William Monroe Trotter Scholars Program

Our Mission

The William Monroe Trotter Scholars Program aims to provide the youth of Mattapan with a well-rounded curriculum in personal finance, cultural history, and health. We hope to provide our young scholars with a meaningful, engaging, and inspirational experience through personal relationships with members of the Black community at Harvard. We hope to encourage all of our young scholars to be active participants in the positive future of their community.

The William Monroe Trotter Scholars Program is the only Harvard Program that targets the urban youth of Mattapan, Massachusetts. Our expected enrollment is 35-40 scholars each school year ranging in age from 10 to 14 years old. Starting in late October we operate 3 days a week in the early afternoon, working closely with the Mildred Ave Community Center, which has a membership of well over 100 families.
WMTSP not only benefits the Mattapan community, but also provides powerful service-learning experiences for its volunteers- including the director, mentors, and curriculum planners.

The Past

The William Monroe Trotter Scholars Program was founded by Chimaobi Amutah in 2006. The program began partly as a response to a 2001 study by the After School For All Partnership, which found Mattapan, Massachusetts to have the second fewest after school program slots of any neighborhood in Boston. Mattapan is a community of primarily Haitians, Jamaicans, Cape Verdians, Nigerians, Ethiopians, and other people throughout the African Diaspora. The program is named after William Monroe Trotter, a Harvard-educated Bostonian, journalist, and civil rights advocate. He was the first black member of Phi Beta Kappa, the co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the founder of the National Equal Rights League. At its inception it served 20 children from Mattapan, Massachusetts. In its second year (2007-2008) it has grown to serve 35 children. We hope only to make this growth permanent.

The Future

As always WMTSP will focus on generating programmatic and financial sustainability, which we know is essential to the program’s future. In an urban world increasingly defined by the fragmentation and crisis-orientation of services, we feel that it is critically important to provide high-quality, cohesive, and long-term service. This year, we will further strengthen William Monroe Trotter Scholar Program’s position in the community as one of the only free programs that offers a safe, exciting, and culturally focused learning environment throughout the school year.

Visit this page to learn how you can help.

For all other questions, comments, or inquiries contact the current director through our contact form.