Increasing the level of Educational Attainment in Kern County
Education begins early and reaches beyond high school.
Kern Futures uses the term “education” to refer to the continuum that begins with early childhood preparation and results in the attainment of valuable postsecondary credentials and degrees.
Education is a necessity.
Education is a prerequisite to success in a knowledge-based economy. Our future workers must pursue and complete postsecondary credentials or degree beyond high school.
Education is for everyone.
Educational attainment rates among low-income students and students of color are significantly lower than those of other students. Kern Futures is committed to closing these gaps.
Education is a public good.
Educational opportunity and attainment are critical to a just and equitable society, strong economy, and healthy communities.
Community Convenings
Kern Community Foundation is bringing together community education stakeholders to think strategically, compile data, and create a blueprint for student success. This data-driven, strategic plan will encompass every level of local education and is intended to ensure that all students reach their education and career goals. Only through extensive collaboration can improvement of educational outcomes be attained.
College Success Program
Every student receiving a scholarship through the Kern Community Foundation will receive:
Academic Advising: We help students identify the right classes and understand the requirements to graduate before they start college.
Career Counseling: What will students be doing after college? We’ll be sure they’ve thought ahead.
Transcript Review and Accountability: How are students doing each term? We’ll check in and find out, offering support and encouragement.
Coordination with Financial Aid Offices: We ensure students are accessing all available funding to maximize everyone’s investment.
Annual Personal Growth Project: From person finance to connecting with local industry leaders, we encourage students to go beyond academics.
Access to Scholarships
Since 2015, Kern Community Foundation has awarded nearly $2.5 million in scholarships to more than 1,200 graduates of high schools throughout Kern County. These scholars, many of whom are the first in their family to attend college, have enrolled at colleges and universities not only throughout California, but nationwide, majoring in everything from art to zoology.
Every year, scholarship recipients are selected from a pool of qualified applicants. Applicants are evaluated on academic merit, financial need, a personal statement, recommendations, and other factors. Kern Community Foundation currently holds and manages more than two dozen scholarship funds benefiting Kern County high school seniors. All scholarships are administered using the Foundation’s online Common Application process – an automated system that takes the guesswork out of best-fit scholarship applications for students and places the responsibility for finding the right student-to-scholarship match on Foundation staff. In addition, it allows each scholarship fund to have greater impact in harmony with all the other funds.
Are you a graduating high school senior student interested in applying for a scholarship and would like more information about financial aid? click here
How You Can Support Kern Futures
Kern Community Foundation, along with our college access community partners, works to increase community awareness around the importance of improving educational attainment by not simply helping students get into college, but providing support along the way so they can make it through college and into well paying, rewarding jobs. Our work goes beyond awarding scholarships. KCF also hosts community workshops and professional trainings, partnering with educators tackling college access challenges for local youth, and promoting opportunities for parents who may not have had the college-going experience themselves to still get involved in supporting the efforts and aspirations of their college-bound children.
To become a partner in our scholarship work, please click here to donate to our Kern Futures Scholarships Together Fund. You will be helping to create an endowment to provide strategic need-based college scholarships for Kern County students.
Interested in supporting this initiative through other means, or in establishing your own scholarship fund? Please contact us at 661.325.5346 or info@kernfoundation.org.
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