Stride Rite Honors Graduates For Commitment to Public Service

June 10, 1999

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HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

The Stride Rite Foundation has awarded its post-graduate public service incentive grants to seniors Nerys Benfield, Tara Purohit, Mariko Ryono, and William Triant, all of whom will be pursuing various year-long service projects upon graduation this year. The grant awards range from $10,000 to $25,000, varying according to the needs of the programs being funded, with approximately $65,000 awarded in total annual grants. These funds cover a stipend for living expenses for the award recipient, as well as funding for program expenses where needed.

This year's recipients will be working on a wide range of public service projects. Nerys Benfield will work with Mentoring USA to develop new mentoring and after-school programs at local schools in the New York City metropolitan area to support formerly homeless children transitioning into permanent housing.

Tara Purohit will be creating an organizational and financial structure to support Project H.E.A.L.T.H in New York City, a Harvard-based undergraduate service organization that links universities, hospitals, and the community in an effort to improve the lives of chronically ill children and their families.

Mariko Ryono will work with the Andar Foundation in Costa Rica to help rural women with local community development. William Triant will be expanding the CHANCE mentoring program to high schools and colleges around Boston, mobilizing college students to serve as role models and mentors and provide SAT and TOEFL preparation.

Some past projects awarded funding in the Boston area include a food cooperative project in conjunction with Boston Medical Center to address hunger and food issues of low-income families, a position teaching children English as a second language at a community health clinic in Chinatown, and a high school teaching and counseling position in Dorchester.

Since 1983, the Stride Rite Foundation has supported undergraduate public service by providing Stride Rite Summer and Term-Time Scholarship winners with a grant that enables them to devote time to public service that would otherwise go to a regular work-study position. The Stride Rite Foundation decided to expand its support of young people doing public service in 1989 by offering recent Harvard graduates grants to pursue year-long service projects.

Most of the projects funded are community-based programs in the United States and abroad that include one-on-one interaction with populations in need. Currently, the funding is awarded by a selection committee made up of representatives from the Student Employment Office, the Stride Rite Foundation, and Phillips Brooks House Association staff and trustees.

For more information regarding the application process for Stride Rite post-graduate public service fellowships and term-time or summer scholarships, contact the Stride Rite Community Service Program at the Phillips Brooks House Association, (617) 495-8501, or e-mail the program coordinator at ikeolug@hotmail.com.