Wellesley College Receives
$1 Million Gift To Promote Children's Mental Health
WELLESLEY, MA -- The Stone Foundation of Cleveland, Ohio
will fund a new mental health initiative for children
through a $1 million gift to the Stone Center, part of the
Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College.
The gift honors the wishes of the late Robert S. and
Grace W. Stone, who founded the Stone Center for
Developmental Services and Studies in 1981 with a generous
contribution to Wellesley College. Speaking on behalf of the
Foundation, Linda Stone and Katherine Stone Kaufmann,
daughters of the founders, stated, "We are extraordinarily
pleased to be able to establish this program in the name of
our parents. They had a particular interest in the
prevention of emotional problems in children and would be
gratified to know that this gift has the potential to make a
real difference in promoting healthy psychological
development in girls and boys."
The program, to be called "Empowering Children for Life:
The Robert S. and Grace W. Stone Primary Prevention
Initiatives," will develop and implement innovative
interventions targeted to young people, enhancing their
emotional health across the life span. In expressing the
Centers' appreciation to the Stone Foundation, Executive
Director Susan McGee Bailey noted, "This gift, from a family
which already has made such an important contribution to
primary prevention through the creation of the Stone Center,
is particularly heartening. It strengthens our ability to
address critical issues in the psychological development of
children and offers rich opportunities to influence their
lives in positive ways."
The initiatives will draw on existing research and
programs at the two internationally-acclaimed Centers which
make up the Wellesley Centers for Women--the Stone Center
and the Center for Research on Women--as well as the work of
leading scholars at other institutions across the U.S. and
abroad.
The gift is part of the Wellesley Centers for Women's
national endowment drive, known as the Women's Century Fund.
To date, more than $6.2 million toward the goal of $10
million has been raised in gifts and pledges from supporters
around the country.
The Wellesley Centers for Women is a multidisciplinary
community of scholars engaged in research, program
development, theory-building, training, and publications on
a broad range of issues affecting women, men and children in
a changing society. It is the largest center of its kind in
the United States.
