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Brooklyn College’s Graduate Center for Worker Education is located at 25 Broadway in Lower Manhattan. The GCWE is an interdisciplinary educational facility dedicated to the promotion of teaching, research, and community partnerships. The GCWE supports academic programs and course offerings, both credit and noncredit, that are of interest to working adults in the Lower Manhattan community and to students at Brooklyn College.
The GCWE facilitates special events, such as conferences, symposia, and workshops, in coordination with Brooklyn College departments, interdisciplinary programs, and continuing education programs. Course offerings at the GCWE include both degree-granting and noncredit classes and workshops scheduled during the day, in the evening, and on weekends. These offerings address the needs of working adults seeking advanced study to improve their career, or new career opportunities, including English as a Second Language courses offered through Brooklyn College’s American Language Academy.
Departments currently participating include Health and Nutrition Sciences; History; Political Science; Sociology; Television and Radio; Childhood, Bilingual, and Special Education; School Psychology, Counseling, and Leadership; and Early Childhood Education/Art Education. Because it is strategically located in Lower Manhattan, students taking classes and doing research at the center have access to an array of sites and institutions for research collaborations and internships, including unions, nonprofits, and city agencies.
The GCWE also houses the Journal of Labor and Society, formerly Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society, edited by Professor Immanuel Ness; Impact Iran, which is affiliated with Brooklyn College’s Department of Political Science; and Labor Arts, which explores the contributions of working people through visual and material representation.
For more information regarding the GCWE, call 212.966.4014 or e-mail us.
Programs Partners and Initiatives Event Calendar Faculty and Staff
The Graduate Center for Worker Education (GCWE) at Brooklyn College follows a long tradition of education and advocacy for working people across New York City. Founded in 1981 in cooperation with local labor and civic organizations, the GCWE has always had an idealistic mission: to provide programming of interest and value to working people and to prepare students for leadership roles in their communities and organizations. In addition, the center has consistently sought to offer programming designed to complement the personal and professional obligations of working students.
Though the New York City labor movement provided the center’s first partners, the GCWE has always endeavored to reach a broad audience of working New Yorkers. The center’s success is reflected in the distinguished graduates of its programs, remarkable visiting scholars program, and an array of highly regarded conferences. New York City Councilmember Jumaane Williams, 58th Assembly District Committeeman Cory Provost, New York State Senator Kevin S. Parker, and Director of Diversity, Equity, and Compliance for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Patrick Damas are among the many graduates who count the center as key to the success of their civic careers.
Belle Zeller visiting professors—invited to the center to serve as catalysts for scholarly dialogue about national and international issues of civil rights and social justice—have included Nelson Stanley, Juan Gonzalez, Bill Fletcher, Gary Younge, and Lisette Nieves. Notable conferences hosted by the center include Black Women and the Radical Tradition (keynote by Angela Davis); New Solutions—Green Jobs; and, most recently, the annual meeting of the Labor and Working Class History Association. All of these have generated considerable energy and stimulated substantive scholarship.
The center continues in this robust and dynamic tradition, most notably in its current work in the field of economic democracy. Adhering to its historical mission to be an intellectual resource to working-class issues and concerns, the center offers monthly talks on the topic of economic democracy and hosts two faculty fellows with interests and activities in the field.
Outreach to the community has been a longstanding tradition of the GCWE. Our current focus is on programming that augments and adds value to the educational experience of Brooklyn College and CUNY students as well as leveraging the assets of the institution to provide pro bono offerings to the greater New York City community through lectures, workshops, and hands-on activities. Our work with students inculcates a sense of civic engagement (“think globally, act locally”) and endeavors to connect Brooklyn College and CUNY students with community, grassroots, nonprofit, and governmental entities. The core mission of our Community Outreach programming flows from the legacy of the GCWE, providing inclusive opportunities for education, empowerment, and personal enrichment.
As per CUNY guidelines, the center will be closed until further notice.
Brooklyn College Graduate Center for Worker Education 25 Broadway, 7th Floor New York, NY 10004 P: 212.966.4014 E: GCWE@brooklyn.cuny.edu
The Graduate Center for Worker Education is located at 25 Broadway in downtown Manhattan.
If you’re visiting by public transportation, take the 4 or 5 train to Bowling Green. The center is located just across the green. Other subway lines within walking distance include: the R and W to Whitehall Street; J, M, and Z to Broad Street; 1 to Rector Street; and A and C to Fulton Street/Broadway Nassau. The Fulton Street Transit Center is located nearby, as are several local and express bus routes, the Staten Island Ferry, and PATH train service to New Jersey.
If you plan on driving, note that on-street parking is very difficult to find, especially during the day. Never fear, as there are two garages in the vicinity:
Central Parking 17 Battery Place P: 212.785.6690
Edison Parking 70 Greenwich Street P: 212.425.1065
