Deadline: February 2, 2027
Status: Currently Closed
Award Amount: $1,000
Number of Awards: 1-2
Selection Criteria:
- Graduating high school seniors or a post-high school adult learners or a military veterans
- Residing in, or attending high school in, the 29 town Greater Hartford region, with a preference for residents of Hartford, East Hartford, West Hartford, or Bloomfield
- Currently enrolled in an eligible community college (Asnuntuck, Capital, Manchester, Tunxis, Goodwin (2 yr programs)
- Pursuing a certificate or associate's degree with a minimum enrollment of 6 credits (2 courses)
- Pursuing studies in the areas of science, medicine, or engineering
- Demonstrated financial need
Nima Patel and Dan McNaughton wanted to find a way to help highly motivated students attend college. Nima, a West Hartford pediatrician, often thinks back to her childhood in growing up in farm villages in India and her financial struggles to obtain her degrees. Dan, who grew up as one of five children near the smokestacks of South Buffalo, worked for more than 25 years as an air quality meteorologist and finished his Ph.D. in Environmental Economics at age 50. They were inspired to give back to the Hartford, East and West Hartford communities where Nima based her practice; they established this fund in 2012.