Manor College announced Monday that U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean helped the institution secure a $1.27 million grant to help refugee, immigrant and first-generation students.
Jonathan Peri, president of Manor, said the college will be “institutionally transformed” by the grant, and that the gift will be life changing for students, their families and the community, providing a pathway to a better life.
Peri said the grant is one of the largest in the 75-year history of Manor, in Jenkintown.
“This grant could not be more timely,” he said.
Dean, a former English professor at La Salle, said there were a lot of worthy grant applicants. In the end, Manor’s application was one of 15 approved, worth more than $13 million.
Manor’s money will be used for tuition, counseling and housing.
Dean noted the timing of the grant, coming shortly before the one-year anniversary of what she called Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, a move she said has led to war crimes. She hopes the money helps make college more affordable.
“I can think of no more welcoming place than right here,” she said.
Manor was founded by the Ukrainian Sisters of Saint Basil the Great in 1947.
Manor has remained at the forefront of supporting Ukraine since the outset of the war. The institution created a website that directed resources for supporting those in Ukraine. Project Resilience, started last spring, acquires and digitizes materials significant to the cultural value of Ukraine. An English as a second language program, started in the fall, has more than 230 students, most of whom are Ukrainian.
Other efforts included a dog wash organized by the institution’s veterinary technology program that raised money for animals of Ukraine and fundraising efforts with the Galman Group, a local real estate company that raised an additional $40,000 in support. ••
