VCCF SCHOLARSHIP DONORS
Through their generosity and support our Scholarship Donors make it possible for us to grant over $1 million to local students every year. Thanks to them, our students are able to make their academic dreams a reality!
“Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your commitment, generosity, and dedication to the students of Ventura County. Your continued support through the funds granted by your scholarships truly creates meaningful change for these students and is an investment back into our community.”
—SCOTT P. HANSEN, VCCF IMMEDIATE PAST BOARD CHAIR
Prospective Scholarship Donors
Creating a Scholarship Fund is easy when you partner with Ventura County Community Foundation. A scholarship fund is a generous and high impact way to honor the memory of a loved one or to celebrate a special event.
VCCF’s annual Scholarship Awards Reception provides you the opportunity to present your award to the recipient of your scholarship and to meet other donors.
Interested in starting a scholarship fund or adding to your current fund?
Please contact Kirsti Thompson at kthompson@vccf.org
Donor Testimonials
Sin Fronteras/No Borders Scholarship
Matthew Bigelow, E.A., JLZ Business Services, Inc.
“I worked for a number of years as a classroom teacher in an elementary school in south Oxnard, where I still volunteer regularly. It has been an honor to play a small role in the students’ lives, who never fail to amaze me with their curiosity, diligence and kindness. It is my hope that all students find happiness and success in life, and I believe pursuing higher education can help them to achieve this. Most of the students in the district are children of immigrants or immigrants themselves and frequently hail from underprivileged backgrounds. These students face numerous hurdles in the pursuit of higher education. With this in mind, I became motivated to establish a scholarship fund to help support such students on their college journey.
I discovered that the process of setting up and administrating a scholarship holds many challenges and pitfalls: deadlines, legal parameters, IRS filings, paperwork- the many requirements seemed almost too daunting. Thankfully, the enthusiastic and professional staff at Ventura County Community Foundation (VCCF) helped bring my goal to fruition. They provided the necessary support to create my scholarship fund named Sin Fronteras/No Borders. I am delighted to have found them and look forward to many years of meaningful collaboration.”
¡Adelante! Scholarship Fund
Bill Corkins and Diane Federle
“My husband, Bill Corkins, and I were introduced to Ventura County Community Foundation when we were looking for opportunities to invest in the future. We were introduced to the scholarship program and immediately knew that was our calling; in 2004 we began our fund to enable deserving students, preferably first-generation Latino the opportunity to achieve their dreams of success. We named the fund “¡Adelante!” because we wanted to “pay it forward” and to encourage the recipients to go forward in making their families and themselves proud of their successes. In 2004, we awarded two scholarships and it’s been a joy to continue to award more and more scholarships each year since then. Unfortunately, Bill passed away in 2018 but I can see him in the smiles of the recipients as they proudly walk across the stage to receive their certificates. He has their backs along with all “our kids,” as he affectionately called them, and will always be with them in spirit as they journey towards reaching those dreams.
In Bill’s honor the ¡Adelante! II Scholarship Fund, beginning in Fall 2020, will now be available to students who want to further their education by attending graduate school. ¡Adelante! to all current and future scholarship recipients!”
During my senior year of high school, I decided to apply for the scholarship program because I didn’t want money getting in the way of my education. Being able to receive the scholarships I received means making college a reality and avoiding financial stress for my family and I. The scholarships will help pay for my attendance to California University State Chico.
I was initially planning on majoring in business administration; however I recently changed my major to nursing. My ultimate goal after college is to change the world in a positive way and save lives!
I applied for a scholarship through VCCF my sophomore year in college because I was having trouble paying for tuition, housing, and food. I am so glad and grateful that I did because I know I would not be where I am today without VCCF’s support. Not only has VCCF helped me pay for all of those things in college, the foundation continues to help me pay for these things in law school. In addition to funding support, VCCF gave me a support system and wonderful mentors who I look up to and who inspire me. VCCF reminds me that people believe in me, people are rooting for me, that I am not alone, and that my hard work is worth it.
Receiving the scholarship means so much to me. The scholarship has significantly lightened my financial burden, allowing me to focus on my learning and developing my legal skills to serve underserved and disadvantaged communities. It allows me to invest the time I would have spent working (and stressing) into focusing on my passion for public service, participating in pro bono opportunities, and preparing for the BAR after graduation.
I currently attend University of San Francisco, School of Law. I will receive my J.D. in June 2021.
My name is Sophie Nguyen and I am a senior year at California State University Channel Islands pursuing a BS in Sociology and Chicanx Studies minor. As a daughter of immigrants and a transfer commuter student from Oxnard, I have a deep appreciation for my educational journey and the incredibly valuable support I have received from the VCCF community. Thank you so much for making this scholarship possible. Receiving support from community members like you has instilled in me a strong passion and commitment to helping empower and uplift my campus community. Because you gave, I will be able to pay tuition my final year at CSUCI while I serve as Student Government President to help unify and advocate for fellow students. This scholarship truly means so much to me and I am incredibly grateful for your kindness, compassion, and generosity!
I am the first in my family to go to law school, so receiving the scholarship was a very big deal for our family! My parents were both first generation college students, so I was proud I had the opportunity to live out the value of higher education that they instilled in me.
I currently work as a lawyer that works for a state agency called the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB). I work in our Oxnard office, and the ALRB helps farmworkers who have been discriminated against for joining together to ask for higher pay or better working conditions (clean water, shade, sanitary bathrooms, etc). I spend my day working on legal writing assignments, discussing my cases with our team of lawyers, and interviewing farmworkers and the companies they work for. It's challenging but very rewarding work!