Project One Scholarship Fund Inc

Programs: Project one scholarshipsthese scholarships are awarded to 3 new students from the cms school district. We have developed relationships with guidance counselors in five cms high schools (garinger, olympic, phillip berry, west charlotte, west meck) over the past several years. Each of these high schools is offered the opportunity to submit qualified students for our application process. These students are then interviewed by a panel that is comprised of board members, volunteers, and key supporters of our mission. The panel judges each student on motivation, impact of the scholarship, desire to succeed, and leadership abilities. We target high-achieving students that are motivated and demonstrate initiative and leadership during their high school years. Examples include involvement in student government, high school sports, and community service. Additionally, we consider students with part-time and summer work experience as indicators of strong motivation. All while maintaining strong academic grades. Project one currently supports 8 scholars from this program. The scholarship awards are fully funded and the funds are in reserve for each student. However, we pay the colleges on an annual basis assuming the scholars remain in good standing with the college and are continuing to meet project ones criteria for grades and our support programs. Queens / project one scholarshipanother program that project one developed is through a partnership with queens university (queens). There are outstanding students who attend cpcc each year and transfer to queens - and also meet the project one criteria. The goal of the partnership is to identify potential cpcc students who plan to transfer to queens for the final two years of college. The $15,000 scholarship covers $7,500 for each of the two years at queens. Queens matches up other financial aid to these students so that they graduate from college with minimal debt. The benefit to project one is that the queens scholarships allow us to leverage scholarship dollars (paying only the last 2 years) and introduce a private college into our program while still meeting our mission. Project one currently supports 1 scholar in this program, with reserves for an additional scholar to be named in 2016. Brookstone schools / project one scholarshipbrookstone schools (brookstone) is a private school serving students from kindergarten through 8th grade. Brookstone seeks to raise up the next generation of leaders from charlottes inner-city neighborhoods by caring for the entire child and inviting families to invest in the lives of their children. Brookstone alumni recently reached a point where they were beginning to graduate high school and a long-time brookstone supporter was interested in funding a college education for them. As a result, we were approached to provide our expertise and process for brookstone alumni where we could make the scholar selection as well as service and administer the scholarship. To maintain our mission integrity, we agreed to this arrangement if we could maintain a focus on project one criteria (income level, single-parent family focus, etc). Project one is dedicated to expanding college education in charlotte by providing college scholarships that are eligible to cover the costs of tuition, room/board, and books. But we are more than a scholarship fund. Students have support throughout the course of their programs and scholarships from a mentor, who provides encouragement and perspective during the scholars college years. At the end of four years, our scholars will have a college degree, very little (if any) college debt, and will know how to manage their salary. Importantly, each will have a strong foundation as they set out to make their own mark in the world. Ultimately, our vision for project one is to help to break the cycle of poverty one mind at a time through the power of a college education. All of our programs and services support this vision. We are open to collaborating with other charitable organizations. Importantly, we are only interested in partnerships where we can remain true to our mission.