Although they did not live to see the creation of the United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP), the progenitors of The Hearst Foundations are with the USSYP delegates each year in spirit.

George Hearst, born on a farm in Missouri, developed the family fortune through western mining and eventually became a U.S. senator for California. At the time of his death in 1891 he had served four years of his six-year term. His wife, pioneering philanthropist Phoebe Apperson Hearst dedicated herself to educational and children’s causes. She co-founded the National Parent Teachers Association in 1897, and founded numerous kindergartens, elementary schools and other charitable institutions over the course of her life.

William Randolph Hearst, their only child, was born in 1863 and became one of the best known figures in American journalism – establishing vast media holdings and new forms of communication during the early part of the 20th century. During his life he gave millions of dollars to colleges, hospitals, kindergartens and museums and in the decade before his death he established two foundations that bear his name.

William Randolph Hearst

The United States Senate Youth Program was envisioned by William Randolph Hearst’s sons, George R. Hearst and Randolph A. Hearst, who worked with the Senate leadership of the day to establish and authorize the program in 1962. The Hearst Foundations fully fund all operational aspects of the program including college scholarships and yearly grants to the state departments of education to support selection administration.

The Hearst Foundations continue to support hundreds of charitable and educational organizations across the country. The Hearst Foundations’ two flagship initiatives are the United States Senate Youth Program and the annual William Randolph Hearst Journalism Awards Program, begun in 1960, to encourage excellence in journalism and journalism education at accredited undergraduate schools of journalism.

For more information about The Hearst Foundations please access: www.hearstfdn.org