A letter from Maggie Fronk, the Director of Project Hope and Power, May 6, 2011

I can’t often tell specifics of stories about H&P graduates, due to confidentiality issues. I was aware of this inspiring success story and now that it’s in the press I’d love to share it with all the folks who make dreams like this happen.
The Women’s Fund and Assemblyman Reilly Fund have both provided generous support for Hope and Power over the years. I thought they might like reading this story of just one of the 200+ graduates of the program.

On page 33 of this today’s Saratoga Today, Theresa Taylor tells of the path from homelessness to college graduate. The newspaper states “…she spent the 2007 St Patrick’s Day blizzard huddling in Congress Park thinking she’d reached the end of her life…her dream had always been a college education. She got her first push to go for it through Project Hope and Power”.

Photo of Theresa Taylor (center), graduate of Project Hope and Power
Left to right: SCCC Student Government Association President Amanda Smith Lucier, Theresa Taylor and Vice President of Student Affairs Martha Asselin

Theresa, a 50-year-old Schenectady County Community College (SCCC) chemical dependency counseling major, was recently awarded a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation undergraduate transfer scholarship for $30,000 per year to earn her bachelor's degree. She was one of 60 students chosen in the country.

Theresa said, "I look forward to spending the rest of my life in service work. Four year ago, I could never have dreamt of this."

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