Latest News from College Access Foundation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 1, 2010
COLLEGE ACCESS FOUNDATION OF CALIFORNIA AWARDS
$4.5 MILLION TO AID COLLEGE GOING STATEWIDE
San Francisco, CA – College Access Foundation of California, one of the largest higher education grant makers in the state, announced a series of grants totaling more than $4.5 million that will provide scholarships to current and future college students with significant financial need. The grant dollars will go to 26 community organizations and programs that assist students with college preparation, mentoring and financial aid advice. They will provide scholarships to more than 800 California students attending two-year and four-year colleges, beginning in the fall of 2010.
The organizations receiving grants serve students in urban and rural regions throughout California. Students will receive one- to four-year scholarships averaging $2,600 per year to attend the college of their choice. Most of the scholarships will go to students who are the first in their family to attend college, and to those in communities and schools where rates of college attendance are low.
“Students and their families are struggling to afford the cost of college, particularly in these tough economic times,” said Julia I. Lopez, president of College Access Foundation of California. “For many, these scholarships will mean the difference between going to college or not, and for others it will help them attend the school of their choice.”
Since its inception in 2005, College Access Foundation of California has supported nearly 20,000 scholarships for low-income and first-generation college students, working with more than 100 community organizations and education programs throughout California.
Last year, the foundation began to track the academic progress of students who received scholarships through its grants, to determine where they are enrolling, whether they remain in school and how many graduate. Early indicators show that the foundation’s grantee partners are effectively increasing college access among groups that are underrepresented in higher education. The data also suggests that scholarship recipients place great trust in the state’s public higher education system: more than eight out of 10 chose to enroll in California’s public institutions.
For more information, visit www.collegeaccessfoundation.org
Following are the community and education organizations that will receive scholarship grants from College Access Foundation of California:
| Organizations | Amount | Community |
| A Place Called Home | $200,000 | Los Angeles |
| Barrio Logan College Institute | $ 72,000 | San Diego |
| Bay Area Leadership Foundation | $200,000 | Bay Area |
| BLU Educational Foundation | $125,000 | Inland Empire |
| Cal-SOAP East Bay Consortium | $300,000 | Bay Area |
| Cal-SOAP / Upward Bound North Coast | $251,000 | North Coast |
| Cerritos College/Project HOPE | $117,000 | Los Angeles |
| College OPTIONS /UC Davis | $177,000 | Shasta/Siskiyou |
| College Track | $190,000 | Bay Area |
| Community Build | $200,000 | Los Angeles |
| Eastside College Preparatory School | $225,000 | Bay Area |
| Educating Young Minds | $100,000 | Los Angeles |
| Heart of Los Angeles Youth | $200,000 | Los Angeles |
| Hispanic Scholarship Fund | $366,000 | Inland Empire |
| Inland Empire Scholarship Fund | $ 60,000 | Inland Empire |
| Leadership High School | $252,000 | Bay Area |
| Mary Graham Children's Shelter Foundation | $100,000 | N. San Joaquin Valley |
| Motivating Our Students Through Experience | $ 86,000 | Los Angeles |
| One Voice | $150,000 | Los Angeles |
| Orange County Bar Foundation | $148,000 | Orange County |
| Peninsula College Fund | $138,000 | Bay Area |
| Project GRAD Los Angeles | $300,000 | Los Angeles |
| San Diego Education Fund | $ 68,000 | San Diego |
| Stiles Hall | $138,000 | Bay Area |
| Summer Search | $200,000 | Bay Area |
| United Friends of the Children | $144,000 | Los Angeles |
| Total | $4,507,000 |
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