Students have three more weeks – until Tuesday, May 1 – to apply for a renewable college scholarship that CCH awards to graduating seniors who experienced homelessness while in high school.
The freshman year award is $2,000, with at least $1,000 awarded yearly to students as they progress through college. Up to four scholarships will be awarded in June.
Eligible to apply are students who were homeless at some point while attending Chicago Public high schools, or homeless students living anywhere in Illinois who were formerly clients of the CCH Law Project.
Applicants must write brief essays and include two letters of reference, with the completed application and references due at CCH by May 1. A downloadable application is available on the CCH website. Following panel interviews with the finalists, the winners will be announced in early June. The 2012 scholarships will be presented at Loyola University Law School on the evening of Thursday, June 28.
To showcase the promise and tenacity of aspiring college students who lived with homelessness while in high school, the CCH Law Project created the scholarship program in 2004. The program was the next step for a legal aid program that focuses its casework on helping homeless children and youth access public school — they made up 88% of our legal aid clients in 2011.
In eight years, through 2011, 29 homeless or recently homeless students have received renewable scholarships – and 62% have earned their degrees or are progressing through college with our help.
Donations to the scholarship program are tax-deductible. For more information on donating to or applying for the scholarship, contact Barbara Chasnoff at barbarac@chicagohomeless.org
– Anne Bowhay, Media