented groups and expand the pool of qualified applicants. On May 7, the Young Women's Leadership Network and CBI honored Cornell as a college partner for its participation and support of CBI students.

By partnering with Cornell, CBI students, who are primarily African-American, Latino and first-generation-to-college students, are exposed to the university's high academic standards through dedicated outreach. Cornell offers overnight visits and application workshops for students and hosts and supports CBI's team of counselors and its admissions representatives attend CBI college fairs. When CBI students enroll, Cornell is committed to providing support to students once on campus.

"As an admissions and enrollment professional, I am tremendously impressed by the Young Women's Leadership Network organization and CBI and the ways that they bring a college education within reach for a broader population of students," said Lee H. Melvin, associate vice provost for enrollment at Cornell, who accepted the honor on behalf of the university. "Since 2008, Cornell University has admitted 10 students and enrolled seven from CollegeBound Initiative schools."

In 1996, Ann and Andrew Tisch '71 partnered with the New York City Board of Education to open The Young Women's Leadership School of East Harlem (which has a nearly 100 percent graduation and college acceptance rate) to provide economically disadvantaged girls with a high-quality college preparatory education. Since then, Ann Tisch founded the Young Women's Leadership Network (YWLN), a group of four, soon to be five, schools in New York City, and then founded CBI, which places specially trained, full-time college counselors in high-need public schools to help low-income students reach their full potential and educational goals. CBI also helps students to secure financial aid for college.

In 2011-12, CBI will serve almost 9,000 students in 16 partner schools in New York City and Philadelphia.

Attending the gala celebration were many CBI alumni as well as several Cornell trustees and trustees emeriti, among others.

CBI counselors will visit Cornell as part of their participation in the New York State Association for College Admissions Counseling's annual conference in Ithaca (June 6-8). Staff from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions will host the counselors June 6 for an admissions presentation workshop.