Pitt’s Freedom Honor Society, as the University’s only minority honor society, has an… Pitt’s Freedom Honor Society, as the University’s only minority honor society, has an overarching goal: increasing retention, high academic achievement and graduation of minority students. The Mellon Financial Corporation Foundation recently provided considerable assistance in pursuit of this goal in the form of a $5,000 grant to the organization.

The money comprises what is being termed a Challenge Grant. In addition to being a gift to the FHS, the money is used as a motivation for encouraging other potential donors to give to the group. Any donation received by the FHS up to $5000, Mellon will match.

“Descriptions of the Challenge Grant can be used in all fund-raising requests, so that an organization that may give $250 will realize that its grant actually will be worth $500 because it was ‘matched’ by a grant from Mellon,” said Carlene Garrity, a representative of Mellon’s Community Affairs Office.

Bob Carpenter, associate director of Annual Giving for Institutional Advancement at the University, explained that all of this money feeds into a greater fund-raising initiative that the FHS has been working on. The organization is attempting to raise $10,000 to be placed into an endowment fund. This fund will be used for need-based scholarships to pay for students with costs other than tuition, such as books or a meal plan.

“It helps to fill the gaps,” Carpenter said.

In addition to the initial donation, the Challenge Grant is the basis of what both the FHS and Mellon expect to be a mutually beneficial and more permanent partnership.

Sharae Bryant, president of the FHS, went into more detail on the Freedom/Mellon partnership. Mellon will offer FHS students a variety of services, including workshops on job interviews, resume writing and leadership skills, as well as mock interviews which will allow students to hone their interviewing skills.

Additionally, the groups will be jointly organizing the Freedom Mellon Symposium, an informational job fair to be held Nov. 5. The event will feature information on fitting into the job marketplace, with consultants speaking on human resource and private wealth management.