Hearst Awards

In 2001, The Hearst Foundation and the William Randolph Hearst Foundation launched a $5.0 million Initiative in Aging to address the severe shortage of front-line professionals trained to coordinate and manage the care of a growing number of older people so that they may live independently with dignity in the community. Of 600,000 practicing social workers in the United States, only 5,000 are specially trained to work with older people. Of the 2.5 million registered nurses in the United States, fewer than 15,000 are certified geriatric nurses.

In December, the Hearst Foundations awarded 10 grants of $500,000 each to 5 schools of nursing and 5 schools of social work to create endowed scholarship funds to encourage masters level students to choose aging as an area of specialization. It is expected that as a result of these endowed scholarship funds, the 10 schools across the country collectively will each year graduate 40-50 additional professionals trained to work effectively with older people and their families.

A William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship Fund for Geriatric Nurse Practitioners, was awarded to each of 5 schools of nursing:

New York University, Division of Nursing
University of North Carolina at Greensboro, School of Nursing
Case Western Reserve University, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Nursing
Oregon Health and Sciences University, School of Nursing

A William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship Fund for Master Degree Social Workers in Aging, was awarded to each of 5 schools of social work:

State University at Albany (SUNY-Albany), School of Social Welfare
Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Social Work
Washington University, George Warren Brown School of Social Work
University of Houston, Graduate School of Social Work
University of California Los Angeles, School of Public Policy and Social Research, Department of Social Welfare

The Hearst Foundation, Inc. was founded in 1945 by philanthropist William Randolph Hearst. In 1948, Mr. Hearst established the California Charities Foundation; however, soon after his death in 1951, that name was changed to the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. The charitable goals of the two Foundations are essentially the same, and reflect the philanthropic interests of William Randolph Hearst. The two Foundations are administered out of the headquarters in New York City. For further information about the Hearst Foundations go to their website, www.hearstfdn.org.