Dear New Yorkers,

Last Thanksgiving, I introduced you to Yarys Lopez, a young woman who fled Honduras with her family a decade ago. They faced harrowing ordeals — predatory gangs, family separation, homelessness, domestic violence and more.

But then, at the Bronx Family Justice Center, they were connected to a lawyer from the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) named Allison Cutler, who helped them find safety, housing, and immigration status. Yarys was so inspired that she transferred to the Bronx HS for Law and Community Service, where she graduated as valedictorian just a few years later.

Last Thursday, together with her sister and Allison, I watched Yarys graduate from CUNY’s Lehman College. (Did I cry? Yes, I did). 

And she already has a job as a paralegal at NYLAG. “As an immigrant, you’re always fighting the stereotype that you’re a burden,” Yarys told us. But when she’s helping families apply for status and work authorization, “I feel like a good luck charm.”

Yarys Lopez is a good luck charm for New York City. And fortunately, she is not the only one, not by far.

Across CUNY’s two dozen campuses, nearly 50,000 students are graduating this spring. So many of them have incredible stories. More than half of CUNY students are the first generation in their families to go to college, and half are from families earning less than $30,000 per year. It’s remarkable how hard they work, how much grit they have, how smart and determined they are.

At CUNY’s Hostos Community College, I met Tiffany Wilson. She started school during the pandemic, and while working on her degree in business management in 2021, she faced another major life event — pregnancy. But she did not let it deter her from her studies. She took two classes and even participated in class discussions during labor contraction. This week, she was the valedictorian at Hostos.

As Arianna Rios, who is graduating from CUNY’s Baruch College (after having graduating from CUNY’s Guttman Community College a few years ago) says: “Having kids does not mean that your life stops, it means that your life starts, because they are relying on you, and looking up to you.” More than 10% of CUNY students are parents.

That intergenerational inspiration can run in both directions. Jaegger Pendoley, who is graduating from CUNY’s NYC College of Technology with an associate degree in dental hygiene inspired his mom, Betty Mounteney, to follow his lead. She is now a first-year student in the same program (and the recipient of a scholarship from the Jewish Foundation for Education of Women)!

“My son’s ability to overcome his own challenges is the driving force behind my desire to create a future free from the anxieties of paying rent and securing meals,” she said. “And I aspire to give back by providing free dental cleanings in underserved neighborhoods.”

Hannah Khanshali, the salutatorian at CUNY’s City College (which celebrated its 171st commencement), is a second generation CUNY Graduate — her mom is a College of Staten Island alumna. Hannah is a Staten Island native, from a Yemeni and Irish-Italian family.

During her time at CCNY, Hannah was a research intern at Columbia University’s Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics, volunteered in the ER and ICU at the Animal Medical Center (NYC’s only Level 1 veterinary trauma center), won a scholarship for a semester in Florence to pursue her side-passions in art and photography, AND earned her BS in biology with a perfect 4.0. This summer, she’ll be working as a researcher on a bio-preparedness project for future pandemics, and she’s looking toward a career fighting cancer.

I often get teary-eyed at CUNY graduations (and I plead with the graduates not to make too much fun of their parents if they do the same). But the Comptroller in me can be hard-nosed about the bottom line, too.

As we highlighted in our recent Spotlight on CUNY and the New York City Economy, CUNY plays a vital role as an engine of economic mobility and a major contributor to economic growth. The vast majority of CUNY graduates will stay and work here. They go on to be one-third of NYC’s teachers, half of our nurses, to be entrepreneurs and business leaders, scientists and artists, lawyers, city councilmembers and comptrollers.

Among the CUNY system’s most notable characteristics is its ability to help low- and moderate-income households move up the socioeconomic ladder. According to a Brookings Institute study, six of the top 10 colleges nationwide for bottom-to-top economic mobility are CUNY colleges.

The return on investment we get from the funding we put into CUNY is remarkable. That’s why I pledged to those graduates in my commencement remarks to do everything I can to make sure we reverse the $95 million in cuts that the Adams Administration has made to CUNY.

As Yarys, Tiffany, Arianna, Jaegger and Betty, Hannah, and the other nearly 50,000 CUNY graduates show, there are few better investments we can make. Thanks to them, and to the CUNY faculty, administrators, staff, parents, and family who have supported them along their journeys.

In these anxious times, they are truly good luck charms for New York City.

Brad