The Emily C. Specchio Foundation has teamed up with New Jersey Junior Achievement to sponsor 5 inner city high school girls who are active in volunteer work in their community to attend a Women’s Future Leadership Forum. The mission of this forum is to introduce high school-aged female students from under-served communities to today’s female role models and deeply impact these women who have great potential to succeed.
The Women’s Future Leadership Forum will occur on November 20th from 8:30am to 2:00pm and involves over 50 high school girls and 50 adult role models spending the day together in Murray Hill, NJ. The participating high school girls are all from Trenton, Rahway, or Linden and have all volunteered through the New Jersey Junior Achievement high school heroes program.
The high school heroes program gives high school students the opportunity to volunteer with Junior Achievement at a local elementary school to teach financial literacy and work readiness. The program is a powerful team-building experience as well as a memorable community service project for the volunteers who serve as mentors and role models to the students.
We are proud to be a part of such an amazing opportunity for these young women! Below is the day’s full itinerary:
The Emily C. Specchio Foundation is proud to announce the inaugural Emily C. Specchio Ambassadors. We started this program this year to encourage and support youth who have big ideas to make a positive impact on communities in need, whether it be local or international.
Our 2009 Ambassadors are:
Vincent Caldas
Timothy Mernar
Kevin Tolentino
All three ambassadors are seniors at St. Peter’s Preparatory School in Jersey City New Jersey
The winner project idea: “The Prep Micro-bank: A Student Driven Philanthropic Enterprise”
(excerpts from the winning proposal are below)
“Students from St. Peter’s Preparatory School in conjunction with our Campus Ministry plan to give funds in the form of no-interest loans so that recipients in impoverished nations can use the principal to begin a business that will contribute to growing a local economy and to get on their own two feet.”
“The [loan] recipients will be members of communities where Jesuit and Jersuit volunteers serve, for instance, Micronesia, Nigeria, and Ecuador. These no-interest loans will provide much needed principal for people to start their own enterprises and secure their own means of income, which they will then use to pay back the original loan. This will allow us to continue awarding these loans using only our primary investment.”
Vincent, Timothy, and Kevin will receive $1000 up-front from The Emily C. Specchio Foundation, and will additionally receive 2:1 matching funds (up to $5000 total) for speaking engagements designed to inspire youth to make a difference.
... the winners of our first ever Emily C. Specchio Ambassador award will be announced THIS WEEK! We will be posting the winning project idea along with the bios of the winners right here on our home page.
Also of note:
SAVE THE DATE! The 4th Annual “A Night with an Angel” will be held on Monday May 3rd, 2010.
Check out our newly funded Kiva Entrepreneurs! We fund young women in their 20′s that are taking initiative to raise out of poverty around the world.
We are currently in the process of selecting this year’s Emily C. Specchio Memorial Scholarship recipients at Virginia Tech. We are pleased to report a very strong group of applicants again this year!
We have 2 new initiatives support mentorship in the pipelines. One will involve working with a Blacksburg Elementary School in which Emily once volunteered, and the other will involve sponsoring young women active in community service to attend a Women’s Leadership Conference.
Finally, a new scholarship will be added to our yearly support of youth making a difference. We have partnered up with the New Jersey Community Development Corporation (NJCDC) to fund an annual scholarship given to high school youth showing excellence in academics and community service.
We have been so busy this year adding new initiatives and supporting our established programs all in line with our mission of helping youth make a difference in the world.
Author Krista Tibbs has made The Emily C. Specchio Foundation her featured nonprofit during the month of August for her book: The Neurology of Angels.This means $2 of every book purchased will be donated to the foundation.
Neurology of Angels Synopsis: Every day a choice must be made between saving one child and treating thousands. Galen is a neuroscientist and entrepreneur who loses everything to develop a cure for stroke. Eddy is a devoted father who enters politics on a mission to lower the cost of prescription drugs. Elizabeth is a pharmaceutical industry lawyer who is raising a daughter with a rare and fatal genetic illness. Their families become forever entwined as the three parents engage in a tug-of-war over a failing system of good intentions. In the wake, heroes are born.
