About Us

The Bernie Scholarship Awards Program is a component fund of the Greater Washington Community Foundation.

The Bernie Scholarship Awards Program

Founded: 1995

Co-Founders: Bernie Tetreault, Jim Brodsky, the late Rev. Lon Dring and Barbara Heyman, Joyce Siegel

Our Mission: Provide financial assistance for college or workforce development training programs to graduating high school seniors and other adults who are very low-income and live in subsidized housing in Montgomery County, Maryland.

How We Started: When Bernie Tetreault retired after 24 years of service as Executive Director of the Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC), he and some of his friends wanted to come up with a unique way to celebrate and continue to give back to the community that he had served for so long. In 1995, they established the Bernie Education Fund, a precursor to The Bernie Scholarship Awards Program, which is now a 501(c)3 component fund of the Greater Washington Community Foundation.

Management (volunteers): Board of Directors and Advisory Board