The Graduate Students Association of Ghana (GRASAG) – USA has launched an endowment fund to support members of the association.

The Dr Juliet Ohemeng-Ntiamoah and the Prof Yaw Yeboah Endowment fund is a novel initiative of the current executive administration aimed at providing financial support to facilitate and enhance activities of the association.

In his welcome address, president of the association Aquah Sam indicated that with the exponential increase in membership, it has become imperative to devise means of raising funds to support the association’s growth and support members in diverse ways that may be needed.

He was optimistic that the endowment fund when operationalized will alleviate the current financial burden that rests on the shoulders of most members and thus appealed to the public to graciously donate to it.

Chairman of the occasion, Dr Michael Boakye-Yiadom who is the Director General of the UNESCO Category II Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (IEPA) speaking at the event expressed his excitement over the initiative and touted it as a laudable idea worthy of emulation saying, “this is a shining example for others to follow.”

According to him this project will empower the many Ghanaian students who travel to the US to study to excel.

On his part, the Deputy Minister of Education Rev Ntim Fodjour who represented the Minister of Education, described the fund as “historic” and a as step in the right direction.

According to him, the initiative “will provide a sense of community and also provide a unique platform where Ghanaians studying in the US can receive the needed support.”

Commending the current administration for the initiative, Rev Ntim Fodjour expressed the ministry of education’s readiness to offer any form of support to ensure that the endowment fund thrives to serve the purpose for which it was established.

“I expect this endowment fund to create opportunities for us to add on to the already sterling and already outstanding members from our Ghanaian community who are making us proud” he added.

Prpf Yaw Yeboah, a patron of the association and one of the individuals in whose honor the endowment fund was named after, charged the association to “manage the fund wisely and make sure it is invested to grow” adding that “all effort should be made to help put the endowment fund into perpetuity.”

He however thanked the administration for bestowing on him such an outstanding recognition of naming the fund after him.

Dr Juliet Ohemeng-Ntiamoah, the founding president of GRASAG-USA for whom the fund was also named after described the gesture as humbling.

She was optimistic that with the right support and contribution, the fund will raise enough money to support the many projects of the association which includes but not limited to supporting Ghanaian students who wish to travel to the US for further studies.

The event was heavily attended by key dignitaries including Prof Yayra Dzakadzie, the Director of Tertiary Education at the Ministry of Education, Nana Gyamfi Adwabour, Executive Director of the Center for National Distance Learning and Open Schooling, Madam Angela Affran, the Technical Advisor to the Minister of Education and Prof Paul Ventura, Board of Trustees, US Africa Initiative.

Other past executives and alumni were also present.

A “GRASAG-USA GIVING DAY” was also launched alongside the event as another means of raising funds for the association.

This is a universal platform GoFund Me which is expected to receive donations from both members and all who share in the vision of the association. A test run of this fund accrued an amount of $2,425 as seed money to begin with.

Since the establishment of GRASAG-USA some seven years ago, the association has survived on the benevolence of some few members financial contributions.

This situation has in some ways stagnated the growth of the association in terms of program organizations. Despite these challenges the association has gone beyond the ordinary to support over 500 hundred members through academic and professional development programs.

At least some a little over fifty students prospective graduate students’ applicants to the US have also been supported financially by sponsoring their application fees. All these contributions have come from individual personal contributions.