About Us

The NOAH COLLECTIVE is based on the belief that when people of our community unite their gifts of Education, History, and a Passion for Change and Equality, we all thrive and the world becomes a better place.  If there is no struggle, there is no progress. 

In 1964 Hofstra University established it’s NOAH Program, then the acronym for “Negro Opportunities at Hofstra.” NOAH was a pioneering effort funded on an experimental basis as a result of a carefully developed plan by members of the Organization of Black Faculty and Staff, Black Students, Hofstra University faculty and administration. NOAH was for those historically oppressed students who were judged potentially capable of handling college work but were economically and academically deprived.

Originally, the NOAH Program was directed specifically to assist Black students who were oppressed. Later, however, the Program was expanded to include nonblack students who qualified within its scope and purposes. Hence, the designation NOAH began to signify “New Opportunities at Hofstra. 

In 1970 Dean Joseph G. Astman wrote in his report to the President on the NOAH Program: “ If Hofstra can graduate one third of the students within five years, and another third within ten years, the success of the Program would be guaranteed.” Measured against that backdrop the NOAH program has been tremendously successful. Indeed, it has gone far beyond these goals. and being a successful operation, the NOAH Program has pioneered the way for Opportunity Programs throughout the nation. In fact, the first NOAH Director wrote: “ Ours (the NOAH Program) was one of the first (Opportunity Programs) in the country and has been used as a model at a number of other universities as well as having served as one of the models for the design of the New York State Educational Opportunities Program

The NOAH Program had very clear objectives. They were:

1. The development of techniques and strategies for meeting the needs of oppressed and other non-traditional students 

2. To identify and admit oppressed students whose educational experience and economic status did no provide them with an opportunity to demonstrate or develop their scholastic abilities to the level generally requisite for undergraduate admission and study

3. To provide oppressed students with a broad range of supportive services in the areas of tutoring, counseling and developmental instruction.

4. To provide oppressed students with successful and positive role-models from their personal backgrounds.

5. To have oppressed students graduate with a baccalaureate degree with a period of five years

6. To provide for greater pluralism and thereby enrich Hofstra by enabling African-American, Latino and other oppressed and non-traditional students to enroll in the University

7. To provide sufficient financial aid packages for students so that the students’ college experience will not be a financial hardship for them or their families.

8. To instill in the student a sense of community and responsibility to be change agents

9. To develop leadership qualities in students so that they may be better equipped so assist their communities.

10. To develop NOAH as a model for other comparable programs

The NOAH Collective: Where Do We Go From Here

The NOAH Collective is in its embryonic stages and as such it is incumbent that we give substantial attention to our growth and development.   During the pandemic NOAH alumni gathered every Thursday evening via ZOOM to provide support to each other. We reminisced, provided thoughtful insight, commented on the current crisis in America and provided spiritual guidance to one another. As the pandemic waned, we thought that the NOAH Program community was well placed to do as Dr. Martin Luther King stated assist in redeeming “the Soul of America.” In our formative stage there are important questions to be asked, and they must have vibrant and cogent answers.  

Why was the collective created and what is it that we desire to achieve?  Perhaps the best way to answer that question is to first consider the NOAH Program itself.  Hofstra University always saw the goal of NOAH was to admit “underprivileged” ”students of color and graduate them with a baccalaureate degree. This is obviously an admirable and laudable goal. However, it was much more than this. The NOAH Program was a vehicle for the liberation of our people.  It was never about simply earning a degree.  Yes, we wanted students to be educated and graduate.  But it was much more than that.  In a very real sense, education was a tool for liberating both an individual and a people.  A tool which must liberate our people intellectually, socially, culturally, physically spiritually, economically.  The education must be a transformative endeavor which ultimately brings forth growth in the individual and the people. On the campus of Hofstra University these goals had to be somewhat surreptitious and clandestine, but they were potent in their manifestation and execution.

The NOAH Collective is founded on similar goals and now they are fully embraced and celebrated. We need your assistance in bringing  these goals into fruition.