The Fred Somerset Memorial Scholarship Program

The Fred Somerset Memorial Scholarship Program is pleased to announce The Education and the Arts Project for the period of October 2023 through November 2024. Additional details, including session announcements, are coming soon. 

The Education and the Arts Project will benefit the residents of the historic Capitol Hill and Anacostia communities in Washington, D.C.; as well as Northern, Central, and Southeast Virginia, by using the arts as a catalyst to improve the generational development of families through positive health and economic means. The Education and the Arts Project will utilize workshops to educate its participants by addressing a need to encourage improved dietary habits through the knowledge of healthier food options; assisting in the eradication of food insecurity; stressing physical fitness to combat high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity; in addition to promoting mental and physical health by discussing early detection of anxiety and depressive disorders, learning disabilities, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Additionally, financial professionals will divulge processes to promote financial literacy by teaching strategies for the development of short-and-long-term savings and investment plans, family financial planning by using budgets, financial and debt management tools, and stressing the importance of using life insurance as a generational wealth practice. The project will also educate our participants regarding the benefit of the grant application versus loan application process for higher learning funding. The Education and the Arts Project workshop facilitators will consist of local educators, health professionals, financial professionals, local historians, and curators. By using the arts, including the early achievements and contributions of African Americans to our society, our participants will receive exposure to unique experiences that will foster improved cultural awareness and fuel advancements in their educational achievement through the knowledge of African American culture obtained from professional members of the community who may not have been easily accessible to our participants previously. 

The Fred Somerset Memorial Scholarship Program is proud to sponsor Springfield Central High School's Class of 1988 during their 35th Class Reunion. Our organization is especially excited to sponsor the reunion this year in honor of our board member, Edward "Jamil" Miller, who is a very proud member of the Class of 1988. The great Class of 1988 enjoys a reunion every five years and is known for producing multiple educators and community leaders. Springfield Central High School is located in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Fred Somerset Memorial Scholarship Program sends congratulations to the Class of 1988!! Furthermore, during this Veterans Day weekend, we would like to recognize our board member retired SKC Chief United States Coast Guard Mr. Edward "Jamil" Miller for his 25 years of service!!!! Salute my Brother!!!

The Fred Somerset Memorial Scholarship Program would like to thank Ms. Mariana Souza, Director of Finance, and Ms. Sabrina Schwab, Human Resource Director, at the JW Marriot Rio de Janeiro in Brazil for meeting with our Executive Director, Jermaine Somerset, to discuss a partnership for The Marriott English Language Project. The Marriott English Language Project is our newest scholarship project created specifically to benefit associates of the JW Marriott Hotel Rio de Janeiro who desire to speak the English language fluently. Associates in the project will be awarded financial assistance to enroll as students in “Path to Fluency.” The Path to Fluency course is taught by instructor, Mr. Jonatas “Teacher Jonatas” Lourenco. Our organization intentionally collaborated with Teacher Jonatas for The Marriott English Language Project because we have great confidence in Teacher Jonatas’ qualifications to accomplish the vision of this unique project. Our organization has already enrolled two JW Marriott Hotel Rio de Janeiro associates in The Marriott English Language Project: Ms. Lorraine Santos and Ms. Erika Bento. Ms. Santos and Ms. Bento are members of the hospitality staff, and both are experiencing a significant increase in their ability to speak the English language and to confidently engage with hotel guests who visit the JW Marriott Hotel Rio de Janeiro.

Jermaine Somerset, Executive Director of The Fred Somerset Memorial Scholarship Program attended the Juneteenth celebration in Farrell, Pennsylvania on Saturday, June 17, 2023. 

The Fred Somerset Memorial Scholarship Program would like to extend our gratitude again to Mayor Kimberly Doss and the Farrell Police Department in support of the recent Legacy Cultural Project, a cultural trip to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama sponsored by the program during which Farrell, Pennsylvania high school students, family, and community leaders explored deep South history and engaged in nightly Q & A sessions reflecting on the day’s activities and the creation of steps aimed at increased positive community development for the future. The Fred Somerset Memorial Scholarship Program stands together with Mayor Doss and the Farrell Police Department in combined efforts to continue the goal of the Legacy Cultural Project with discussions of innovative and progressive ideas to embrace a collaborative approach to the fostering of healing by bridging divides within the City of Farrell. 

The Fred Somerset Memorial Scholarship Program is extremely excited to have sponsored Farrell, Pennsylvania high school students, family, and community leaders on The Legacy Cultural Project, a cultural trip to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. Student Syon Rain (Class of 2024), his mother Roxanne West, Student Destini McDonald (Class of 2026), her grandmother Deborah Gavins, Student Brielle Foore (Class of 2028), her mother Tonya Foore, Mayor Kimberly Doss, School Board Member Reverend Tiffany Holden, and Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Emily Clare attended the trip hosted by The Fred Somerset Memorial Scholarship Program and its Founder/Executor Director, Jermaine Somerset (1991 Farrell High School graduate). The group visited the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama (the site of the brutal “Bloody Sunday”), The Legacy Museum (located on the site of a former warehouse where Black people were forced to labor), the Riverfront Park in downtown Montgomery, and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice (a memorial to the 4,400 African Americans who were lynched in this country between 1877 and 1950). Mr. Somerset engaged the group in nightly Q & A sessions to reflect on the day’s activities and the development of steps aimed at increased positive community development for the future. The Fred Somerset Memorial Scholarship Program understands the importance of building strong community relations. To accomplish this goal, the program focuses on the “Four Pillars” that are a foundation of our communities: Citizens, Community Leadership, Law Enforcement, and Education. We are strongly committed to the process of activism, and we promote a collaborative approach to the fostering of healing by bridging divides between those four pillars. The Fred Somerset Memorial Scholarship Program is proud to continue its mission of giving back to the City of Farrell, Pennsylvania.