MIAMI, Oct. 2, 2018 – Miami Dade College Foundation has collaborated with Social Venture Partners Miami (SVP Miami) to establish a $200,000 scholarship fund for Miami Dade College (MDC) students. Fourteen MDC students have been selected to receive the Social Venture Partners Scholarship so far this year, with additional scholarships slated to be awarded in the Spring.
The scholarship recipients are current beneficiaries of community programs run by SVP Miami investee organizations, such as Guitars Over Guns and Lotus House, which are working to make the community a better place.
The Social Venture Partners Scholarship was established thanks to financial support from The Mitchell Wolfson Sr. Foundation, one of MDC’s greatest benefactors.
“We are honored to support this unique collaboration between education and the community, which we believe is a win-win for everyone,” said Louis Wolfson III. “There is no better investment than in the education of our next generation while also supporting the scale-up of innovative programs that can have immeasurable impact on our community.”
“This scholarship will help me be the first in my family to graduate from college and to make a difference in this world,” said Symphonie Lexine, a scholarship recipient who is studying nursing at MDC. “It’s setting the path for my future. One day, I want to become a midwife and open up my own practice.”
SVP Miami is part of a global network that matches 3,500+ venture philanthropists with high-impact, scalable social ventures with the goal of maximizing impact on social issues in the community. SVP Miami provides infrastructure funding and works with the social ventures to create a growth strategy and assist with scale-up implementation.
“We are so grateful for SVP Partners like Louis Wolfson III and his family who set an extraordinary example of strategic philanthropy,” said Lauren Harper, Founding Director of SVP Miami. “Louis, Randi Wolfson Adamo and Chris Adamo are committed to finding ways of augmenting the impact of our community’s most promising social ventures, and our collaboration with MDC Foundation is just another example of this.”
Miami Dade College Foundation
Founded in 1965, Miami Dade College Foundation raises essential private funds for Miami Dade College to pay for student scholarships and academic programs that prepare students to become leaders and changemakers in a 21st century global economy. MDC Foundation also helps support MDC arts and culture offerings, offering the broader community access to world-class cultural and educational programming. In 2016-2017, MDC Foundation distributed more than $10.3 million to benefit the students, programs and operations of MDC. As Democracy’s College, MDC changes lives through accessible, high-quality teaching and learning experiences. MDC is the nation’s largest, campus-based institution of higher education with an enrollment of more than 165,000 students and more than two million alumni. It is also the nation’s top producer of Associate in Arts and Science degrees and awards more degrees to minorities than any other college or university in the country. Visit mdcfoundation.com.
Social Venture Partners Miami
Social Venture Partners Miami is part of a global network of 3,500+ venture philanthropists in over 40 cities, who have collectively contributed more than $63 Million to 840+ social ventures. SVP goes beyond philanthropy, beyond just giving money. SVP Partners leverage their funds, expertise and connections to strengthen social ventures and solve the biggest challenges facing their local communities. It’s a venture capitalist approach with social returns as the goal. To learn more about SVP Miami, visit www.svpmiami.org
MDC Foundation contact: Alyssa Zamora, 305-237-3331, azamora@mdc.edu
SVP Miami contact: Lauren Harper, 786-477-5885, lauren@svpmiami.org