A new scholarship created by two educators and administered by the Quad Cities Community Foundation will help immigrants and refugees and their children overcome obstacles to receiving a higher education.
As educators, both Julie Eisenband and Chris Strunk have worked with immigrant and refugee students. Some of Eisenband's best students at United Township High School have been immigrants or refugees, she said, who often have more responsibilities outside of school than their peers.Â
Strunk said he's very lucky to work with immigrant and refugee students in his role as a professor at Augustana College, but has been frustrated with some universities' lack of diversity. While the Quad-Cities is a welcoming place for all kinds of people, he said, the pair wants to make a positive impact on those trying to further their education in these communities.Â
"Anything we can do to just remove one barrier from their path to success, I think is our goal," Eisenband said.Â
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The Quad Cities Scholarship for Immigrants and Refugees will provide one student with up to $4,000 a year for six years. It's funded by money Strunk received in an inheritance from his grandfather.Â
Strunk's grandfather and father were both interested in helping underserved communities, so they decided to put the money toward something positive to help people in the Quad-Cities.Â
"I hope that he would be proud of the way that we're using the inheritance from him to start the scholarship," he said.Â
Applications for the scholarship are open through Feb. 15, and recipients will be announced in May.
To qualify, the applicant must be an immigrant or refugee, or the child of at least one immigrant or refugee. Applicants must show financial need and merit through community, work, school or personal activities. People of any citizenship or documentation status are eligible to apply.Â
The scholarship is open to anyone who is either currently in post-secondary education or is planning to enroll, no matter their age, said Quad Cities Community Foundation Grantmaking Specialist Kathleen Badejo. This education includes community college, college or university, and trade school.Â
"It's really open to anyone, no matter their age," Badejo said.Â
The Quad Cities Community Foundation gave grants to 32 area organizations.Â
Students won't need to reapply for the scholarship each year, and the only requirement to keep receiving the funds is a minimum 2.0 GPA.Â
One of the goals Strunk said they had for the scholarship was to have it provide funds throughout the student's whole education, bridging the gap from start to end, unlike scholarships that only last through the first year or two. It will also follow them if they switch schools, like going from a community college to a university.Â
"We're hoping the scholarship can help support them all the way through until they get their degree," Strunk said.Â
Once the first recipient completes school and is no longer receiving funds, the scholarship will be awarded to another student.Â
Eisenband's father is a refugee whose family fled Adolf Hitler's regime and came to the U.S., and he was born in a displaced persons camp. As the daughter of a refugee, Eisenband said she thinks of the scholarship as helping others the way her father was helped when he was growing up in the U.S.
"His family was able to succeed through their hard work, but also in part through the kindness of strangers," Eisenband said. "So I think for me, it's paying it forward, and just trying to just remove one barrier from the many barriers that can prevent a student from completing college."