Grants
The Great Society Fund made its first ever grant award to Makarios, a non-profit organization founded by LBJ alumna Sharla Megilligan (M.P.Aff. 2004).
Makarios offers numerous programs in the Dominican Republic, including educational and economic development programs targeted at Haitian immigrants. The GSF award of $10,000 will be used by Makarios to purchase farmland in support of a sustainable agricultural education program. Project participants will be taught practical agricultural skills, provided with employment, and grow low-cost food for their own families and the greater community. Once project participants have completed the yearlong training, they will become responsible for a piece of the land and will continue to work to support their families through the sale of food.
Megilligan founded Makarios after teaching middle school in Santiago, Dominican Republic in 1997. As she immersed herself in the community, she became acutely aware of the tremendous poverty and deplorable conditions suffered by the Haitian migrants who had left their country to work in Dominican sugar cane fields. Megilligan's love of children and compassion for the Haitian community in the Dominican Republic inspired her to create an organization dedicated to improving education opportunities for the children of these communities and their families.
The Makarios project was one of several exciting proposals received by the Fund during its inaugural grant-making cycle, but it seemed to best represent many of the basic ideals of the Fund.
"This project reflects a clear recognition of the needs of the community, and presents an innovative and sustainable approach to filling those needs," GSF Chair Kristen Reynolds (M.P.Aff. 2005) said. "The Great Society Fund is proud to be a part of this exciting initiative." For more information, go to www.makariosinternational.org
The Great Society Fund made its second grant award to English at Work (E@W), a nonprofit organization providing English language instruction to immigrants at their job sites. LBJ alumna Maile Broccoli-Hickey (M.P.Aff. 2006) started E@W while an LBJ student in 2005. Operating on a shoestring budget with volunteer instructors, E@W has already served 90 students at ten Austin business locations.
Ms. Hickey witnessed the need for workplace English instruction firsthand. She worked at a restaurant to help defray her graduate school expenses and saw the difficulties and tensions that arose between limited-English speaking employees and their English-speaking managers. She also recognized the burden that immigrants face trying to navigate transportation and child-care obstacles that make it difficult for them to attend classes. Therefore, offering a class at the work place seemed like the ideal solution.
An experienced ESOL instructor, Ms. Hickey customizes the curriculum based on specific work place needs. She stated, "I am impatient with general ESOL curricula. I won't waste a busboy's time by making him sit though a lesson on pets when he needs to know how to tell a customer where the restroom is."
E@W also teaches students technology literacy and introduces them to community resources with guest speakers from partner agencies.
Great Society Fund awards $10,000 to student social entrepreneur
The Great Society Fund (GSF), an organization created to support the social entrepreneurship endeavors of LBJ School students and alumni, awarded $10,000 Thursday to Youth Aging In, a newly forming nonprofit organization providing support and opportunity to youth again out of the foster care system. LBJ student Dr. Laurie Seremetis (M.P.Aff. 2009) launches Youth Aging In this year to offer safety, permanency and well-being to youth entering adulthood without the support of family. Dr. Seremetis draws upon a career as a practicing psychiatrist specializing in the treatment of adults with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and other disorders related to childhood abuse.
Older foster youth are on the rise throughout Texas, increasing nearly 60% from 2002. Youth who age out of foster care are much more likely than their age group peers to experience homelessness, poverty, incarceration, teen pregnancy, un- and under-employment, low educational attainment, re-traumatization, and to abuse or neglect their own children. Children's Protective Services and other state agencies do not have adequate resources to prepare these severely at-risk youth for independent living. Youth Aging In hopes to address the needs of these youth with an intensive outpatient clinic and mentoring program that employs foster care alumni.