How FWA has used the proceeds from BMO Capital Markets Day of Trading
 Other Programs and Accomplishments of the FWA of New York Educational

How FWA has used funding from Equity Through Education

FWA – BMO Capital Markets Scholarship Fund at Baruch College
The FWA of New York Educational Fund directed the funds from Equity Through Education to endow the FWA - BMO Capital Markets Scholarship Fund for undergraduate women with financial need and academic promise at Baruch College. This scholarship program was designed to enhance the FWA’s mentoring program, which it began in 2002, at Baruch’s highly regarded Zicklin School of Business. In 2006, the FWA first offered these full undergraduate scholarships at Baruch College, which is consistently ranked the nation’s most diverse college by U.S. News and World Report. Each year, approximately six young women will receive scholarships from this fund.

The FWA mentoring program at Baruch currently serves 30 young women and their mentors, volunteers from among the FWA’s membership of financial professionals. The focus is on personal and career development through one-on-one relationships, networking with other mentors and FWA members at FWA programs, and several topical luncheon workshops on campus led by FWA members. As of May 2010 when 10 mentees graduated, five had accepted full time positions with FWA corporate sponsors.

Adding this new financial component to other forms of support has been particularly critical for the diverse population of Baruch women, many of whom are recent immigrants or whose parents are first generation Americans. Baruch graduates the largest number of African-American and the fifth largest number of Hispanic-American students in New York City from its undergraduate programs.

BMO Capital Markets Undergraduate Scholarships for FWA – Murry Bergtraum High School Mentees

The Equity Through Education program is funding the FWA’s annually renewable undergraduate scholarships to students who graduate from the FWA mentoring program at Murry Bergtraum High School (MBHS) in lower Manhattan. The BMO contribution is not only sustaining the scholarship program but it enabled the FWA to increase the awards for upperclassmen from $1,000 to $2,000 each.

The FWA has partnered with Murry Bergtraum High School in lower Manhattan for 25 years, which is one of the longest partnerships in the New York City public school system. FWA members mentor approximately 30 high school students until graduation and the mentees benefit from the mentors’ knowledge and experience as well as the opportunity to explore the business community. The mentoring program helps with the college selection process and provides SAT prep courses in partnership with Princeton Review.

This year’s entering freshman BMO scholarship recipients are:

Julie Batista – Syracuse University Bermania Binet – Smith College Erika Castellar – Wheaton College Samantha DeMicco – St. Francis College Victoria Fan – Syracuse University Miguelina Garcia – Johnson & Wales University Cindy Lin – Syracuse University Dana Alle Martin – Stony Brook University Cristabell Ramdial – St. Bonaventure

This year’s scholarship recipients who are continuing their college studies:

Barbara Gelin – Baruch College Zhanna Digilova – New York University Christy McLean – Brooklyn College Krysta Omeir – Baruch College Massiel Santana – University of North Carolina

Other Programs and Accomplishments of The FWA of New York Educational Fund

Graduate Scholarship Program
The FWA of New York Educational Fund awarded four $5,000 scholarships to graduate students studying business at New York City schools – NYU, Columbia, Baruch, and Fordham - and one $5,000 scholarship to a student studying microfinance at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Over the course of 26 years, $600,000 has been awarded to 134 graduate students.

Wall Street Exchange
For 35 summers, the FWA’s Wall Street Exchange program has offered supplemental professional development workshops for a group of 30-40 college interns on Wall Street.

Financial Backpack
This past year over 400 high school students participated in the expanded Financial Backpack program. HSBC in the Community (USA) Inc. granted the FWA $900,000 over five years to teach personal financial management skills to over 3,000 high school students.

Financial Literacy Program
Since early 2005, FWA members have provided twice-yearly financial literacy workshops to clients at University Settlement in lower Manhattan. The program is proud to have expanded its reach since last year by working with 40 women at Nontraditional Employment for Women and The Grace Institute.

Lenore Albom Microfinance Initiative
The FWA’s Lenore Albom Microfinance Initiative raises funds each year to support overseas microfinance institutions (MFIs). For the past several years the FWA chose to provide scholarships for women leaders of MFIs worldwide. These women were chosen to attend executive leadership training seminars designed by Women’s World Banking and ACCION. So far, eight women have successfully completed the programs with the support of FWA funds. In 2010 the FWA is directing funds to Fonkoze, the largest MFI in Haiti, which was seriously damaged by the 7.0 earthquake in early 2010.

Programs for the General Business Community
In addition to the outreach programs of the FWA of New York Educational Fund, it also organizes programs focused on education and professional development, which provide continued learning and career growth for the wider business community. The FWA committees that fall under the purview of the Educational Fund - Entrepreneurs, Not-for-Profit and Professional Development - sponsor an array of events. Through these events, the FWA offers access to business, government, and academic leaders, and allows members and others to develop familiarity with issues in finance, technology, business, management and the non-profit world. In the 2009-10 fiscal year, over 1,000 people attended these Educational Fund programs.