LGBTQ+ Excellence: Meet 21 New Point Foundation Scholars Point Flagship – Advocate.com
The Point Foundation — the national nonprofit that mentors and awards scholarships to deserving LGBTQ+ youth — recently announced their crop of scholarship recipients for the 2021-2022 academic year. This year, Point awarded more scholarships than ever, with the highest number ever going to BIPOC and trans students. Read Point’s statement below on their 2021-2022 scholarships and click through to view profiles on the recipients of the Point Flagship Scholarship, given to students attending four-year undergraduate or graduate schools.
“It is only fitting that Point will be awarding more than 320 scholarships this year – the most in its history.
As the nation’s largest LGBTQ scholarship granting organization, Point has invested $43 million in supporting students achieving college educations. Each Point scholar also receives access to multiple leadership development programs, mentorship or coaching, and the support of a community of scholars and alumni to help them succeed.
For LGBTQ students, obstacles to equality remain. This was made all the more evident during the pandemic. For example, in a study conducted this year by the UCLA Williams Institute in collaboration with Point, it was reported that LGBTQ students were more than twice as likely to have lost student housing than non-LGBTQ students (15% vs 6%, respectively). Nearly half of LGBTQ students who moved home during the pandemic were not out to their families about their sexual orientation or gender identity. And, overall 31% of LGBTQ students experienced a housing disruption due to the pandemic compared to 17% of their non-LGBTQ counterparts.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation saw inequities in health care, housing, and education in starker relief, but also through the eyes of Point Scholars who reported losing jobs, internships, housing, food, and internet access as campuses were forced to shut down.
Even with the challenges presented by this pandemic, Point continued to look forward and fulfill its mission to help LGBTQ students. This past academic year, Point supported 158 students — the largest and most diverse class in terms of race, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity, with 75% of students identifying as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) and 29% as transgender or nonbinary.
Last year, as the nation began to reckon with the country’s history of racism and inequality, Point created a scholarship specifically designed to meet the needs of LGBTQ BIPOC students. The new BIPOC Scholarship awarded 24 scholarships to its first class in February 2021.
Now with Pride month here, and students returning to campuses all across the country this fall, Point Foundation is announcing their first round of scholarship awards for the 2021-22 academic year. 21 new scholars have been selected for the prestigious Point Flagship Scholarship program, given to students attending four-year undergraduate or graduate schools. They will join 38 continuing scholars bringing the total number of Point Flagship Scholars to 59. An additional 60 students will receive Opportunity Grants.
‘We received more than 2000 applications for the Flagship Scholar program this year, and it was one of our most competitive selections ever,’ said Jorge Valencia, Executive Director & CEO. ‘We know these scholars will succeed and we’re here for them every step of the way. I’m also excited to announce that in the coming weeks we will award more Community College and BIPOC scholarships than ever before – which will equate to more than double the amount of students we supported last year.’
This expansion of Point Foundation’s work is made possible because of the generosity of supporters which include (in alphabetical order): Coach Foundation, DTS, FedEx, Lands’ End, Katy Perry, MacKenzie Scott, Sallie Mae Foundation, Synchrony Foundation, Toyota, Victoria’s Secret, Wells Fargo, and more.”
Click through the gallery to view this year’s new Point Flagship Scholars.