In February along with my fellow trustees I was delighted to welcome President Franklin Roosevelt’s great granddaughter, Sarah Schoonmaker as our Roosevelt family host and contact. Sarah is based in New York and has confirmed that she is delighted and excited to continue the long-standing legacy of cooperation between Nottinghamshire and the Roosevelt family.

We also warmly welcomed the appointment of Susan Hallam as a new Trustee. Susan is the founder and CEO of one of Nottingham’s leading digital marketing agencies, and serves as the Chair of Nottingham’s Creative Quarter and as a Trustee of Nottingham Castle. Born in the USA, Susan has lived in the UK for 34 years and brings valued knowledge, experience and links to our scholarship.

Another fantastic highlight for me was having the opportunity to hear from four scholars, Gareth Morgan and Miles Waghorn who travelled in 2017, and Angelena Efstathiou and Ben Felstead who recently returned from their very individual and different journeys to the States. Clearly Miles and Gareth have had time to put their very different experiences and learning into great local practice. All four scholars presented their findings to us, their response provided a very informative, deep and meaningful insight into their experience, the opportunities they generated and the depth of learning and knowledge they acquired. Moreover, they all stimulated us with their confidence, enthusiasm and humour, they also shared a deep determination and commitment to take their knowledge forward to initiate change and improvements in their own arena.

Our recent decision, as Trustees to hear directly from scholars on their return is a good one! From a personal point of view, this really bought home to me the real reason I serve as a Trustee. The opportunity our scholarship provides to stimulate, shape and influence change. The opportunity to gain knowledge and share best practice, the undoubted benefit and value it gives and how it enables a life enhancing insight for our scholars. The reason we all work to build a sustainable future for the scholarship to flourish.

This year we are sending three scholars to the US. Nottinghamshire County Council are generously funding a ‘Mayflower scholar’ to link into the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim Fathers. We look forward to hearing more as the selection process for all three places continues.

On that note I would like to say a few personal thanks. Firstly, to our management team led by Russ Blenkinsop who act as the anchor for the scholarship. To Councillor Sue Saddington, Chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council and the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Councillor Liaqat Ali.  Sue and her team at the County Council deserve special thanks for going the extra mile in their commitment and support over the past twelve months. As ever my thanks to my fellow Trustees for giving their time and support so freely and willingly.

Finally, we need more support from you.  Former Scholars are the life blood that continues to ensure the scholarship lives on. Your thoughts, ideas and feedback are essential to us. Most importantly, we now have funding for only one more year after this years scholars have travelled. Many of you have strong contacts or links into financial sources beyond our reach. Your thoughts and assistance in securing funding will be most helpful at this time. Please let me know of any leads you may have.

Best wishes for the year ahead.  Mick Burrows

After another successful year of applications and interviews, we are delighted to announce the successful candidates for 2019 Nottingham Roosevelt Scholarship. They include:

• Henry Franklin, will be looking at modern methods of manufacturing in the construction industry to see what can be learnt and shared between our two countries,
• Sam Preston, will be looking at US cities who are leading the way with becoming sustainable and help Nottingham become the first carbon neutral city in the UK.
• Joe Dank, will be undertaking the Mayflower research project. The Mayflower project represents an exciting partnership with Nottinghamshire County Council as part of the Mayflower2020 campaign. Joe will be capturing the stories of Pilgrims, many of whom originated in Nottinghamshire.

Further details on the new scholars and their research projects will be in the next newsletter. Thanks to the 2nd interview panel of the Mayflower scholar were Sheridan Chilvers, Gabriel Strauss, Mandy Ramm (Notts CC) and Russ Blenkinsop and the panel for the main scholarship were Sheridan Chilvers, Susan Hallam, Cllr Sue Saddington, Cllr Yvonne Woodhead and Russ Blenkinsop. There were 5 candidates for the scholarships and the decisions were unanimous.

The scholars are putting together their usual 50-word statement, 1-page report, photo and video and these are available on the website under ‘Current Scholars’. The videos are on our YouTube channel. These materials will help us all advertise the scholarship – so if you prefer them in a different format or additional information then please let me know. An introductory 2 page leaflet on the scholarship is also available on the ‘About NRMTS’ page.

The Nottingham Roosevelt Scholarship is delighted to announce President Franklin Roosevelt’s great granddaughter, Sarah Schoonmaker, will continue the long-standing legacy of cooperation between Nottinghamshire and the Roosevelt family. Sarah Schoonmaker said, “I am delighted to be a part of continuing the strong relationship between Nottinghamshire, the Roosevelt family and the United States”.

The 2019 Celebration Event will be taking place on Friday 5th July at Manners Arms, Knipton. We will be hearing from Ben Felstead, YMCA and Tori Harrison, Framework.

