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Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Giving $12M to Harvard for Public Service Grant

The school's Stride scholarship program for public service will be renamed the Priscilla Chan Stride Service Program

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are giving Harvard University $12.1 million to help low-income undergraduate students pursue public service opportunities. 

The Massachusetts school announced Monday that the grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, will provide financial support for low-income students who want to help their community, but feel financially constrained from doing so.

University officials said the grant will help 2,300 undergraduate students over the next 15 years.

The school's Stride scholarship program for public service will be renamed the Priscilla Chan Stride Service Program.

Chan, a 2007 Harvard graduate who participated in the program, said financial assistance was the key to her ability to devote time after-school at public housing projects in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, which in turn inspired her to become a pediatrician.

"It's my hope this gift will give many more students the ability to choose service that will inspire their passion and build skills as the next generation of public service leaders," Chan said in a statement.

The grant will help undergraduate students finding service opportunities through the Phillips Brooks House Center for Public Service, a student-run community service group, and Engaged Scholarship, which coordinates community service efforts at the College, according to the Harvard Crimson.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in December 2015. Last year, Zuckerberg, who dropped out of Harvard, and Chan pledged $3 billion over the next 10 years to "cure, prevent or manage all disease" in the next 80 or so years.

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