**Krista also interviewed Emily’s sister Kate about the Specchio Family and the Emily C. Specchio Foundation on her blog. The interview can be found here. **
The Emily C. Specchio Foundation would like to give a huge thank you to all who contributed to the overwhelming success of the 3rd Annual “A Night with an Angel” Benefit dinner on Monday, May 4th. Over 230 people attended the banquet and over $45,000 (and counting) of contributions were generously donated to the Emily C. Specchio Foundation. Check back for the announcement of the final total in a few days! Also, pictures from the event and t-shirt ordering information will be up shortly.
100% of the money netted from this event will support our mission of encouraging and financially supporting youth who take initiative in changing the world for the better.
To find out more about what the foundation has accomplished thus far, and to learn about the new foundation initiatives announced at the event, please watch this video.
Due to the overwhelming success in fully endowing The Emily Carrigg Specchio Memorial Scholarship at Virginia Tech, The Emily C. Specchio Foundation is pleased to announce new initiatives to further fulfill our mission of following in Emily’s footsteps and helping others both nationally and internationally.
“Be the Change you wish to see in the World”- Ghandi
In the spirit of one of Emily’s favorite quotes, we are pleased to announce THREE new initiatives of The Emily C. Specchio Foundation for 2009-10 onward. These new initiatives all focus on young people taking action in making the world a better place.
1. The start of The Emily C. Specchio Ambassador Program
The Emily C. Specchio Ambassador program will distribute grants to New Jersey residents aged 18-25 with a clear vision for a community outreach project to be started/completed within a year of receiving funding. The project can be designed to help others either domestically or internationally. To read more and apply visit our new Emily C. Specchio Ambassador Page.
2. Micro-lending to International Entrepreneurs
The Emily C. Specchio Foundation is now involved in the micro-financing of young women entrepreneurs in their 20′s living in developing countries through Kiva.org. Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe. Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.
3. Partnership with The New Jersey Community Development Corporation (NJCDC)
The Emily C. Specchio Foundation is partnering up with the NJCDC to fund youth seeking to make a difference in innercity areas. The NJCDC is a not-for-profit organization focusing on community development, affordable housing, educational initiatives, and youth development for families, teens, children, and people with disabilities in Paterson, NJ.
The Emily C. Specchio Foundation is working towards the creation of a scholarship in collaboration with Paterson Youth Council, part of NJCDC, which is made up of dynamic young residents of Paterson between the ages of 13 and 19 who cultivate confidence, independence, leadership skills, and a voice of their own through service learning and community involvement.
Be a part in keeping Emily’s dreams alive. You won’t want to miss out on this fun and inspirational night. Please RSVP by one of the 2 methods listed below by April 27th, 2009!
The Emily C. Specchio Foundation cordially invites you to join us at the:
1) Donate items for our silent auction! If you have items to donate, please contact us through the contact page.
2) Join us for our 3rd annual “Night with an Angel” benefit dinner! Stay tuned for more updates, but the night will include an open bar, full dinner, live music, silent auction, presentations on the work and progress of the foundation, awarding of the annual Emily C. Specchio Scholarship, and an inspiring keynote speaker! Visit our “Night with an Angel” section to learn more and see pictures of past events!
Two convenient ways to RSVP:
Print out the 2009 invite and fill in the form on the second page. Enclose a check payable to The Emily C. Specchio Foundation, and mail to:
Emily C. Specchio Foundation
c/o David A. Lewis, Esq.
52 Maple Avenue
Morristown, NJ 07960
RSVP online through the “contact us” page and in the message body, please leave your: name, address, email, telephone, number of seats, and names attending. Also feel free to make requests for table assignments. Payment for the dinner can be made online through Paypal.
3) If you cannot attend the event, but would like to support the Emily C. Specchio Foundation, please either send a check made out to “The Emily C. Specchio Foundation” and mail it to The Emily C. Specchio Foundation c/o David A. Lewis, Esq., 52 Maple Avenue, Morristown, NJ 07960 OR Donate through paypal via this website.
All Donations are tax deductible! Thank you for your generosity and we hope to see you all on May 4th!!
This year’s recipients of The Emily C. Specchio Memorial Scholarship have been selected. The 2008-2009 applications were the most numerous and competitive yet. Congratulations to Virginia Tech students Anna Lashley, Christian Mason, and Caitlin Pecot!
Anna Lashley Christian Mason Caitlin Pecot
For more information on this scholarship and recipients, visit the VT Scholarship page
