Richmond
Promise’s
Annual
Scholar
Celebration
AT THE CIVIC CENTER
MAY 3RD
richmondpromise.org.
MAY 2019 MARKETPLACECONTRACOSTA.COM 55
“We award scholarships to
any student in Richmond
who has dreams of going to
higher education”
-Grace Peter
the entire populace and not just
a certain demographic. “We want
to be reflective of the Richmond
community,” Grace explained. “And I
think we’ve done a pretty good job of
doing that.”
The main requirement is that students
must also apply for financial aid
(FAFSA or Dream Act) to receive the
scholarship, which is a very difficult
task. So difficult, that Richmond
Promise provides mandatory Summer
Success Workshops to help ensure that
these recipients have completed all the
necessary paperwork, in addition to
resources and guidance, so they’re fully
prepared to embark upon the next
stage of their academic career.
“The time between high school and
college is a really critical time,” Grace
explained. “There are a lot of deadlines,
like accepting financial aid (it’s not
enough to just apply, you have to
actually accept), choosing classes when
enrolling in school, actually physically
moving—many for the first time—so
there’s just a lot of obstacles facing
students in that very short time frame.”
Making friends is another important
part of starting at a new school, so
at Richmond Promise’s workshops,
students that will be attending the
same college will be grouped together
at the workshop, to hopefully get to
know each other and establish a few
more friendly faces to look for after
settling in to the dorms. “That builds a
bridge before they even get to school,”
Grace said. “It creates community, so
they’re not feeling like they’re going in
alone.”
Richmond Promise is giving a lot, and
their only want is that someday these
scholars return home to give back.
“We’re hoping to see a day where
we’ve built a pipeline of leadership;
that our scholars and eventual
alumni are coming back, running the
Richmond Promise, and becoming
leaders in Richmond,” Grace said.
“So that’s really our vision: that every
young person is involved, and has the
resources and opportunities to fully
define their future.”
This year’s scholarship deadline has
passed (March 8th) but look for
Richmond Promise’s annual scholar
celebration at the Civic Center on
May 3rd, around graduation time.
Tickets are not yet available but keep
checking their website or sign up
for their newsletter for updates, at
richmondpromise.org.
If you’re interested in volunteering,
email Grace right away (gpeter@
richmondpromise.org). There’s a few
ways to help out … One way is to
help at their public events, another is
to help review applications, or you can
become a mentor.
“We’re piloting a very small
mentorship program with about 20
students and community members
to really focus on career readiness,”
Grace said. “Any community members
who are feeling like they want to give
back in a way that is pretty impactful,
and pretty deep—its a year-long
commitment—we’re going to need
more mentors.” So send that email
before you forget! Let us know how it
goes.