Each summer, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless awards $2,500 renewable college scholarships to graduating seniors who experienced homelessness during high school.
Applications for 2016 are now available online. Due by Friday, April 15 (by 4:30 p.m.), the application includes two letters of reference.
Who’s eligible to apply? Graduating seniors from Chicago and suburban schools who were homeless at some point while attending high school, as verified by the student’s school. This includes unaccompanied youth who were living on their own without a parent or guardian. Youth leaders active with CCH also are eligible.
Following interviews, scholarships will be presented during an awards event in late June. Read more about our 2015 winners, selected from among 24 applicants.
To showcase the promise and tenacity of aspiring college students who lived with homelessness while in high school, our 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 students and youth. Patricia Rivera, then director of the Chicago Public Schools’ Homeless Education Program, collaborated with CCH in creating the scholarship, and was the first of the private donors to fund the scholarships.
For further information, please contact Ali Heinen or Anne Bowhay.