In 2010, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) joined forces with several other national foundations to launch “Generation First Degree”, a campaign to close the "degree gap" that exists between Latino students and their peers by helping at least one person in each household earn a college degree so they can, in turn, motivate and help others in the family to seek the same achievement. The goal is to add more than 14 million new Hispanic college graduates by 2025.
In Savannah, the HSF has partnered with the YMCA of Coastal Georgia to administer $2.4 million worth of scholarships funded by the Goizueta Foundation. Luis Ruiz, Youth Development Coordinator at the Y, will travel extensively throughout Southeast Georgia during the next two years conducting workshops for Hispanic parents and mentoring students who may be qualified to receive these funds.
Last month, HSF advisors met with a group of approximately 20 local citizens to form the HSF GO Scholarship & Outreach Advisory Board. Their goal is to select and award two groups of 120 students each with a four-year college scholarship worth $10,000.
Some of the eligibility requirements include: Must be a Latino student; Be a U.S. Citizen or a legal permanent resident with permanent resident card or passport stamped I-551 (not expired); Have a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale; Must be a first generation to attend college (no parent or guardian has received an undergraduate or baccalaureate degree from a four-year institution).
HSF representatives noted that although this program excludes undocumented students, Univision has just established a $1.3 million grant to provide scholarships to that group.
For more information on this scholarship initiative, please call Luis Ruiz at 912-236-1021.