Helen Gurley Brown didn’t care only about the Cosmo girl.
She was also concerned with underserved children in New York City. As a result, her trust is giving $15 million to the New York Public Library for a new educational and anti-poverty program based at library branches that was announced on Wednesday by the trust and the library.
“The library is eager to up its game in addressing those pressing issues,†said Tony Marx, the library’s president.
The five-year program, called NYPL BridgeUP, will provide academic and social support to 250 eighth graders each year at five library branches in the Bronx and Manhattan - helping them with homework, addressing areas of academic weakness and working on “Passion Projects†on subjects of particular interest.
The students will study together in groups of 10 over five years - under the guidance of a recent college graduate â€" with the goal of attending college or technical school.
When Ms. Brown, who died in 2012, first came to New York from Arkansas, “she used the New York Public Library as an oasis,†said Eve Burton, senior vice president of the Hearst Corporation, which publishes Cosmopolitan. “It was the only place where she could feel safe and free to write and think.â€
