ICAN Inspire Scholarship

WHO DOES THE SCHOLARSHIP SERVE

Our scholarship is for the Vietnamese-American students within Santa Clara, Alameda, and San Joaquin counties pursuing higher education who lack or struggle with the financial abilities to do so.

WHAT DOES THE SCHOLARSHIP PROVIDE?

ICAN provides scholarships maximum of $4000 for 4 years for full-time undergraduate students at an accredited 4-year university ($1000 per year up to 4 years) or for community college ($500 per year up to 4 years) to qualifying students.

Applicants (who must be an undergraduate in the upcoming Fall session of the school year to apply) have also demonstrated service and leadership in Vietnamese communities/associations as well as academic achievement. Our ICAN INSPIRE Scholarship Program is to encourage Vietnamese-American youth to step into leadership roles in the community to give back to the community that supported them and to inspire the next class of students to reach their fullest potential.

WHY IT MATTERS

Many of you are very familiar with ICAN’s mission and programs to work with Vietnamese parents and young children (0-5 years) to strengthen these individual groups as well as the Vietnamese community as a whole. With much support from all of you, we have been able to make great strides over the years towards creating happier families and a stronger community. In 2018, we expanded our focus to include working with youth, helping them to prepare for success in college and enabling them to be able/willing to contribute back to their community throughout their lives. This work was in response to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center finding that only 27% of Vietnamese adults over 25 years of age hold at least a 4-year college degree – this is tremendously behind the rates of other Asian minorities: Indian (70%), Korean (53%), Chinese (51%), Filipino (47%), and Japanese (46%).

Our scholarship pushes the youth in the Vietnamese-American community to not only pursue higher education, but to give back to the community and build a stronger foundation from within. Students are the future of our community, and instead of just surviving in the world, they should be succeeding.

WHEN TO START

Now! Our 2024 INSPIRE Scholarship is now accepting applications. After applying, students can expect to be interviewed about their experiences before the final recipients are decided.

ELIGIBILITY / RENEWAL CRITERIA
• Be a full-time undergraduate student at an accredited 4-year university or community college in Fall 2023
• Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.3 for high school students/3.0 for college students
• Demonstrate financial need
• Be of Vietnamese descent
• Be a resident of Santa Clara, Alameda, or San Joaquin counties
• Be a US citizen or US legal resident

SELECTION CRITERIA
• Service in the Vietnamese community and/or VSA, with preference given to service and community involvement through ICAN’s organization
• Demonstrated Leadership
• Academic Achievement
• Financial Need
• Academic and Career Goals
• Personal Character (e.g. responsible, driven, able to overcome hardships)