Chicago Community Trust, as Trustee of the ZAFEE Foundation Fund, has established a scholarship program to assist current participants in Uniting Voices Chicago or Youth Guidance or recent refugees to the United States (within the last 10 years) who plan to continue their education in college or vocational school programs.
The program is administered by Scholarship America®, the nation’s largest designer and manager of scholarship and other education support programs for corporations, foundations, associations, and individuals. Eligibility for individual programs is determined at the sole discretion of the sponsor, and eligible applications are reviewed by Scholarship America’s evaluation team.
Applicants to the ZAFEE Scholarship Program must:
Be current participants in Uniting Voices Chicago or Youth Guidance
OR
Be recent refugees to the United States (within the last 10 years)
AND
Be high school seniors who plan to enroll in part-time or full-time undergraduate study at an accredited two-year or four-year college, university, or vocational-technical school for the entire upcoming academic year
Have a minimum grade point average of 2.25 on a 4.0 scale (or its equivalent)
Dependents and immediate family members of donors and Chicago Community Trust employees are
ineligible.
If selected as a recipient, the student will receive a $5,000 award. Up to four (4) awards will be granted. Awards are renewable up to three years or until a bachelor’s degree is earned, whichever occurs first, on the basis of satisfactory academic performance (maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale), and part-time/full-time enrollment. Awards must be used for consecutive years. Recipients may not receive an Associates degree, take time off of school and then request to renew their award for a Bachelor’s degree.
Awards are for undergraduate study only.
All applicants will be notified in May.
Scholarship America processes scholarship payments on behalf of Chicago Community Trust, as Trustee of the ZAFEE Foundation Fund. Payment is made in August.
Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of:
Financial need, as calculated by Scholarship America, must be demonstrated for the student to receive an award. Selection of recipients is made by Scholarship America. In no instance does any officer or employee of Chicago Community Trust, as Trustee of the ZAFEE Foundation Fund play a part in the selection. Not all applicants to the program will be selected as recipients. All applicants agree to accept the decision as final.
As part of your application, you must upload the following:
NOTE: If you are providing SAT or ACT test scores, and those scores are not listed on your high school transcript, you will need to upload a copy of your test score report(s) separately.
One online recommendation form must be submitted on your behalf no later than April 2, 2025 3:00 pm Central Time.
Your application is not complete unless all required materials are submitted electronically.
