About the Ciarco Learning Center
The Philip Ciarco Learning Center was founded by Bergen Community College in 1970 to provide educational and counseling services for adults who have not completed a formal high school education and for adults who are interested in English as a Second Language. Since then, thousands of adults have enrolled at the Center and many have gone on to college and other post-secondary training.

A Spacious Facility
The Center was originally housed at 295 Main Street in Hackensack. A few years ago, the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders recognized Bergen Community College's vital role in providing for the growing educational needs of the County, and decided to provide funding to renovate a county-owned building which would accommodate the increasing numbers of adult learners attending classes at the Learning Center.

The renovated facility - the former Arnold Constable Department Store on Main Street and Passaic Street - was opened on October 14, 1999, with a gala ribbon-cutting ceremony. The Center was renamed the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center, in honor of the father of Philip J. Ciarco, a member of the Bergen Community College Foundation, the fundraising arm of the College.

Kathleen and Philip Ciarco wanted to make a lasting tribute to the life of Mr. Ciarco's father, who left school to work at the age of 13, and so they pledged a generous bequest of $500,000 to support an endowed scholarship fund to enable deserving students to receive the education that Mr. Ciarco's father never had the opportunity to receive.

Kathleen Ciarco is a graduate of the College's Early Childhood Education program.

The Ciarco Learning Center offers day and evening courses in English as a Second Language, High School Equivalency, and English Basic skills, as well as  courses at other locations.

MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the Bergen Community College Ciarco Learning Center is essentially to:

• Provide a point of re-entry for adults who have not achieved academic success and who have not been able to participate fully in the regular programs of the College, but who wish to do so.
• Provide a non-traditional and flexible learning environment, which allows adults to learn about the alternatives available to them and to prepare them to use such services.
• Enable otherwise disenfranchised adults to make use of a world of social programs aimed at satisfactory social integration.
• Assist in meeting the changing needs of the community.