NEW BEDFORD – The SouthCoast Community Foundation, one of the largest aggregators of scholarships in the Southeastern Massachusetts region, opened its 2021 application process and will be accepting applications until March 1. Approximately 60 scholarship funds will collectively award more than $500,000 to eligible high school seniors and current college students. This disbursement represents more than a 35% increase over the past two years and includes four inaugural, endowed funds:
• George E. Keeler Scholarship Fund – Honors the founder of Tech-Etch Inc. and is for Plymouth and Bristol County seniors to pursue an undergraduate engineering degree and career in manufacturing.
• John A. Conway MD Scholarship Fund – STEM-focused for Wareham and Old Rochester High School seniors.
• Leo R. and Muriel A. Lanouette Fund – Electrical engineering, computer science, or nursing focused for existing UMass Dartmouth students.
• Van Sloun Foundation Scholarship Fund – Single year scholarship for Westport or Dartmouth High School seniors.
“The pandemic has made things particularly hard for our youth to pursue an education, so scholarship season is even more important this year,” said John Vasconcellos, president of the SouthCoast Community Foundation. “Giving deserving students the ability to further their education and enabling scholarship funders the ability to help those students realize their dreams. It’s a win-win. And each year, we see this effort grow. We are now in the very fortunate position of managing almost 60 scholarship funds, leveraging our unique position to collectively invest those funds so that we can distribute more every year. It is one of the many reasons both donors and funders turn to a Community Foundation to entrust their scholarship endowment.”
The SouthCoast Community Foundation will manage the application process and ultimately facilitate the award announcements and distribution later this spring. Among the resources it will provide applicants is the uAspire Financial Aid Help Desk. The Foundation was one of the first to use this innovative and new online tool. It assists students and their families in navigating the financial aid process, such as completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, locating affordable college options, and paying tuition, room, and board.
The Foundation is a public, grant-making nonprofit serving those residing throughout Southeastern Massachusetts who share a common goal of improving the quality of life through philanthropy. Since 1995, the Community Foundation has distributed over $39 million from more than 200 funds to humanitarian, educational, and cultural organizations in the region. To learn more about the Community Foundation, visit www.southcoastcf.org.
