Denise Webb, 20, is a CoGenerate Senior Fellow. She’s a student at Berry College and a seasoned activist, working with organizations including United Way, Partnership for Southern Equity and The Sunrise Movement. She is the co-author of Why Aren’t We Doing This!...
Purpose Prize
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What Young Leaders Want — And Don’t Want — From Older Allies
We know from our nationally representative study with NORC at the University of Chicago in 2022 that 76% of Gen Z and 70% of Millennial respondents wish they had more opportunities to work across generations for change. In a new report, What Young Leaders Want — And...
Two Oscar-winning Films Shine a Light on Intergenerational Connection
Despite the ongoing drumbeat of generational conflict (a hate story), right in front of us is evidence of a new narrative of cross-generational connection and collaboration (a love story). That love story was on full display at the Grammys, most visibly in the Tracy...
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Bruce Lindstrom
Purpose Prize Fellow 2010
Lindstrom helps provide financial support, mentoring and leadership training to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students of merit who have been marginalized.
Bruce Lindstrom knows the statistics – and fallout – well. More than 85 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) middle and high school youths report being verbally harassed, and nearly 45 percent report being physically harassed at school because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, many LGBT youths receive no support from, or are rejected by, their families, friends, communities, schools and religious institutions when they come out about their sexuality.
This marginalization, combined with the skyrocketing costs of higher education, create a situation in which many LGBT youths consider it nearly impossible to go to college. Lindstrom, a successful business executive who helped to develop the membership warehouse industry, remembered how family members rejected him when they discovered he was gay. He says, “I never felt more alone in my life.”
That loneliness, and the belief that those who are fortunate in life should give back to the community, inspired Lindstrom to co-found the Point Foundation in 2001. The Lake Tahoe, Nev.-based foundation provides financial support, mentoring and leadership training to meritorious students who are marginalized due to their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
Including the new 2010-2011 class, the foundation has granted 174 scholars with an average scholarship amount of $11,876 per year in direct financial support. This year, the foundation is assisting 66 current scholars.