By Donna Bertaccini
Tiahna Spencer recently entered her senior year at the University of Connecticut. She is a double pre-med major in physiology and neurology who plans to go onto medical school in the fall of 2015. Not long ago, while growing up in public housing in Norwalk, Connecticut, Spencer’s dream of going to college, much less medical school, seemed completely out of reach to her. The fact that she has been able to come this far in her studies is thanks in large measure to the Norwalk Housing Authority and its Norwalk Housing Foundation (NHF) scholarship program. According to Brian Sullivan of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Public Affairs Office, the foundation and its scholarship program is “a relatively unique” one. In fact, the number of scholarships awarded this year alone is striking for a housing authority of its size.
Curtis Law, the executive director of the Norwalk Housing Authority (NHA), has long made it a mission of NHA to focus on developing wide ranging free programs for its residents that underscore the importance of “education from birth through college.” According to Law, creating a college scholarship program for those residents who seek to go onto higher education was a natural outgrowth of those successful program efforts. Back in 1998 the NHA established its first college scholarship program with $5,000 in seed money. Law notes that the first year the scholarship money was on offer, despite efforts to publicize the scholarship, “there were no applicants, none.” Undeterred, he decided to personally go knocking door to door to drum up interest and to help fill out any applications for those residents who just might be interested.
He was successful in finding two applicants who eventually were to go on and become NHA’s first college scholarship recipients. By 2000, under the direction of Law, NHA formally established the Norwalk Housing Foundation, Inc. (NHF) a 501 (c) with the purpose of “soliciting funding and to provide resources for the education and economic empowerment of NHA’s residents.” The scholarship program was moved under NHF and is now overseen by a committee comprised of local business, education and philanthropy leaders. In 2013, NHF college scholarships totaling $176,850 were awarded to 35 NHA residents. In 2014, fifty college scholarships were awarded. The strength of NHF’s funding firmly sets it apart from most other Housing Authorities’ scholarship programs. Additionally, in 2014 NHA oversaw the launch of an NHF Graduate Scholarship Program.
This is welcome news to many NHA residents like Spencer, who is seeking to continue on to graduate school. As a longtime resident of Norwalk’s public housing, she credits the Housing Authority not simply for the housing that has been provided to her and her single mother, but for the educational support she’s received throughout her entire life. “The Norwalk Housing Authority has had a huge impact on my life in so many ways,” Spencer said. “Many of those ways seemed minuscule at the time while I was growing up, but looking back I see how huge they are to me now.” Spencer said the program’s free reading, music and SAT preparation programs played a big role in her upbringing.
“I was always making use of their learning centers for one reason or another,” she said. “While there, I was raised with the words, when you go to college, not if, drummed into my ears.”
The last few years have been particularly demanding for Spencer. Her mother was diagnosed with cancer, making it impossible for her to hold down a job. This made Spencer’s life that much more stressful given her heavy course load. Spencer praises the support she’s been afforded by staff at the Housing Authority. “Having NHA’s financial and emotional ongoing support throughout my years at UConn has been hugely important to me,” she said. “I’m free to do my best in college without financial worries. I don’t think I would have made it through this far without NHF and their scholarship program.”
Jasmine Prezzi has been an NHA resident since the age of two and throughout her life has also made use of many of the program offerings provided by NHA. She graduated this past May with a dual major in sociology and social work from The University of Maryland at Eastern Shores and Salisbury University. She too credits NHF for helping her get through college with the financial assistance it gave her. Prezzi says her college debt for all four years will “be under $30,000,” which she believes will be manageable. She’s applying to Fordham University for a Masters degree this January and once again will be seeking financial aid from NHF.
“When Carla [Conway, the NHF scholarship coordinator] called to inform me earlier this year that they just funded a new graduate scholarship program, I literally burst into tears”, said Prezzi. She said the scholarship program is different in that it stays in touch with recipients throughout their college years.
“Unlike other aid I’ve received from other institutions, Carla touches base several times each semester to see how I’m actually doing,” Prezzi said. She said that being able to say one is an NHF scholarship recipient carries prestige in her community.
“It speaks to one’s academic excellence and commitment to education,” Prezzi said. “NHF has been there in so many ways, not just with the scholarship money, but for example, when I needed a laptop for my college homework, they provided the funds for it.”
Though both Prezzi and Spencer are reluctant to say exactly how much they were given by the NHF, they are firm about the fact that without the scholarship aid from NHF, they would have found it impossible to go to college.
Harry Carey is the committee chairman for NHF and the director of external affairs at AT&T in Norwalk. As a resident of Norwalk, Carey first heard about the Housing Authority years ago through Norwalk’s Chamber of Commerce. He began doing volunteer work at NHA and became interested in the scholarship program. Just about every year since the NHF first started, Carey has seen to it that AT&T has donated $10,000 annually to the foundation’s fund.
Sandy Bria is also a scholarship committee member. She works for GE Capital Philanthropy and makes it a point that it contributes annually to the foundation. This year the philanthropy gave $15,000. “NHF fits all the requirements for a company like GE to offer its support to year after year,” Bria said. “NHF has a remarkable, fully transparent track record, and all funds go directly towards education and disadvantaged youth. Not a dime is spent in any other way.”
Carey credits Curtis Law with the Foundation’s success. “Curtis is the driving force behind it all. NHA is not just about bricks and mortar,” Carey said. “There’s a saying we have at NHF. It’s a quote from a mother of one of our scholarship students. ‘It’s an attitude, not your address, that matters.’ ”
Photo: Norwalk Housing Scholarship graduate Jasmine Prezzi (center) by Carla Conway
