Boston, MA — Three Massachusetts institutions have been chosen as finalists for the state’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Award for Campus-Community Collaboration, which will be awarded Monday April 9, 2007, during a dinner ceremony at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

The Carter Partnership Award, which recognizes model collaborations between colleges and community groups, carries with it a $10,000 prize for winning the program. Half of it goes to the academic institution and the other half goes to the partner community organization. The award is being organized by the Massachusetts Campus Compact, a higher education organization representing 65 college and university presidents in the Bay State.

The three finalists are:

• University of Massachusetts Lowell and the Peruvian Ministry of Health, for their collaboration on the Village Empowerment Partnership. In this rural development program, college students design and install sustainable systems in remote Peruvian villages.
• Harvard University’s Phillips Brooks House Association and the Boston Youth Fund who have partnered up on the Summer Urban Program. SUP is a network of summer camps, organized and staffed by Harvard undergraduates, for low-income Boston children that provide junior counselor jobs to urban youth.
• A Northeastern University, Wheelock College, Suffolk University collaborative in partnership with Jumpstart’s Roxbury School Readiness for All Initiative, which enlists and trains college students to be mentors to local preschoolers from low-income communities.

The finalists were chosen by a committee composed of representatives from higher education, business, government, and community groups throughout Massachusetts.

The works of the three finalists will be highlighted through a video presentation at the April 9 award ceremony and dinner at the UMass Boston Campus Center.

For information about receiving an invitation to the event or general information about the award visit The Carter Partnership Foundation, Massachusetts Campus Compact’s website or call 617-627-3889.