Effort Begun to Increase Scholarships for Latinos

The National Hispanic Scholarship Fund has embarked on a 10-year campaign in an effort to increase the amount of scholarship money it awards to Latino college students from the current $2.4 million to $20 million annually by the year 2000.

By the end of the decade, the fund, which awards an average of 2,500 scholarships a year, hopes to be providing grants to 6,000 students annually.

As part of the “New Decade/New Futures” campaign, NHSF is asking corporations to join its new President’s Circle, a small group of supporters who pledge $1 million or more annually. In addition, corporations will sponsor an entertainment and fund-raising special to be aired this year on the Univision Spanish-language network.

The fund’s scholarships are awarded to Latinos already in college, helping them to continue their studies, NHSF officials said. Latinos make up only 4.6% of the nation’s undergraduate enrollment, the fund noted, while comprising about 8% of the U.S. population.

“The minimum goal of any society is to be able to have its population of whatever ethnicity reach its maximum potential (and) be representative in government, in corporations . . . and in all these facets of society in proportion to their numbers,” said Ernest Z. Robles, the fund’s executive director. “Hispanics are simply not there.”

NHSF’s ambitious fund-raising campaign was launched in December at a reception attended by more than 250 contributors, grant recipients and celebrities at UCLA’s Wight Art Gallery.

Based in Novato, in Northern California, NHSF was founded in 1975 after Robles took out a mortgage on his house to fund the organization. It has awarded $8.6 million to 12,000 students, 1,900--or about 15%--of whom are from Southern California.

The NHSF awarded $2.4 million to 2,262 students out of 5,738 applicants in 1989, according to the most recent figures available.

NHSF receives 94% of its funding from approximately 180 corporations, including Anheuser-Busch, which has already donated $4.4 million for scholarships and has pledged $1.3 million for grants this year. Among other sponsors are Kraft General Foods, AT&T;, GTE, General Mills, and General Electric.

Everett McDonough, senior vice president of Security Pacific Bank, noted that by the year 2000 the majority of jobs will require a college education and a large proportion of the entering work force will be Latino. “In the long term we’re really making an investment in the future of our whole business community and our whole community at large,” McDonough said.

All of NHSF efforts are greatly appreciated, said Fidel Vargas, a 1989 and 1990 scholarship recipient, and Harvard University graduate from Baldwin Park.

“Five hundred dollars here and a thousand dollars there really does make a difference. It can make a difference whether (a student is) going to go home for Thanksgiving, if you’re out on the East Coast. It can mean whether or not you’re going to have the money to buy the books instead of having to go to the library and get them out,” said Vargas, 22, who bought a computer with his scholarship money.

Scholarship selections are based on academic achievement, personal qualities and strengths, financial need and recommendations. Students must have completed at least 15 units of college courses before applying.

For NHSF applications and information write to: National Hispanic Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 728, Novato, CA 94948 or call (415) 892-9971 or (714) 621-6074.