FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANHATTAN COLLEGE SENIOR MICHAEL BRADY RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS CLARK FELLOWSHIP IN NONPROFIT SECTOR

RIVERDALE, N.Y. – North Greenbush, New York, resident Michael Brady recently was awarded a three-year fellowship by The Clark Foundation.  The Clark Foundation was created to identify, nurture and support students with great potential for leadership in careers in community-based nonprofit organizations in New York City.  Brady, 20, was chosen out of a pool of nine final candidates who each submitted essays and applications and underwent an in-person interview to convey their commitment to the nonprofit sector and potential for leadership.

As a Clark Foundation Fellow, Brady will receive financial support for graduate education, as well as programming aimed at helping him launch or advance his career in the nonprofit field.  The Manhattan College Fellowship Committee, established by Provost Dr. Weldon Jackson and chaired by sociology professor Mary Ann Groves, assisted Brady in his application process.  The Fellowship Committee was founded with the goal of grooming Manhattan students to apply for such awards and make students aware that these awards and fellowships exist.

A triple major in English, government and urban affairs, Brady hopes to study urban planning at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.  An active participant in Manhattan College’s campus ministry and social action department, Brady already has built an impressive résumé in community work and volunteering.  He has raised money for cancer research as part of American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life program and donned a Clifford the Big Red Dog suit to distribute books to local schools as part of First Book’s nationwide effort to provide children from low-income families with new books.  For Brady, who started at Manhattan on the pre-law track, community-based work and social change is his passion, and he cannot imagine doing anything else.

“You can call me a change agent to society,” says Brady, who is spending his summer as a Brannigan Fellow and wrapping up an extensive research paper on gender and class.  “I really love what I do. I don’t think my life [at Manhattan College] would be complete without doing community or volunteer work.  Professors here have taught me that it’s not what you have in life that counts, it’s what you do with it in the end that is going to affect society.”

In the first year of his three-year fellowship, Brady will attend a leadership retreat and participate in a number of workshops that address practical issues related to graduate education and nonprofit employment.  During the second and third year as a Clark Fellow, Brady will be required to work and attend graduate school at a New York City-based institution and in a program related to the nonprofit sector.  He will be required to work at least 20 hours per week at a nonprofit organization.  At that time, Brady will receive a grant of up to $30,000, which includes a salary stipend of $10,000 per year for two years.  He also will receive up to $10,000 in scholarship support toward a master’s degree.

As a fellow, Brady hopes to work at The Enterprise Foundation.  The nonprofit organization works in neglected communities nationwide and aims to establish better living conditions in those neighborhoods.

Manhattan College was founded in 1853 upon the Lasallian tradition of excellence in teaching.  The College is an independent, Catholic, coeducational institution of higher learning offering more than 40 major programs of study in the areas of arts, business, education, engineering and science. 

   Manhattan College Parkway
   Riverdale, New York 10471
   718-862-8000 / 1-800-MC2-XCEL

   © Copyright 1995-1999, 2000-2004 Manhattan College, All rights reserved.