NYU Scholarships Nurture Young Social Entrepreneurs

Time is running out to apply for this prestigious fellowship for young social entrepreneurs. See details at the bottom of this page to find out how to get in the running!

When she was about six, Jessica Mason went to see Fiddler on the Roof in San Fransisco and noticed scores of homeless men on the street. "I remember saying to my parents that when I was older, I would have a huge house where homeless people could come live," Mason, 21, told Tonic.

At about the same time, in South Africa, a black girl named Magogodi Makhene shuttled between her impoverished, all-black township of Soweto to an elite — and 99 percent white — private school in a neighborhood dripping with wealth. "I grew up in a society where there was so much disparity between the haves, who were usually white, and have-nots, who were usually black," says Makhene, 27. "I was sensitized to this very early."

Mason, a college senior originally from Danville, Cali., created that huge house she'd always dreamed of building for homeless women and children in Queens, New York. Makhene (pictured speaking at right), now finishing a master's degree, is co-founder of Zenzelecircle, a non-profit linking private mostly American equity and venture capital investors to small to medium-sized businesses in Africa. "I am committed to something that is greater than me," says Makhene. "I feel a real sense of urgency."

The pair are part of a select group of students at New York University's prestigious Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation Program in Social Entrepreneurship, launched in 2006 to foster social changers such as Mason and Makhene.  "We scour the university to try and find individuals who are mavericks, who when they see a hole in the social fabric would rather die in a ditch than not fix it," says the program's founder and director, Gabriel Brodbar. "They are obsessively driven."

The program, the only one of its kind in the US, gives undergraduates and graduate students — in fields of study as diverse as film-making to medicine — scholarships up to $50,000 over two years, and the chance to incubate, grow and put into action their altruistic ideas.  "The most important thing is that they put you next to people who are as crazy as you are," says Cody Brown, 21, a senior who started a popular journalism blog called NYU Local. "You are around people who are passionate about a specific subject, and they're used to acting on this passion. It makes you want to push further." Competition for spots is fierce. Last year, almost 1,000 graduate students applied for a Reynolds fellowship; just eight were chosen.

Some of the Superstars

Brian Levine (pictured at left), currently a second-year obstetrics and gynecology resident at Columbia, earned a spot as a Reynolds fellow while at NYU's medical school. Levine juggled the rigors of earning his medical degree with creating the first and only free cell phone network connecting every doctor in Ghana, a country with just 2,000 physicians serving 22 million people. It's vital for doctors to have this communication, Levine says, for patient follow-up, consultations and much-needed camaraderie. "This project is the most eye-opening experience of my life," says Levine, who knew nothing about cell phones or Ghana. "It defines who I've become."

Levine credits his ability to multi-task for excelling in medical school — all while creating and implementing the cell phone program, which included travel to Ghana. "I think it's all about prioritizing," says Levine. The program has expanded to Liberia, and in the next few years, Levine expects all doctors in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda to be connected to each other with free cell service.  "I couldn't have done this without the Reynolds program," says Levine. "I was given the tools to think outside the box."

Cody Brown's creative thinking led to the creation of Kommons.com, a unique news site launching at the end of January. Brown (at right) says Kommons will utilize its members as "reporters" who send information to Kommons. When asked how this works, and how one knows the information is reliable, Brown says: "It's a new field, and won't make much sense until you see it. It's going to change the way media works."

And as for Makhene? She and her business partner are in the stage of raising capitol — they hope to soon provide $50,000 to $1 million to African entrepreneurs. "We are not looking at Africa as a place of need, there are plenty of Africans who are very successful," she says. "We want to do something to help the next generation of entrepreneurs."

Mason (below) overcame her own obstacles. "We met with an architect who said we couldn't make it work," said the student, who founded the non-profit Baby's First Home with an NYU junior. Through dogged determination, the pair landed legal help that found a loop-hole in the zoning laws. Says Mason: "It came down to asking a lot of people with more knowledge for help."

She works with young women in the foster system and creates a childcare program for poor women, all while double majoring in social work and history with a 3.9 average. "Sometimes it's a little bit overwhelming," says Mason. "I pretty much stopped sleeping my sophomore year. While friends were out partying, I've been writing up legal documents for our organization. But it's something I'd never go back and redo."

For those of you who would rather change the world rather than just think about it over a beer, and receive a hefty dose of support for your grand ideas, Reynolds is for you. "The most important thing that an organization like the Reynolds program does, they put you next to people who are as crazy as you are," says Brown. "When all of your friends in high school are out partying and you are home getting obsessed by a crazy project, you are around people who also passionate about a specific subject.

"And it's not just passion," he continues. "They're used to acting on this passion. It's an incredible sense of confidence. If you spend alot of your life seeming different because you care so much about a specific subject, it kicks ass when everyone else is, it makes you want to push further. Reynolds is really great at that."

The graduate fellowship is open to new NYU students accepted for Fall 2010 enrollment to any full-time, two-year master's program (with the exception of some executive programs), or students that are currently enrolled in the schools of law, medicine, dentistry or some three-year Tisch School of the Arts programs and will have two years of study remaining beginning September 2010. Click here for each school's graduate deadline and contact information.

The undergraduate scholarships are open only to current NYU students; the application deadline is January 22.

All photos courtesy of the NYU Reynolds Program.