Farris Mitchell Scholarship
The Farris Mitchell Scholarship provides two one-time, $1,000 scholarships to qualifying Springfield Housing Authority residents who are going to college.
Applications Now Available
Applications are available in guidance offices at all city high schools, by writing to Jimmie Mitchell, care of the Farris Mitchell Scholarship Committee, 186 Arcadia Boulevard, Springfield 01118, or by emailing him at [email protected]. The deadline to apply is May 1.
SHA grants coordinator Lidya Rodriguez, center, stands between successful GED candidates Francisco Estrada, 19, and Jonathan Ferreras, 18. Both young men live in Springfield.
The scholarship, begun in 1995, was named after a man who lived for many years with his wife and 10 children at Riverview Apartments in the Brightwood section of the city.
Mitchell, who died in 1994, loved children, and instilled in his own children and many others a desire to improve their future through education. All of his children finished high school and several went on to college.
The scholarship is administered by an SHA committee that includes Farris Mitchell’s son Jimmie Mitchell, a retired Springfield educator who is now youth engagement coordinator at the Springfield Housing Authority.
The Farris Mitchell Scholarship was awarded in June 2012 to Taylor Smith, who graduated from New Leadership High School and is attending Westfield State University.
- Talk/Read/Succeed!: Talk/Read/Succeed! is a collaborative program that unites two Springfield Housing Authority developments – John L. Sullivan Apartments and John I. Robinson Gardens—with two city elementary schools, Edward P. Boland and Hiram L. Dorman—in an effort to boost early literacy.
- After School and Summer Programs: Families living in Springfield Housing Authority developments will find there are programs for their children after school and during summer vacations.