Washington Scholarship Fund
For 14 years, the Washington Scholarship Fund (WSF) has worked to expand educational opportunities in Washington, D.C., by empowering low-income families to choose high-quality private and religious schools for their children. With support from the Foundation, WSF manages two K-12 scholarship programs: the federally-funded Opportunity Scholarship Program and the privately-funded Signature Scholarship Program. More than 5,000 District students have benefited from WSF-managed scholarships.
During the 2006-2007 school year, the Washington Scholarship Fund has helped nearly 2,400 low-income children attend private and religious K-12 schools. Erica Burnett received a WSF scholarship and is now a senior at an exclusive college.
Nikia Hammond, mother of four Opportunity Scholars, rides the bus with her kids an hour to and from school every day. When asked what future she sees for them, Ms. Hammond says, "I see doctors. I see lawyers. I see them being anything they want to be."
Erika Burnett credits the Signature Scholarship Program with helping her get into California's Pitzer College. As a student at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Maryland, Erika spent a semester in South Africa, where she took creative writing classes and wrote an award-winning poem that was published in the International Library of Poetry. "If I hadn't gotten the scholarship, I would not have been able to attend [Stone Ridge]," Erika said. "I would never have had the incredible experiences I had at Stone Ridge... and I would not have gone to Pitzer."
