A Message from Eric Jacobs on Masthead Madness
Hello DP Community,
The DP's annual "Masthead Madness" is underway, and this year it is specifically targeted to raise money for a cause that is near and dear to my heart: the DP's Eric Jacobs Scholarships.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Eric Jacobs Scholarship Fund. At the 2001 DP Banquet, which recognized my 20th anniversary of working at the DP, it was one of the great honors of my DP career when Executive Editor Binyamin Applebaum ’01 announced that the 116th Board had created a scholarship fund in my name. For the 20 years from then until my retirement a few years ago, I worked with many DP editors, managers, and alumni to build a robust scholarship fund and to define and refine a scholarship program that makes it possible for many students to continue and to advance their work at the DP.
How have we done in our first 25 years? Let me share four quick numbers with you. With the support of more than 700 contributions from DP alumni, the DP has grown the Eric Jacobs Scholarship Fund balance to more than half a million dollars. And over that time, the DP has paid out more than $275,000 in scholarships to more than 200 students. Those students have been reporters, photographers, members of finance and marketing staffs, editors, managers… Several advanced to become DP Executive Editors and other top leadership positions. After graduation, a number of former scholarship recipients have gone on to become alumni contributors to the fund, helping to give back and pay it forward.
I'm proud to see what we — and I mean all of us — have helped build, nurture, and grow, especially during a time of unprecedented changes and challenges that reshaped the news media and the DP. In this program's first year, the DP awarded two $1,000 scholarships; that has grown over the years and now the DP is awarding ten $2,000 scholarships annually. The importance of and need for student scholarships is bigger today than ever.
So today, I'm asking DP alumni to join in or renew your support for the Eric Jacobs Scholarship program by making whatever contribution you can to the DP's Masthead Madness campaign. Thank you!
Eric Jacobs ’80
DP General Manager Emeritus
