The New York Community Trust has committed to pay for two full scholarships a year for the next four years. And The Pinkerton Foundation has given us a grant to help subsidize unpaid internships for our students.
This commitment--plus the growing support and generosity of dedicated friends like you—means that we will reach our goal of 10 students for 2017. It will also greatly help us achieve the ambitious growth plan we signed onto last year.
Our goal, announced in June, is to grow from a class of 7 new students last spring to 10 new students this year and 20 a year starting by 2020. That ultimately will give us 80 scholars in college at any one time.
MORE BIG NEWS. KATE FENNEMAN STOKES, formerly head of The Jerry Seinfeld college scholarship program, has signed on to work full time for Scholarship Plus as the Program Director. Many of you know Kate already. The rest will soon. She is recognizable by her positive spirit, dedication to students, imagination and high energy. We welcome another new teammate, ELLEN ADNOPOZ, who is helping us part-time to raise funds and strengthen programing. She brings great passion and experience having worked for underprivileged students at Posse Foundation and Chappaqua Summer Scholarship Program, among other similar organizations.
EVEN MORE. Thanks in large part to Kate, we are about to launch a Junior Advisory Board to guide SPlus, mentor undergrads, raise funds from a younger generation of donors and network with each other. A spirited group of alumni from Scholarship Plus, The New York Times and Jerry Seinfeld scholarship programs are working on this initiative.
WHAT’S ON OUR SCHOLARS’ MINDS? Judging from our winter get-together in early January, our students are doing well academically. A few bruises here and there were forgotten in the reunion spirit and great food in an upper west side living room.
But it was also clear that night that the mood on campus now is one of increased angst--not about academic success, but about the turbulent political climate. Those with undocumented family or friends are losing sleep over the Administration’s anti-immigrant initiatives.We’ve offered to give them whatever help and guidance we can on this.
Thank you again for supporting what we do for our great New York City kids. Our new funding from large foundations is a boost to us in many ways, but to meet our ambitious target of 20 new students a year, we still need to find many more new funders. Your suggestions, spirit and donations are the keys to our success.
We hope we can count on you for your continued support.
With gratitude,
Soma Golden Behr, Executive Director
Melanie Rosen Brooks, Director
Kate Fenneman Stokes, Program Director