Established within one week of the attacks on September 11, 2001, the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund is unprecedented in its scope. It will ultimately provide more than $100 million in postsecondary education assistance to an entire generation of financially needy dependents of those killed or permanently disabled in the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath. The Fund has already provided millions of dollars in scholarship support, and will continue to provide education assistance through the year 2030. (1)
The Lumina Foundation for Education, a private foundation that strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding access to an education beyond high school, established the Fund with the foresight that the loss of a family provider to death or injury on 9/11 would put the educational futures of thousands of present and future students in jeopardy. The Lumina Foundation pledged the initial $3 million to create the Fund: $1 million went directly to the Fund and $2 million to a dollar-for-dollar matching grant to encourage contributions from individuals. The $2 million matching grant was met on December 18, 2001.
The Fund sparked incredible generosity nationwide. With President Bill Clinton and U.S. Senator Bob Dole serving as campaign co-chairs, donations arrived from more than 20,000 corporations, foundations, educational institutions, grassroots organizations, and individuals, raising more than $108 million. More than 16,000 of those contributors were individuals.
The first Families of Freedom scholarships were awarded in January 2002. As of the end of 2008, the Fund and its subfunds had provided needed scholarships to 1,183 individuals, totaling more than $36 million; there are currently nearly 5,000 individuals registered for Families of Freedom scholarships through 2030.
The Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund is managed by Scholarship America (2), the nation’s premier nonprofit, private sector scholarship and educational support organization. Scholarship America has distributed more than $2 billion to nearly two million students across the country.
I’m grateful and proud to be employed by Lumina Foundation for Education. This fund is doing exactly what we intended, and I’m pleased to know many have been education and will be education in future years. Today I’m praying for peace and comfort to those who were, and continue to be, wounded by this horrible event in America.
Thank you.
Harleen Cutrell