Farmworker scholarships

Rural and Migrant Ministry works for the creation of a just rural New York State by helping farmworkers and rural workers. They have announced that the Western Union Foundation is offering a new initiative for migrants, immigrants and their families, called the Family Scholarship Program is a new initiative for migrants, immigrants and their families.

The Family Scholarship Program is intended to help two members of the same family move up the economic development ladder through education. Scholarships may be used for tuition for college/university education language acquisition classes, technical/skill training, and/or financial literacy. For example, one family member may request assistance to attend college and the other family member may request assistance to attend English as a Second Language (ESL) course.

Eligibility
* All applicants must be age 18 or older.
* Country of origin for at least one of the applicants must be outside the United States.
* Application must include educational providers for primary and secondary award recipients (must be two amily members).
* Scholarships may be used for tuition for college/university education language acquisition classes, technical/skill training, and/or financial literacy.
* Scholarships will only be made to nonprofit accredited higher education institutions and nonprofit training/educational providers.
* Western Union employees, Western Union agents and dependents are not eligible to apply for these scholarships.

Criteria
The following criteria will be used to review applications:
* Families that have overcome barriers to pursue their educational goals
* Families that are involved in their communities
* Personal educational goals
* Plans to attain goals
* Plans for utilizing the scholarship

Scholarship Amounts
Recipients are eligible to receive scholarships in amounts of $1,000-$5,000 per family. (For example, one scholarship recipient may receive $1,500 for an ESL course and the other recipient $3,500 for tuition at a university).

Process
Recipients are determined in a selection process independently managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE), an international non-profit educational exchange organization.
All scholarship awards will be paid directly to the educational providers. No payments will be made to individuals.

To Apply
Please visit the Western Union Foundation Family Scholarship page to apply:
http://corporate.westernunion.com/scholarship.html

Those without Internet access can call IIE at (303) 837-0788 to request an application.

IIE will send a confirmation via e-mail if you have provided a valid e-mail address. If you do not have a valid email address confirmation will be sent by U.S. mail.

Please be advised that due to the volume of application submission activity, IIE staff cannot verify receipt of applications and supporting documentation via telephone inquiry.

Timeline
Feb. 5, 2010 is the winter application due date.

Contact information
For award program-related questions, please contact the administering organization, Institute of International Education (IIE) by phone, fax, or e-mail at:
Institute of International Education, 475 17th Street, Suite 800, Denver, CO 80202 or by phone at (303) 837-0788, fax: (303) 837-1409 or e-mail, wufamily@iie.org.