From foster care to top university, Quran Howard has demonstrated his commitment to changemaking
Miami, March 2, 2021 – Miami Dade College (MDC) North Campus student, Quran Howard, has been named a national 2021-22 Newman Civic Fellow, the highest honor for student engagement leadership. He will graduate from MDC on May 1 and plans to continue his education at Howard University in Washington, D.C. before joining the Peace Corps. He joins 212 students from 39 states, Washington, D.C., and Mexico to form the 2021 cohort.
The Newman Civic Fellowship is a year-long program from Campus Compact, a Boston-based non-profit organization working to advance the public purposes of higher education. Students selected are leaders on their campuses who have demonstrated a commitment to finding solutions for challenges facing communities locally, nationally, and internationally.
The fellowship provides a variety of learning and networking opportunities that emphasize personal, professional, and civic growth, as well as the skills and connections they need to create large-scale positive change.
Nominated by MDC President Madeline Pumariega, the North Campus political science major grew up as a foster child and often struggled with food insecurity. Volunteers at food pantries and after-school enrichment programs helped his foster family manage.
“Every Saturday we went to food banks, standing in long lines — the process was very humbling,” he said. “I want to do something for the next kid who doesn’t want to be in that line.”
At MDC, Howard served as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer working with Single Stop, an MDC resource that connects students with support services. He oversaw the daily operations of a food pantry, recruiting and supervising student volunteers.
Howard also worked a year with MDC’s Institute for Civic Engagement and Democracy, assisting with building community-campus partnerships, and received two grants from Sodexo Stop Hunger, which provides funds for youth working to end hunger in their communities.
He participated in several service opportunities, including rebuilding homes in New Orleans, and removing plastic waste in the Galapagos Islands. Howard also received a grant from the Awesome Foundation Miami chapter to start a community project, Biking2theMarket, where volunteers ride bikes to deliver fresh produce to low-income families in Opa-locka.
“I feel that it’s my moral responsibility to help because I know how it feels to be food insecure,” Howard said. “It’s a small drop, but I’m hoping to create ripples.”
About Campus Compact
Campus Compact is a national coalition of colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education. Campus Compact supports institutions in fulfilling their public purposes by deepening their ability to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility. As the largest national higher education association dedicated solely to campus-based civic engagement, we provide professional development to administrators and faculty to enable them to engage effectively, facilitate national partnerships connecting campuses with key issues in their local communities, build pilot programs to test and refine promising models in engaged teaching and scholarship, celebrate and cultivate student civic leadership, and convene higher education institutions and partners beyond higher education to share knowledge and develop collective capacity. Visit www.compact.org.
Learn more about the Newman Civic Fellowship at www.compact.org/newman-civic-fellowship.