Patrick Benzie to lace up for College Bound Dorchester

South End resident to run in the 2015 Boston Marathon®

Monday, April 20

SOUTH END, Mass. – Patrick Benzie, 43, of the South End, is one of four individuals selected to run in this year’s Boston Marathon® as part of the College Bound Dorchester team, Dorchester Strong. The team will run 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to the official Copley Square finish to raise more than $35,000 to directly support the 900 students in Dorchester who seek academic, social and emotional assistance from the nonprofit organization.

Based in Bowdoin-Geneva, College Bound Dorchester uses education to end systemic, generational urban poverty. The nonprofit engages those who have failed or dropped out of high school and are not employed, and provides them with the academic, social and emotional support necessary to earn a high school graduation equivalency diploma, matriculate to a community college, and earn a degree.

A former tutor and volunteer for College Bound Dorchester, Patrick Benzie, 43, of the South End, is excited to once again join the College Bound Dorchester team. This time, he will hit the pavement outside of the classroom as a member of the nonprofit’s 2015 Boston Marathon team. His motivation to run and raise money for College Bound Dorchester is twofold. First, he trains alongside the nonprofit’s CEO, Mark Culliton, as part of the Dorchester Swarm running club and feels inspired to help after hearing firsthand the success stories and faces behind the organization. Second, he strongly believes in College Bound Dorchester’s mission and model. “It takes an inspirational and dedicated team to make changes in neighborhoods, like Dorchester,” says Benzie. “College Bound Dorchester is making a difference by providing educational support to a community and making college an attainable goal for a wider group of people who otherwise wouldn’t have the resources or emotional support to get there.”

Since 2012, College Bound Dorchester has enrolled 100 young people into college and 42 percent of those students have graduated with a degree, a rate which is significantly higher than national norms. College Bound Dorchester helps to shift the system toward a college-bound culture in Dorchester. The goal: Dorchester youth graduating from college is the norm, not the exception.

For the past three months, members of the College Bound Dorchester Boston Marathon team have met weekly for training runs on Saturday mornings. Coach Rick Muhr, leader of the Marathon Coalition TEAM, a group of 15 Boston Athletic Association and John Hancock sponsored charities that train together for the Boston Marathon, donates his time to provide College Bound Dorchester runners with training tips, covering topics ranging from proper nutrition, running form, shoe selection and injury prevention. In addition, the nonprofit offers its runners fundraising support.

The 119th Boston Marathon is on Monday, April 20. To sponsor CBD runners, visit https://www.crowdrise.com/2015BostonMarathon and select the College Bound Dorchester team.

ABOUT COLLEGE BOUND DORCHESTER

College Bound Dorchester is a nonprofit organization that is poised to be a national model for using education to end systemic urban poverty. Based in Bowdoin-Geneva, potentially the worst section of Boston in terms of crime and poverty, the organization has roots in the nearly 50-year strong nonprofit, Federated Dorchester. The organization progressed from one that provided social services to children and families in need to one that uses education as the means to transform an impoverished community that thrives economically, socially and physically. CBD empowers those who are least likely to be successful and turns them into positive, rather than negative, influencers in a struggling community. For more information visit collegebounddorchester.org

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