About Northeast Dollars for Scholars
Dollars for Scholars is a national network of more than 1,200 community-based, volunteer-operated scholarship foundations in cities, towns and neighborhoods throughout the United States. Northeast Dollars for Scholars serves chapters in New England and New York, supported by a regional office located in Stoneham, Massachusetts.
Dr. Irving Fradkin started Dollars for Scholars in the Northeast, establishing the first chapter in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1959. From these humble beginnings, Scholarship America (the parent organization of Dollars for Scholars) has become the nation's premier non-profit, private-sector scholarship and student assistance organization.
Meet the Regional Staff of Northeast Dollars for Scholars
Lynne Zervas (left) is our Director of Chapter Support Services. She joined us in 2000 from Wakefield, Massachusetts, where she served the local chapter as their office manager. Wakefield was one of the original twelve Dollars for Scholars chapters and is now the largest grassroots chapter in the country.
David Duncan (right) joined us in 1994 as Executive Director of what was then New England Dollars for Scholars. He lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Northeast Dollars for Scholars Facts
- Northeast Dollars for Scholars actively promotes the Collegiate Partners program of Scholarship America. More than five hundred colleges and universities agree to use Dollars for Scholars scholarships to reduce student and family loan debt and not adjust college aid already given to the student. A number of Collegiate Partners also match chapter awards, effectively doubling the scholarship.
- Northeast works with 164 Collegiate Partners -- more than any other chartered region. To find a complete list of all our Collegiate Partners, visit Scholarship America's Collegiate Partners page.
- In 2009, nearly $20 million was awarded in scholarships to 16,000 students in the Northeast.
- More than 40% of the 280 chapters in the Northeast region have permanent endowment funds, totaling more than $55 million.
- In 2009, Northeast chapters distributed an average of $72,000 each in college scholarships.
- In 2009, the average Northeast chapter distributed 57 awards averaging $1,229 per student, the highest scholarship number and dollar average in the country.
- Northeast Dollars for Scholars has held an annual chapter volunteer workshop for the past eleven years. Volunteers are trained and supported in initiating, developing and sustaining local chapters. This is the largest regional workshop in the country.
- The seven states of Northeast Dollars for Scholars have had eight chapters win the national recognition award for excellence:
- CSF of Wakefield, Massachusetts
- CSF of East Providence, Rhode Island
- Dollars for Scholars of Taconic Hills, New York
- Mount Washington Valley Dollars for Scholars, New Hampshire
- NY Latino Dollars for Scholars, New York
- Somerville Mathematics Fund, Massachusetts
- Upward Bound @ USM Dollars for Scholars, Maine
Because College Doesn't Happen By Chance®.