The event will start at 7pm with drinks and canopies from 6.45pm.

In November 2017, I started working at Futures, an educational organisation in Nottingham that delivers a broad range of careers and employability services to young people and adults including apprenticeships, family learning and careers advice. My role was focused on connecting businesses to schools, to inspire young people to explore different career pathways and opportunities. I was also tasked with organising the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Digital Skills show, which aimed promote digital careers, these events attracted hundreds of students.

In November 2018, I was promoted to Programme Manager: Education and Digital, where I now organise school focused activities including work experience, enterprise and employability days and the traditional interview skill days. As part of this new role, I have now taken on line management responsibilities for the first time, which presents a new challenge for me, but I look forward to the opportunity do develop leadership skills.

At the same time as starting the new role I was awarded an amazing opportunity to participate in the Future Leaders Nottingham professional development programme. The programme aims to make leadership in Nottinghamshire more diverse and representative by creating a network of talented people who inspire others and drive change. As part of the programme I received masterclasses in communications, leadership, project management, resilience, emotional intelligence and action learning. Through the programme, I worked on a project to develop a YouNG Future Leaders programme for 17 and 18 year olds.

Since returning from my Scholarship in 2012, I have been looking for opportunities to implement the knowledge and insight I’ve gained on social entrepreneurship. I recently launched the Young Innovators Competition, in collaboration with the University of Nottingham. It aims to equip young people with the skills, knowledge and tools to overcome challenges they may face personally, professionally, or in society in general. The students will be asked to develop a campaign, product or service that addresses or raises awareness to Stress, Anxiety, or Depression. The winning team from the competition will receive funding to expand their idea across Nottingham. This is an exciting project which could have a long-term positive impact on Nottingham, the East Midlands and eventually the UK.

Tori Harrison: My pursuit of philanthropy across America

I’m writing this update with much pride and gratitude from a small village very close to Mystic, Connecticut. There’s a rich tapestry of goodwill knitted together that has enabled me to take my first steps, and indeed months, in the United States. Although three months of study and travel alone in a new country can be challenging, there has hardly been moments where a smile has left the corners of my mouth, especially when I remind myself how I came to be here.

This is a good opportunity to extend deep thanks to the scholarship donors unknown to me who made my Nottingham Roosevelt Scholarshippossible by giving. Thanks also to my long-suffering friends and family who donated towards my own fundraising target, as it’s my profession we know that it isn’t the first or last time that I’ll “shake a bucket” in your direction but I am, as ever, very thankful.

Gratitude is also due to those who gave time, encouragement and shared knowledge as well as monetary support including my scholarship mentor Rachel Armitage, scholarship Treasurer Russ Blenkinsop, Historian Yvonne Armitage and my employer Framework, especially my Fundraising Manager Chris Senior. Many of you have a belief in me that really helped me to maintain belief in myself. I could not have achieved this pursuit of knowledge without you.

I’ll be sure to write again but with less than two weeks until returning to the UK I’d like to share some highlights with you. I’ve travelled across in the North, East, South, West and the centre of this vast country, I have visited approximately fifty non-profit organisations, attended a world-leading charity conference and met inspiring people who devote their entire being to making the world a better place. I had the honour of connecting personally with the Roosevelt family and meeting Sarah Schoonmaker, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s great-granddaughter. I have heard incredible music in churches, jazz-dens and on the streets. I have been overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers (especially those who have welcomed me into their homes) and the beauty of this sprawling land and I’ve vowed never, ever again to spend more than 60 hours continuously on a train.

Both professionally and outside of employment I’ve found there is a seemingly impenetrable spirit of so many American people that encourages them to tackle any obstacle. It is this feeling and willingness to share that has opened my eyes to the wonders of Yosemite National Park, the swamp-life and carnivals of Louisiana and provided exceptional knowledge that will improve the routes to my own philanthropic goals.

I have built a network of fundraising professionals along my way that I know I can now turn to for support, best-practice and sharing. The discussions I have lead and contributed to have given birth to new ideas and the space and time to think in new settings has been invaluable. I feel a new drive for fresh possibilities has been ignited in my mind and I look forward to beginning a new chapter of my career using my learnings to benefit my own work-ethic, my employer and all those we exist to support in Nottinghamshire and beyond.

I will return to the UK at the beginning of May, before then I’m going to squeeze in as much learning and experiences as physically possible.

You can email Tori with questions or comments at toriharrison@rooseveltscholarship.org

You can see more images from the locations of Tori’s adventures on Instagram @the_auditorium or https://www.instagram.com/the_auditorium/

Tori will be speaking at the Nottingham Digital Summit on July, 3^rd: https://www.nottinghamdigitalsummit.co.uk