WINNERS: Princeton Community Housing (PCH) celebrated the achievements of this year’s NAHMA and JAHMA scholarship winners on August 12. From left are Cecilia Xie Birge, principal of Princeton High School; Sara Just, PCH trustee and chair of the Princeton Community Village Management Committee; Isaiah Nazario; Jocelyn Winslow; Maiyin Hobgood; Enmanuel Guzman Zambrano; Mercy Ebong; Brian Donis; Ashley Batts and her two children; Bruce Johnson, administrator, Affordable Housing Management Association Scholarship Program; and PCH Executive Director Edward Truscelli. Recipients not pictured are Naomi Bazar, Lauren Estime, Gabriela Maldonado, and Bianca Orostizaga.
By Anne Levin
It has been 25 years since Princeton Community Housing (PCH) first celebrated young residents who have earned college scholarships from the National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA) and the New Jersey Affordable Housing Management Association (JAHMA). This year’s crop of 11 have won a total of $54,000, the largest amount of total scholarship awards received by PCH students in a single year.
“Since NAHMA started about 25 years ago, our students have been earning scholarships,” said Karen Jezierny, PCH board president. “JAHMA came on board a few years later. PCH kids have been competing really successfully for as long as the program has been in place.”
PCH provides, manages, and advocates for affordable, safe, and well-maintained homes. It was founded in 1967 by a group of community leaders to support a balance of housing opportunities. Today, PCH provides and manages almost 500 affordable rental homes for individuals, families, seniors, and people with disabilities with very low-, low-, and moderate-incomes.
Eight of this year’s scholarship recipients live at Princeton Community Village, while three are residents of PCH’s Griggs Farm community. The group includes a mother of two, whose children attended the hybrid celebration last Wednesday evening, August 12, at PCH’s Ted Vial Clubhouse. The recipients were joined by family, friends, neighbors, mentors, and staff. The keynote speaker was Cecelia Xie Birge, principal of Princeton High School.
“Accomplishments like these don’t happen in isolation,” Birge told the audience, highlighting the educators, families, mentors, neighbors, and organizations that invest in young people and help create opportunities for them to succeed. She also recognized the role of PCH’s Social Services Team for their work connecting residents with resources and opportunities that they might otherwise not know about.
The scholarships are about more than financial assistance, Birge said — they send a powerful message. “We see your potential,” she said. “We believe in your future. And your community is invested in helping you reach your goals.”
Birge also spoke about the importance of belonging, and the role that a stable home can play in a young person’s future. Home is a foundation from which people can build successful lives, she said, encouraging the recipients to remember the people and community members who believed in them and invested in their potential, and to carry that same spirit of support with them as they build communities of their own.
Next to speak was Bruce Johnson, administrator of the NAHMA Scholarship Program. Johnson recognized each scholarship winner individually, speaking to their strengths. The fact that PCH residents have won scholarships for 25 consecutive years is a testament not only to their accomplishments, but also to the communities that surround and support them, he said.
The celebration is a much-loved annual tradition “and a powerful reminder of what can happen when a community invests in its young people,” reads a release on the event. “It also reflects the impact of PCH’s mission as a nonprofit organization that builds, manages, and advocates for affordable housing in Princeton. Through its dedicated on-site Social Services Team and community-based partnerships, PCH connects more than 1,100 residents with resources, programs, and support that promote stability, well-being, and opportunity.”
The students are eligible for scholarships for four years of college, and also for graduate school.
“They stay with the students as long as they perform well,” said Jezierny. “It’s a real blessing, and not all scholarship programs work that way. So they’re not scrambling at the end of the first year, trying to fill a gap.”