San Diego's Mexican Consulate sets up college scholarship fund for Latino immigrants and their children
SAN DIEGO _ The Mexican government and a local nonprofit announced a college scholarship program for San Diego's Latino immigrants and their children Thursday.
In partnership with the Metropolitan Advisory Committee, or MAAC, the consul general of Mexico in San Diego will award $1,000 scholarships to high school seniors who have already been admitted to college for the fall 2020 semester.
The goal of the scholarship is to eliminate inequities by helping people from underserved communities afford an education, said MAAC CEO Arnulfo Manriquez.
"Education opens doors," he said. "I have seen first-hand the impact that it has."
Manriquez and the consul general of Mexico in San Diego, Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, decided to name the scholarship fund after a hummingbird to represent the immigrant community's fighting spirit.
"The colibri, or hummingbird, transcends borders as it makes its annual migration from the United States to Mexico," Manriquez said. "It symbolizes hope, perseverance and personal strength _ the same principles that our immigrant families possess as they seek greater economic mobility in a new land."
The Mexican government, through its Institute for Mexicans Abroad, has already contributed $24,000 to the fund. Of that money, $8,000 will cover administrative costs and $16,000 will go directly toward the scholarship fund.
Organizers hope to raise at least $70,000 and award 70 scholarships for the fall 2020 semester.
Gonzalez Gutierrez plans to raise that money through a series of fundraising events and specifically challenged the region's affluent immigrant community to contribute.
"Part of this effort is to mobilize the community," Gonzalez Gutierrez said. "Particularly mobilize those who are the most fortunate for the benefit of those who are still in the margins. If we don't help ourselves, who will?"
Organizers expect the scholarship application to be open by mid-February.
_The San Diego Union-Tribune
