Horace Greeley Senior Earns Accolades From Lawmaker

CHAPPAQUA, NY — Lawmakers recognized a Horace Greeley High School senior for her good works that are already helping others to continue doing good works of their own and she isn't done yet.

Netra Easwaran has been awarded the "Certificate of Excellence" by New York State Senator Peter Harckham for her leadership of Project Certify. Her campaign helps community, non-profit, and service organizations to be recognized as Certifying Organizations for the President's Volunteer Service Award (PVSA).

Led by Americorps and managed in partnership with Points of Light, the PVSA program lets Certifying Organizations to recognize their most exceptional volunteers. In 2003, the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation founded the President’s Volunteer Service Award, which has since continued under each administration since.

Easwaran began Project Certify during her time as an intern at Senator Harckham’s office. The campaign's objective was to address the decline of in-person volunteering and the critical need for additional volunteers that organizations experienced in the wake of pandemic social restrictions. After crafting a proposal to begin this project, Netra was given the opportunity to spearhead Project Certify. She engaged with community stakeholders and worked directly with the PVSA office to help launch the successful campaign.

Project Certify has certified 20 organizations across Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties with a combined volunteer base of approximately 1530 volunteers. The organizations include Fire and EMS Departments, libraries, food pantries, cultural groups and grassroots civic education centers. The campaign is featured on the 2022 Points of Light Inspiration Honor Roll.

Easwaran is herself a Gold President’s Volunteer Service Award recipient, which she earned for volunteering at Youth4Better, a youth-led nonprofit.

Easwaran plans to continue her work with this campaign; any organizations interested in beginning the certification process can write to this email address.