Message to the Community from President Andreadis - November 17, 2022
To Our Friends and Members of the Urban College of Boston Community
Over the last six months, we have been providing updates on the strategic partnership between Urban College of Boston (UCB) and Impact.org, a non-profit affiliate of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). I am pleased to inform you that on August 19, we received approval from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (MA DHE) for this affiliation to move forward and on September 30, we received provisional approval from the U.S. Department of Education to continue to issue financial aid under the auspices of our new structure. I am deeply appreciative of everyone who helped us get to this point, including the commitment of our Board and former President Michael Taylor, the incredible work by our staff, the determination of our students and faculty, the creativity of our partners and consultants, and the generosity of our donors. We are pleased to have received funding from the Transformational Partnerships Fund, which provides support for institutions of higher education to explore student-centric partnerships.
Our affiliation will give UCB access to resources that will allow us to strengthen existing programs and services for our students. When combined with the incredible support we receive today from our community partners, funders, and individual donors, these resources will give the College the ability to explore new program areas, provide additional supports for students, and offer new professional development opportunities for our faculty and staff.
Just as important as the benefits this affiliation will bring are the key aspects of UCB that will remain the same. UCB will maintain its long-standing mission and its focus on providing multilingual educational pathways for those to whom educational opportunity has too often been denied. The College will retain its name, remain at its current location, and continue to employ its own faculty and staff. All decisions concerning the College will be made by UCB’s own leadership team, and they will continue to determine the College’s academic standards and programming. To further bolster continuity, one seat on the UCB Board will be reserved for the CEO of ABCD, the organization that created the College and that has provided critical support throughout the College’s history. Existing programs will be strengthened and UCB will continue to award its own degrees and certificates to its students.
During the first three years of the affiliation, UCB will have regular reports due to the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) and the MA DHE. We look forward to engaging the UCB community in that important compliance work and ensuring that the initial promise of this affiliation is fulfilled.
Thank you for your continued support of Urban College of Boston. I hope you and your families have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.
Best,
Clea Andreadis
President, Urban College of Boston
About Impact.org
Impact.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (a Type II supporting organization) created in 2022 to expand the mission of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). One of the goals of Impact.org is to build a national affiliate network of small mission-aligned, community embedded institutions and other non-profits to help them thrive and serve more students. Outside of SNHU, Urban College of Boston (UCB) was the first institution added to this network.
As part of the affiliation agreement required for an organization to join the affiliate network, Impact.org becomes the sole corporate member of the networked institution, with responsibility to appoint the Board and while maintaining certain reserved powers (e.g., the ability to approve budget overages and by-law changes). Those Boards then continue their existing legal and fiduciary responsibilities to the respective institutions, the institutions retain their leadership, and SNHU has no legal or governance relationship with member institutions.
The Impact.org network will provide economies of scale, shared knowledge, and a centralized platform of services for member organizations. While taking advantage of the affiliate network, member institutions and organizations maintain their separate legal status, licensure, accreditations, corporate structure, leadership, and staffing.