GSS Professor Lauded for Mentoring Latinas

Ellen Silber, Ph.D., of the Graduate School of Social Service’s Institute for Women and Girls, was named a 2008 Purpose Prize Fellow by Civic Ventures, a national think tank on boomers. Silber was named a fellow for Mentoring Latinas, a program in which college Latinas mentor middle school Latinas to inspire them to graduate from high school and go on to college. She founded the program in 2003, and Fordham College at Rose Hill has participated in the program since the spring of 2007.

“Recognition as a Purpose Prize Fellow by Civic Ventures means a great deal to me,” Silber said. “Adolescent Latinas can realize their dreams with the help of their mentors, and being a Fellow inspires me to try even harder to acquire the resources to expand the program.”

The Purpose Prize is a $9 million program for people over 60 who are taking on society’s biggest challenges. The prize, now in its third year, is the nation’s only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.