In 2023, Comité Noviembre established the Alma y Corazón Award. This award is given to individuals that are not Puerto Rican but their unconditional commitment and dedication to the preservation and promotion of Puerto Rican culture and history has made an indelible impact on our community.  Wallace “Wally” Edgecombe is the first recipient of the Alma y Corazón Award.  His personal and professional trajectory has created a legacy that will leave his unique cultural imprint on the Puerto Rican community and beyond.  In 2006, Wally made Hostos the home of Comité Noviembre’s National Puerto Rican Artisans and Authors Fair by establishing it as a Puerto Rican event of the Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture during Puerto Rican Heritage Month annually in November.  Because of Wally, for 18 years, the National Puerto Rican Artisan and Authors Fair has become an event not to be missed.

 

Wally Edgecombe began a 39-year career at Hostos Community College in 1973 serving as director of the Office of College Relations and, for 33 years, as the founding director of the Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture.  During his first years of service, he played an important role in the struggles for survival that characterized the College’s early years serving as assistant director and director of the Office of College Relations and Development.  

In the early 1980’s he led efforts to design and implement a cultural program which, as the Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture, would become a leading voice for Puerto Rican arts expressions nationwide. Under Wally Edgecombe’s leadership the Center became a major arts presenter, and, through a series of festivals, residencies, and commissions, it became known as an incubator of cutting-edge art.    

 

Wally was born and raised in La Habana, Cuba, and migrated to the United States just shy of his 15th birthday. He holds a BA in history/Latin American Studies from Columbia University and an MS from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

 

The Wallace “Wally” Edgecombe Scholarship will be awarded to a young person aged 17 to 27, who have volunteered for two years consecutively advocating and taking action to affect change in the Puerto Rican / Hispanic community.

The scholarship winner will receive a $1,000 scholarship.

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• The Wallace Edgecombe Scholarship for Affecting Change in the Hispanic Community is open to graduating High School seniors and college students

• For Scholarship Application Click Here

• All Scholarships are administered by Comité Noviembre

• Click here to view the 2021 Scholarship recipients

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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Lisa M. Rodriguez

Co-Chair, Comité Noviembre Scholarship Selection Committee
(347) 693-6893, cn.scholarship@gmail.com

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TO MAKE A DONATION TO THE SCHOLARSHIP:

Visit our Donate page.