Brooklyn Kids to Visit Harvard Thanks to Crowdfunding Campaign
A group of Brooklyn sixth graders will visit Harvard University after a fundraising campaign launched Thursday by “Humans of New York’’ blogger Brandon Stanton exceeded its $100,000 goal within an hour, The New York Post reports.
The blog, which was launched in 2010, chronicles the lives of New Yorkers through their quotes and anecdotes, accompanied by Stanton’s photographs of them out and about in the city.
Earlier this week, Stanton spoke to a young boy and asked who influenced him the most in his life:
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Nadia Lopez is the principal at the Mott Hall Bridge Academy in Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood — one of the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods.
The New York Times reported that in 2013, there were 72 shootings and 15 murders in that neighborhood alone, which is comprised of about two square miles. Nearly 40 percent of Brownsville’s residents live below the poverty line.
Stanton met up with Lopez a few days after he spoke to the student she inspired:
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The pair brainstormed ways to help inspire the school’s underprivileged students, developing a plan to send the school’s incoming sixth grade class on a visit to Harvard University at the beginning of the school year.
“I want every child who enters my school to know that they can go anywhere, and that they do belong,’’ Lopez told Stanton.
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Lopez and Stanton estimated that each trip would cost about $30,000.
Stanton set up an IndieGoGo page on January 22 with a goal of $100,000 to be raised by February 5 — enough for transporation and accommodations for three trips. That goal was met within an hour.
As of Friday, donors had raised more than $380,000, which is enough funding for many more trips. And with 13 days remaining in the fundraiser, that number has the potential to get even higher.
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