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Support for Service-Learning, Diversity

Paul Carberry

 

Recent grants from two major foundations support key aspects of the university’s mission. The Yawkey Foundations awarded $500,000 to benefit the Bentley Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Center (BSLCE). A commitment by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation provides $75,000 to enhance access to a Bentley education for students from under represented groups, including first-generation college students.

Over its 25 years, the BSLCE has sent thousands of students into Greater Boston and beyond to apply their business skills on behalf of schools, community centers and other nonprofits. The Yawkey Foundations grant will advance service-learning through several initiatives, for example, internships for students who work in nonprofit organizations, a Civic Engagement Leadership Seminar, and guidance for those considering careers in nonprofit leadership.

James Healey, Yawkey Foundations president, praised the strategic plan for the BSLCE as having “tremendous potential. We look forward to following the progress over the next five years.”

The grant from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation will offer four to six scholarships each year for the next five years. They will help close the critical financial gap that prevents some students from attending Bentley.

Both foundations have supported Bentley in the past. The Hearst Foundation established an endowed scholarship more than 30 years ago that is today one of the university’s largest. In 2011, the Yawkey Foundations supported the Summer Transitional Education Program.

“These new commitments represent powerful endorsements of Bentley and its mission,” says President Gloria Cordes Larson. “We are deeply grateful for these expressions of confidence from two of the nation’s most prestigious foundations.”