All it Takes is One

Do you ever lay awake at night, worrying about the state budget, or hunger in Africa, or infant mortality rates? Maybe it’s the lack of clean, safe drinking water in some parts of the world that’s keeping you from sleep, or poor graduation rates among certain groups of students right here in the Twin Cities. If you’re anything like me, whatever it is – one issue, or many – it can be all too easy to push them aside in the bright light of day. We’re just one person, we think. What can we do about it?

In 1958, an optometrist in Fall River, Mass., couldn’t shake an issue that kept coming up when talking with young patients during their eye exams. Student after student was opting to go straight into the workforce after high school graduation, rather than pursue college or technical training, because education was just too expensive (at around $200 a semester for a public, 4-year university). Dr. Irving A. Fradkin believed so strongly in the power of education to help strengthen individuals and communities that he ran for election to the local school board on a “Dollars for Scholars” platform. His idea: that if every person in his city would donate just one dollar, they could send all graduating high school seniors to college.

Fradkin lost the election. But he went on to found the nation’s first grassroots scholarship organization instead.

Leaders in his community – including school officials, business owners and even his rabbi – suggested Fradkin was on a fool’s errand and “only rich people gave scholarships.” Undaunted, Fradkin persevered – and ultimately received endorsements from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, then-senator John F. Kennedy and Senator Edward Kennedy – along with governors, secretaries of education and leaders in more than 3,000 communities across the nation.

In his first year, Fradkin raised $4,500 and awarded 24 scholarships to students in his community. Three years later, eleven communities had joined as Dollars for Scholars chapters – and in 1961, voted to form a national organization now known as Scholarship America and headquartered in Minnesota (and the organization for which I work).

Fradkin is now 90 and still active and engaged with the organization. He never earned a salary as founder of Scholarship America – and continued to practice optometry until his retirement. He credits his family with giving him the room to pursue his passion, especially his wife of over 60 years. And when you talk to him, he never fails to bring the subject around to the reason behind his passion: his love for America, for the freedoms and quality of life we enjoy, and for the power of education to continue to make our nation stronger.

Since its humble beginnings, Scholarship America has awarded more than $2.7 billion in scholarships to 1.8 million students across the nation and abroad and has inspired entire communities to support the educational dreams of students. There are currently over a thousand Dollars for Scholars chapters. Scholarship America also works with corporations and foundations to deliver more than 1,100 scholarship programs, and provides emergency financial assistance to students at 31 colleges.

What if Dr. Fradkin had listened to the leaders in his community? What if his family had not been supportive of his efforts to help build a stronger nation? What if he had succumbed to the fear that one person could not make a significant dent in a social issue?

Like Fradkin, each of us is just one person. And he’s shown us that one is all it takes to make a real difference.

Scholarship America is celebrating its 50 Years of Helping Students Succeed on October 27, 2011 at the Westin Minneapolis.

~ Janine Fugate is a new regular contributor to the Leadership and Community blog.