The Health Sciences Division of Columbia employs 100 young adults from the Washington Heights-Inwood area each summer from July through August. Hundreds of other participants work for Presbyterian Hospital, Isabella Geriatric Center, neighborhood summer camps, and community-based groups. Participants, who attend weekly workshops that supplement their work experience. Most participants placed at Columbia-Presbyterian are assigned clerical jobs. Some develop new skills over the course of the summer, depending on their job placement.
Many departments take on a mentoring role and make the extra effort to train their participants.
The program is organized by the Children's Arts and Sciences Workshop, which provides three supervisors to oversee the 100 participants employed at Columbia. Ivy Fairchild, director of Community Affairs, coordinates the program for the university. Ms. Fairchild also conducts pre-hire interviews with all of the participants, assists in planning workshops, and conducts some of the workshops. The CPMC Neighborhood Fund was established in 1987 to enable CPMC employees to contribute financial support, and in-kind gifts when available, to community programs that provide services to the residents of Washington Heights and Inwood. I.S. 164 Parents Association, Isabella Geriatric Center, St. Elizabeth School, and Uptown Treasures.